Nokia claims Lumia 800 highest pre-orders for any Nokia phone on Orange UK, then deletes web page

On their official blog, Nokia has claimed that Orange has predicted that the Nokia Lumia 800 will be a huge hit, based on pre-orders higher than any previous Nokia handset, including the famous Nokia N95 and 5800, quoting a Nokia spokesman.

Strangely however the post now seems to have been deleted, but is of course preserved in Google’s cache here.

The full post reads as below:

LONDON, United Kingdom – British service provider Orange is predicting that the Nokia Lumia 800 will be a huge hit.

The level of preorders has been higher for the Lumia than any other Nokia handset, Orange said last night.

Fifty per cent of preorders are from upgrade customers who are eligible for Orange’s free Xbox 360 promotion.

A spokesman for Orange, which is selling both the black and blue versions of the Nokia Lumia 800, said:  “As a result of the level of interest we’ve had in preorders, we’re really positive about the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800 which we believe will be really popular with our customers.

“This is the largest interest we’ve had in a Nokia handset, including the huge-selling N95 and 5800 handsets, and our marketing campaign hasn’t kicked in yet.

“When it does, this will further promote the Xbox 360 offer to new customers signing up to the device.”

The Nokia Lumia 800 goes on sale in the UK tomorrow after hitting the stores in Germany today and France yesterday where demand has also been high.

Beautifully designed, with top of the range spec and big value apps, the affordable deals being offered in Europe are making it irresistible.

The handset goes on sale officially today, and we while I do not expect queues, we should soon have an indication of whether the massive marketing campaign has paid off or not.