When will Motorola ship its Q smart phone? Last week, the company's website added a page promoting the slimline would-be Blackberry beater. It said the 1.2cm-thick, keyboard-equipped handset will be "available April 2006". Now Moto has changed the page to read "shipping soon". Is it simply being cautious or is it signalling a serious delay?

Conspiracy theorists might like to note the date on the screen of the Q shown on the website is 25 June 2006 - could that be the date on which we'll finally see the Razr-like smart phone go on sale?

Motorola announced the Q in July 2005, targeting a Q1 2006 launch date. In September 2005, company CEO Ed Zander hinted the device might debut early, at the end of the year. That didn't happen, and neither, it seems, will the original timeframe unless Motorola manages the coup of getting the device out ahead of expectations, in the next few days.

Motorola has said it plans to ship a 3G version of the Q to consumers in a year's time. ®