Confirmed: The N97 WAS leaked

Was just browsing Mobile Review and came across a link to the picture that you see above(click for a better view). That's a prototype of the N97 with a label that clearly has 'Ivalo' printed on it.

It was claimed that the N97 was the first flagship Nokia device that wasn't leaked prior to announcement, that 'the internet was in the dark on this one' and even that it was 'the scoop Engadget didn't get'. Nokia were wrong, very wrong. The N97 was leaked as Ivalo in Engadget Mobile's Nokia roadmap almost a month before it was officially announced. Engadget had to remove the roadmap from their site but it can still be found at BGR.

What this means to me is that the above roadmap has gained more credibility, despite claims from Eldar and others that a lot of the devices mentioned have since been canned. Maybe we'll see some other devices from the roadmap sometime soon.

Maybe next time, Nokia.