If you were buying the Serene 5 years ago, it would be a good spec against the competition, but in the mobile phone world, things change very fast. If you only want to make and receive calls and perhaps keep your address book sync'ed with Outlook and you do not really want anything more than that and the woo factor is the really positive for you, then you are likely to purchase one of these phones assuming you have the money for it.
If you are focused on the latest technology and user facilities, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.
Both the Serene and the replacement phone are made by Samsung and on the 17th May 2007 Samsung got FCC approval in the US and so as far as Samsung are concerned, they normally make an announcement 3 months after FCC approval. When B&O will announce the product, who knows, but it may well appear in this years catalogue