Nokia unveils new services, high-end gadgets

Nokia Corporation has launched new services and mobile phones that customers can use to download music and play games.

This is seen as an attempt by Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, to challenge the higher-end iPhone of Apple Incorporated as well as
iTunes and the iPod.

The move by Nokia, whose basic mobile handsets give it a strong position in emerging markets, is a result of the realization that high-end markets require handsets with photo, music, and video capabilities as well as quick access to the internet.

One of the new phones of Nokia can hold up to 6,000 songs. Other new gadgets include headphones, docking stations, and speakers.

Nokia has said it will focus its new Web services in a site called Ovi – which is Finnish for ‘door’ – that will include an online music store “with millions of tracks from major labels.”

With the launching of the new services, consumers will be able to transfer music from personal computers to compatible Nokia devices and play and download N-Gage games on “tens of millions” of existing Nokia devices, according to Nokia.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia Corporation, said in London that “the industry is converging towards internet-driven experiences, and Ovi represents Nokia’s vision in combining the internet and mobility.”

The cost of Nokia’s new top-range models, some including 5-megapixel cameras, Carl Zeiss optics, and memory of up to 8 gigabytes, range from $300 to $750.

Nokia had bought Loudeye Corporation, a leading provider of digital media distribution services, for $60 million in 2006 to expand its digital music offerings. And now, Nokia has completed deals with the four major music labels – Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Incorporated, EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corporation, and Bertelsmann AG.

The ‘Nokia Music Store’ will open in the autumn of 2007 in Europe and later in Asia and offer “locally relevant music” as well as hits, according to the company.

Apple’s iTunes store is currently the leading online music retailer, and its iPod is the most popular digital media player. The company had, in June 2007, entered Nokia’s territory in releasing the iPhone, which combines a mobile phone, media player, and wireless internet device.

Nokia and software maker Microsoft Corporation has already announced that access to some Microsoft’s most popular Web services like Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, will come built into some Nokia phone models.