Has Sony Ericsson's eagerly awaited Windows Mobile smartphone, the Xperia X1, been delayed? The company's own website says it has.

A trip to the Sony Ericsson "official e-shop" and its Coming Soon section shows the X1 listed with a release timeframe of "January". Unless the handset's development has gone very much awry, that has to mean January 2009. It appears after phones stated as launching in October 2008.

X1: now down for a January debut
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Clicking on the X1's link reveals the phone is down as: "Expected launch: To be announced."

The X1 was announced in February this year. At the time, Sony Ericsson said it would ship in the second half of 2008.

A month later, in March, an entry on another part of the company's website was found to indicate the launch had slipped to February 2009, though Sony Ericsson quickly claimed that this was a mistake.

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Recently, retailer Expansys indicated the handset would debut early in October for £590 SIM-free, and the company told Register Hardware it had received demo units - a sign of a release coming sooner rather than later.

The latest sighting on SE's site casts that conclusion into doubt.

Thanks to reader Michael for the tip.

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