Nokia Corp. unveiled four handsets along with its “Ovi” Internet-based content services in what appears to be an early example of how the Finnish company will dovetail its hardware business with a future-facing Internet services business model. The handsets appear targeted at the European market for the critical holiday retail season, with one version of the vendor’s new N95 model arriving in the United States next month.
Several of the handsets to launch in Europe offer 8 GB of onboard memory, which matches the memory on offer from Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which is expected to launch soon in Europe, essentially Nokia’s home market. The apparent match between Nokia’s and Apple’s onboard memory specification is but one example from Nokia’s new offerings that illustrates how Nokia has sought to lead the smartphone market and the degree to which it is attempting to meet competition from players in the computing industry.
Nokia’s highly publicized launch in London came none too soon for the Finnish vendor. The iPhone has benefited from massive media interest in the United States since its unveiling in January and rumors of Apple deals with Euro-carriers is now driving much wireless-related buzz in the European business press-though it remains unclear when such deals will be firmed up and when the iPhone will actually be available.
For a traditional handset maker that rules the global smartphone market, Nokia cannot allow Apple to seize the headlines or take its home market by storm.
Thus Nokia launched two new N series devices-the Nokia N81 and its 8GB version, and an 8 GB version of its hot-selling N95, with HSDPA speeds. The latter handset is destined for the United States market without the massive memory upgrade, where a version with 160 megabytes of onboard memory could run on AT&T’s EDGE/W-CDMA/HSDPA networks. It will be sold through Nokia’s flagship stores and other retail channels. Nokia also announced 5310 XpressMusic and 5610 XpressMusic handsets for European markets.
The new N95 sports a larger screen but its U.S. version has a mere 160 megabytes of onboard memory, with a 1 GB microSD card included. It is set for sale in September at $700. The new N95 also includes assisted GPS for quicker location information with Nokia Maps.