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After several months of delay, Nokia Corp. hasreleased its Symbian-based N8 smartphone to the world.

Having already received more preorders than any other product in the company’s history, according to the Finland-based phone maker’s own numbers, it seems the world was actually willing to wait.

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“Our checks indicate strong interest in the device and pre-orders have exceeded expectations,” confirmed Mark Sue, financial analyst with RBC Capital Markets, in a note to clients released Monday.

Pent-up demand might allow Nokia to reach its goal of selling one million N8 units during the present quarter. But that is just one of several reasons Mr. Sue lays out for why Nokia just might claw back some of the market share it has beensteadilylosing to Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd. for several years.

He argues the N8 release goes beyond Nokia simply having (at long last) a device worthy of being shelved beside the iPhones, Android-based phones and BlackBerrys of the world. From a technical standpoint, Mr. Sue believes the new smartphone is a genuinely impressive piece of hardware.