Sendo has finally started shipping its Sendo X Series 60 handset, its bid to establish itself as a 'name' brand in the high-spec smartphone market. The X was subject to one of Sendo's mysterious false starts towards the end of last year, but although late it is probably still in time to turn heads provided Sendo can achieve the volumes.

First out of the traps are France, Italy (again, apparently...), the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, and the European rollout is intended to continue over the summer. The UK is expected to be a part of this, although Sendo as yet declines to say if any networks have been signed up here.

The Sendo X was announced last year as a product of Sendo's rebound from Microsoft, whose smartphone sweetheart the UK company had previously been, up until the Strumpet of Redmond's fling with Orange. Despite the rocky road it's followed in the headlines, complete with associated litigation, Sendo has been doing quite well beneath the covers with the less blue-chip phones normal people actually use. Sendo claims to have shipped over a million handsets in Q1, and claims its S330 was the third highest selling pre-pay handset in the UK in March, with 6.8 per cent market share. ®

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