The price of the Nokia N97 in the UK has recently gone public, now that pre-orders are being taken on Nokia’s official site.

Retailing for £499 SIM-free, it is now possible to order either the black Nokia N97 and white Nokia N97, offering identical specs. Let’s hope Apple follows suit with this colour blindness when selling the third iPhone…

Anyone looking to be an early adopter will find their N97 to be released from here first. In the past, online orders are the first to be honoured, pipped the flagship Nokia Store in Central London by a couple of days. The networks then get their hands on them, anything from a week to a few months later, all dependent on how their proprietary services (Vodafone Live!, Orange World etc.) dovetail with the existing hardware and software.

The good thing for those who wait is a heavily subsided price, but if you cannot wait to see whether the N97 has what it takes to topple the iPhone, get your name (and money) on the list…