Nokia is taking on Apple, cool for cool, tune for tune.
The Finnish giant is set to unveil on December 18 an online music service to match the iPod-maker’s iTunes service as the device game increasingly shifts to content and services that take mobiles beyond plain talk and text messages.
Nokia plans an all-you-can-download offer at a handset-bundled price in the first year with one million songs on offer. It is partnering a slew of Indian content providers to fortify its offerings.
On Tuesday, Nokia unveiled a Rs. 20,000 touchscreen model with 8GB memory that would rival a comparable iPhone at Rs. 30,000.
“Mobile music will continue to be a key priority area for Nokia in 2009 and our strategy is aimed at developing the market by following a partnership driven model,” said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice-president at Nokia.
ITunes charges 99 cents — that’s nearly Rs. 50 — for every song downloaded. Microsoft, which has its own rival device, Zune, recently offered 10 free downloads at a monthly subscription of $14.99.