Nokia took a few swings at Apple’s iPhone and iTunes service today, with a one-two punch consisting of its new touchscreen-based, music-centric smartphone and a free music download service.
Nokia said at an analyst and media event in London it would start selling the phone shortly, pricing it at 279 euros ($395) excluding subsidies and taxes, which it said was roughly half the price of the other main touch-screen phones on the market.
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which industry watchers had believed would be called the Tube, includes a number of advancements designed to help Nokia claim a larger share of the market for high-end, feature-packed phone market — currently buzzing about both Apple’s iPhone and the recent debut of T-Mobile’s HTC G1, which is powered by the Google-backed Android operating system.
For one thing, the 5800 XpressMusic is Nokia’s first mass-market device with a touchscreen — similar to both the iPhone and the G1. It also provides a drop-down menu for easy access to music, as well as one-touch access to a Web browser and other applications. The user interface also provides a widescreen display — another feature similar to the iPhone’s and G1’s designs.
Well, sweet… Someone will love this and I can’t wait to tell her about this. Thanks again…
March 4th, 2009 at 1:13 pm