Nokia takes on iTunes
2007-08-29 14:47
Helsinki - Nokia, the world's leading maker of cellphones, unveiled on Wednesday a new music shopping innovation that it hopes will loosen the grip of Apple's iTunes on digital downloads.
The high-tech Finnish group said it planned to introduce a new portal for users called Ovi, which will include the Nokia Music Store, a virtual record shop with a catalogue to rival Apple's.
Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the store, set to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, would have "millions" of tracks to download.
"Our target is to have all the music in all the world available to everybody," he said.
Nokia Music Store will open initially in selected European markets, before being rolled out to other European and Asian markets in the following months, the company said.
Singles would cost one euro and albums €10, and users will able to connect to the store with both their handsets and computers.
The launch of the store comes on the back of Nokia's acquisition last year of digital music distributor Loudeye for about $60m and shows how the company is moving away from being a simple handset manufacturer.
"With a single account, music lovers can access the Nokia Music Store via their desktop computer or directly from optimised Nokia devices," the company said.
Apple's iTunes music service is by far the biggest legal download site for popular music and is credited with revolutionising the music market, which has moved away from real-life record shops but still faces a problem of illegal downloading.
Nokia also revealed that it is to launch new handsets designed especially for music fans called XpressMusic phones. These will hit the market in the fourth quarter.
The Ovi portal - Ovi means door in Finnish - will also offer gaming and mapping services.