UK Lumia 900 delayed due to 'overwhelming demand' in the U.S.?

The Nokia Lumia 900 has previously been announced to be heading to the UK shores next month, with Clove UK expecting to stock and ship the handset by May 16th. The Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U have also jumped on the Lumia 900 train with pre-order and registration pages being published for interested customers to keep up-to-date. We've now seen reports that point to a delay with the Windows Phone hitting shelves.

According to V3, a UK technology news website, Nokia has officially confirmed that the availability date for the Lumia 900 at Phones4U has been pushed back from April 27th to May 14th, due to 'overwhelming demand' in the US on AT&T. We've covered a few times how the handset has gone out of stock, and the white Lumia 900 remains to be particularly rare.

"The overwhelming demand for the Lumia 900 in the US with AT&T has, unfortunately, had a small knock-on effect on product availability in the UK. The Lumia 900 is now expected to be available from Phones4U around the 14th May."

This date is pretty much bang on with what both Clove UK and the Carphone Warehouse originally published which makes us believe that either Phones4U was exclusively set to stock the handsets first, or they were jumping the gun slightly with the estimated date of availability (Nokia hasn't officially announced a release date). But the Finnish manufacturer has been relatively broad with their statement. What's not clear is if this just affects the Phones4U white Lumia 900, or the other versions available at the three retailers.

Clove UK has remained silent on their official blog, not announcing any delay with the Lumia 900. We'll keep our eyes and ears open for any further details regarding the possible delay. Could U.S. sales really be that positive? As well as the potential UK delay, as if that wasn't enough, according to Belgium retailer PDAshop.be the Lumia 900 will be available for shipping for €599 on May 9th - a full five days before Nokia expects to be able to ship the Windows Phone in volume to the UK.

Although dates are being flung left, right and centre, we'd recommend readers keep a mid-May release in mind when considering the Lumia 900. Should delays to the UK prove to be reality, it may well affect other European countries too in the U.S. backlash. On a brighter note, at least AT&T's CEO Ralph de la Vega can have a laugh on CNBC with the Windows Phone.

Source: pdashop.be, V3, via: Inquirer; thanks to babse and Michael for the tips!