Nokia takes on Apple's iTunes and iPhone

Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, will launch its free music package on Thursday, issuing a challenge to Apple's dominance of the digital music market.

The Finnish firm also launched its first touch-screen phone 5800 Xpressmusic to rival Apple's popular iPhone.

Nokia said at an analyst and media event in London it would start selling the phone shortly, pricing it at 279 euros ($395) excluding subsidies and taxes, which it said was roughly half the price of the other main touch-screen phones on the market.

The price means consumers on many large markets will get the phone for free from operators when signing up for contract.

"The price and positioning of the product may result in substantial demand and will undoubtedly put some pressure on Apple," said Ben Wood, research head at CCS Insight.

Nokia said all major music labels and most independent labels will offer their tracks as part of Nokia's 'free' music bundle "Comes with Music."

"Comes with Music" and similar products from other hardware vendors could help the music industry make up for falling CD sales and cut illegal downloads.

The battle for mobile music is increasingly crowded. Sony Ericsson launched its music package this month in Sweden, and South Korea's LG Electronics plans a service similar to Nokia's.

Nokia's package will differ from others on the market since users can keep all the music they have downloaded during a 12-month subscription period. Nokia said it will also offer 18-month package together with operators on some markets.

There are no charges for tracks downloaded as the cost is bundled to the phone price.
Analysts and music industry players said Nokia's offering could bring free music to millions of consumers and change the music industry significantly.

"Apple's days of dominant digital music retailer outside the United States are numbered, if they don't do anything radical," said Rob Wells, head of Universal's digital music business.

Apple controls slightly more than half of global digital music sales through its iTunes store.

"In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user," Strategy Analytics' David MacQueen said in a research report.

The music download package is Nokia's first major push into the services business. Last year the company unveiled a revamp of its whole organization, aiming to build a new business from internet services to combat slowing growth in sales of handsets.

Nokia has acknowledged the impact Apple has made on the industry with its iPhone over the past year, saying the Cupertino, California-based computer and consumer electronics company had done the mobile phone industry "a big favor."

"We have a new, credible competitor in this business," Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the Churchill Club on Wednesday, a speakers' forum for Silicon Valley civic leaders.

"Of course we need to be able to respond to any competitor and we will."

Nokia will launch the package in Britain, the world's third largest music market. Carphone Warehouse, the exclusive UK retailer for the range, will start to sell the first model, Nokia 5310, for 130 pounds from October 16.

Analysts said the choice of a relatively cheap model was a clear indication Nokia was trying to win over consumers who often are not paying for music but getting it through file-sharing sites on the Internet.

"If you have access to everything, what's the need for pirated music?" said Universal's Rob Wells.

Nokia 1680 Only $14 in US, on T-Mobile

Two weeks ago, a rumor that Nokia 1680 would become available across the US first started making the rounds, allowing budget users to dream about this new and cheap phone. Now, the handset has been released by T-Mobile, for a price that is more than affordable – only 14 USD, with the signing of a contract agreement for two years.

In Such a price, users can't expect to receive too many features. The new 1680 does not even have FM radio, so its owners might get quickly bored of it. On the other hand, if you don't need FM radio, Music player and a good photo camera on your handset, Nokia 1680 is definitely a worthy candidate for the “perfect phone” title.

The Nokia 1680 is a simple candybar that doesn't look too nice, but neither too bad. The full list of specs packed by Nokia into the phone includes a tiny TFT display with 128 x 160 pixels and 65K colors, dual-band GSM connectivity (850 / 1900 MHz) with GPRS and EDGE, email, Instant Messaging (AOL, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo!), Web browser, a VGA camera and 35MB of internal memory. T-Mobile's Nokia 1680 also offers a handful of basic functions, like myFaves, address book, photo caller ID, calculator and calendar.

The new phone is small and lightweight, measuring 4.26 x 1.81 x 0.59 inches (108 x 46 x 15 millimeters) and weighing 2.6 ounces (74 grams). When it comes to battery life-time, Nokia 1680 is quite a good handset, as its 700 mAh Li-Ion battery is said to provide up to 4 hours of talk-time or up to 18 days of stand-by time.

US users interested in buying a Nokia 1680 can find the basic candybar on T-Mobile's official website or at its retail stores from across the North American country.

Samsung launched Innov8 mobile phone at Rs. 45,999 in India

Samsung Mobile on Wednesday launched its mobile entertainer, eight mega pixel camera phone, Samsung Innov8, designed for mobile photography and multimedia experience, in the Indian market.

"Samsung Innov8 is made for users who want to enjoy the best possible multimedia entertainment with their mobile", Dutt said. "With the 8-megapixel camera, pre-embedded 3D games, high speed data connections and much more, users can experience the true benefits of mobile entertainment".

Samsung Innov8 with GPS navigation, WiFi connectivity and 32 GB memory, among other features, Country Head, Samsung Mobile, Sunil Dutt, said here.

Officials said Innov8 offers a range of camera technologies, a surround-sound cinematic video experience, mobile internet browsing experience and mobile gaming capabilities.

The company said Innov8 uses the latest in imaging applications such as smile shot, blink shot and face recognition, so that the memorable moments can be stored in their best quality.

Officials said 1200mAh battery provides a long enough battery life to enjoy all the multimedia experience without worrying about limits on size and time. Innov8 comes with two famous games, Asphalt and FIFA 08.

The Price of Samsung Innov8 in the Indian market is Rs. 45,999.

SanDisk Announces 16GB microSD and M2 Cards

SanDisk announced what it claims to be the world's largest capacity microSD and M2 cards today with 16GB of storage each. The card will be available from Verizon Wireless stores and Best Buy Mobile stores.

The 16GB microSDHC card retails for $19.99 and the 16GB M2 card retails for $129.99. Both cards will be available in November and Best Buy and Verizon are the only two stores that will carry the card in 2008.

“Handsets have become far more than just phones - they’ve become mobile jukeboxes, mobile offices, even mobile movie theaters,” said Avi Greengart, Research Director for Mobile Devices at Current Analysis. “Flash memory cards have increased in storage capacity, but even an 8GB card may be too small for anyone with GPS map data, a few movies, a game or two, a presentation file and other applications. There is an acute need for more mobile storage capacity. 16GB gives consumers the ability to carry their digital content with them and still have room to do more with their mobile phones.”

SanDisk is the same company that fended off a buyout offer from Samsung recently. It also, somewhat boldly, introduced a new music-media format.

Called slotMusic, the music distribution format pre-loads an album onto a microSD card. The point of slotMusic, for which all the major labels are onboard, is to allow users to buy and use music without being dependent on a PC or internet connection. They simply insert the card into their microSD-enabled device to hear it.

The music is DRM-free, of high quality (320 kbps), and can be used instantly with any MP3 player, cell phone, etc. with a microSD slot. The cards will be packaged with a tiny USB sleeve, so they'll be easy to use and compatible with PCs (Windows, Linux and Mac) as well.