Is Symbian out for the Nokia N-Series?

Earlier this week we reported that the upcoming Nokia N8 would be the last N-Series handset to run on the Symbian platform, with all future N-Series phones being powered by MeeGo and the first of these devices will be the N9.

We gleaned this information from a discussion we had with Nokia's head of marketing in Asia/Pac, Will Harris, who explained that MeeGo would be the system behind the company's top-tier phones going forward, while Symbian would power the mid-range, like the E- and X-Series, and Series 40 would be used in effect for the lower end, including the C-Series.

"[The N8] is the last of the N-Series devices that will be running on Symbian, we're migrating our N-Series portfolio to MeeGo now," said Harris. When we asked about whether the N9 would be the first MeeGo handset, the answer we got was clearly in the affirmative, though subsequent communication with Nokia has suggested this might not have been entirely accurate.

Since publishing the information Nokia has asked us to clarify that it has not been confirmed whether the next N-Series handset after the N8 will be called the N9. It is also unconfirmed that this unnamed device will be the first to market with MeeGo. Nokia went on to offer a juicy tidbit to complement our original conversation, saying that the RRP for the N8 should be approximately AU$749, which would place this handset at the lower end of the top-tier smartphone pricing spectrum.