Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, yesterday launched an online music store, a gaming service and four multimedia handsets in a move to take a greater share of consumer spending from mobile operators.
In doing so the Finnish group also threw down the gauntlet to Apple's popular iTunes service.
Nokia, which sells more than one-third of the world's mobile phones, said its core market of making mobile handsets was just "not enough any more".
It has developed four new phone models, including a top-end music and gaming phone, the N81, and a new version of its top profit generator, the N95 handset, which is seen by analysts as the company's answer to Apple's iPhone. It said it would roll out its own music store in key European markets - Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain - later this year, with songs selling for €1 each, a similar price point to Apple's iTunes.
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