Art Lebedev design studio denied changes of release time for its Optimus mini three keypad and said the change of the date in its web-store was associated with the selling out of the first batch.

“The change of the supply date is conditioned with the fact that the first batch [of the Optimus mini three] has already been pre-ordered, whereas the second batch will be ready to ship in June,” Artemy Lebedev, the chief of the Art Lebedev design studio, told X-bit labs.

On Monday it was reported that the company changed the shipment date for its Optimus mini three keypad from the 15^th of May to the 15^th of June, 2006. Nevertheless, those, who have pre-ordered the device, are going to have it sent to them on the date originally announced.

Optimus mini three keyboard is a pad with three keys each of which incorporates 20mm x 20mm small OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) screens with 96x96 pixels resolution that can display different information, depending on the application. The main advantage the Optimus mini three has is that it can be reprogrammed to perform certain actions depending on the launched software using special configuration utility and reflect the changes in the actions to be performed on the OLED screens.

Mr. Lebedev declined to comment on the number of Optimus mini three manufactured so far and indicated that the demand exceeded expectations, however, he said that in addition to the company’s online store the gadget would be available from the studio’s distributors.