Meizu's long-delayed M8 (or MiniOne) smartphone may be reaching store shelves in its native China, according to international trading firm AliBaba. The close shadow of the iPhone is already listed as on sale from suppliers including Fuzhou ZhongTianLi, Longxiang Shoes, and Samsin Trade, suggesting that the touchscreen device has advanced well past the prototype stage seen in December and has retained many of the features promised by Meizu in early 2007.

Minor contradictions exist between the suppliers, including disputes about the screen size and color. However, most point to a custom interface placed on top Windows CE 6.0, a 3.5-inch, 720x480 touchscreen, and a 3-megapixel camera. Connections are supplied over GSM for calls as well as EDGE and Wi-Fi for Internet access. Whether the phones are widely available or will support cellular access in North America is unknown, though the devices have already been described by Meizu as coming with a minimum of 4GB of internal memory. No models are likely to be sold natively in the US due to expected copyright disputes with Apple. [via PMP Today]