Nokia handset could 'seriously wound' iPod's market dominance

Technofile: Fifty years ago, Nokia wasn't known for making anything even remotely technological. It made tyres and Wellington boots. Yes, really.

But in a masterstroke of the last century, it changed direction entirely. Last week, it unveiled its latest mobile phone, one which will give the iPod a run for its money.

For the past two years, almost every new music device that has hit the market has been hailed as the mythical "iPod killer". All have failed and the iPod is now the biggest-selling digital music player of all time.

But industry experts such as Fiveeight.net magazine are investing the new Nokia handset, the N91, with the potential to "if not kill the iPod, seriously wound its market dominance".

The N91 has a built-in radio and a 4GB hard-drive. Hard drives had been unheard of inside mobile phones until Samsung unveiled a mobile phone with a 5GB hard drive in Asia last month.

Packing this kind of punch means the N91 is capable of holding up to 3,000 tracks.

Encased in stainless steel, the Nokia N91 has dedicated music keys on its face, which slide down to reveal the phone keypad. The Nokia N91 is a part of the new Nokia N-series range, which focuses on multimedia technologies.

The mobile claims to serve up to 12.5 hours of music and supports a wide range of digital music formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA.

It's also compatible with a number of accessories from brands such as Bose and JBL.

It's highly connected, featuring a wireless LAN and and Bluetooth wireless technology, and has a two-megapixel camera for print-quality photos, e-mail support, a full web browser and video sharing. It's expected to become commercially available worldwide by the end of 2005.

The N91 will sell for an estimated £500 (€735) in the UK, but prices are sketchy for other markets, such as the Republic.

At such a hefty price, the N91 will be restricted initially to the affluent early adopters.

But there's one thing to recall from history - a rarity in the tech world - before we count our chickens. The iPod launched as a premium, expensive product, but it was partly this positioning which added to its unattainable cool factor, that and the sheer ease with which Apple Mac users found music could be transferred to and from the device using the iTunes software.

Meanwhile, the Motorola "iPod phone" is, at least in theory, due out in the coming months and its impact on the sale of iPods will be interesting to watch. The only theoretical part is that Apple has had public spats with Motorola about how to introduce and market the device. Possibly a taste of things to come.

Apple's iPod is gradually starting a fightback against the phones however, moving to increase storage and battery life, meaning that the mobile phones which can play music will increasingly compete with each other at the bottom end of the market, at least for now.

In which case, it might be better to describe the N91 as the "iPod Mini killer".