Nokia's Ovi to counter iPhone

LONDON: Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, has introduced Ovi, the company's new Internet services brand name. With the introduction of Ovi, Nokia is expanding from a focus on mobile devices to offering a range of Internet services.

Ovi, meaning 'door' in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as acting as a gateway to Nokia services. Under Ovi, the company unveiled a new online music store, new top-end handsets and a global gaming service as it takes on recent rival US rival Apple.

The Finnish firm, which sells more than one third of the world's cell phones, is looking for new sources of revenue from services and content as the industry matures and voice prices continue a decline.

Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told a news conference that the company would start to sell touch screen phones
-- Nokia's answer to Apple's iconic iPhone handsets -- using its popular S60 software next year.

US consumer electronics company Apple, which broke into the cell phone industry in January, saw its long-awaited iPhone handsets fly off shelves when the sleek, touch screen multimedia device hit US stores in June.

As speculations mount about when iPhones will go on sale in Europe, Nokia unveiled 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.

It also unveiled two mid-priced music phones: the Nokia 5310 and 5610.

Kallasvuo said he expected the global multimedia phone market to grow by 50 per cent to 120 million units this year from 80 million in 2006.

Nokia said it would roll out its own music store in key European markets later this year, with songs selling for 1 euro ($1.36) each.

Nokia's own gaming service will start in November. The cost of games, when full versions are purchased, will range from 6 euros to 10 euros ($8.16-$13.59).

Nokia's share price rose 2.47 per cent to 22.83 euros by 1105 GMT, outperforming a one per cent rise on the European S Stoxx index.