Well, I guess we all saw this coming. Microsoft Germany was always going to get the new Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro first and so it seems, with tomorrow (July 26th) still scheduled for it to ship. Sadly (for me) the UK shipping date has now been pushed back a fortnight to August 7th, though the 'Orders' page in the billing system does say 'Processing', so the exact status in the UK is anyone's guess.

Curiously, the listing at Microsoft France seems to have vanished completely. So maybe they're third in the queue - or perhaps Alcatel has decided not to range it in France at all. All very odd. Typical of a new device launch, of course, but disappointing given that the hardware in question isn't actually that new in this case!

Here's Zac Bowden's tweet (he was first to notice):

A tragedy in two acts pic.twitter.com/MPKas4A4ck

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) July 25, 2017

Indeed. All a bit frustrating, though you could argue that, having waited seven months for this to hit Europe, another two weeks won't kill Zac or I....