Nokia and Blackberry challenge Apple

On the heels of the recent iPhone upgrade and price breaks, two giants in mobile technology have announced new interfaces and other features to compete with Apple's initiatives:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-us-nokia.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
(see story below)

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/oct/08/blackberry-offer-touch-screen-feel/
(see story below)

October 3, 2008
Nokia Takes on Apple's iTunes, iPhone
By REUTERS
Filed at 12:30 p.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, launched its free music package on Thursday, issuing a challenge to Apple Inc's dominance of the digital music market.

The Finnish company also launched its first touch-screen phone 5800 Xpressmusic to rival Apple's popular iPhone.

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 price and positioning of the product may result in substantial demand and will undoubtedly put some pressure on Apple," said Ben Wood, research head at CCS Insight.

The price means consumers in large markets will get the phone for free from operators when agreeing to sign a contract. The company also will be able to make a dent in emerging markets.

"We expect it to be listed with most of the (mobile phone) operators," Jo Harlow, head of music phones, told Reuters in an interview.

Nokia said all major music labels and most independent labels will offer their tracks as part of Nokia's 'free' music bundle "Comes with Music," raising the total number of tracks to around 5 million.

"Apple's days of dominant digital music retailer outside the United States are numbered, if they don't do anything radical," said Rob Wells, head of Universal's digital music business.

Apple controls slightly more than half of global digital music sales through its iTunes store.

Nokia said it aims to offer the music service next year on Apple's home ground in the United States, the world's largest music market.

"In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user," said Strategy Analytics' David MacQueen.

"Comes with Music" and similar products from other hardware vendors could help the music industry make up for falling CD sales and cut illegal downloads.

The battle for mobile music is increasingly crowded. Sony Ericsson launched its music package this month in Sweden, and South Korea's LG Electronics plans a service similar to Nokia's.

Nokia's package will differ from others on the market since users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the subscription period of 12 or 18 months. There are no charges for tracks downloaded as the cost is bundled to the phone price.

Analysts and music industry players said Nokia's offering could bring free music to millions of consumers and change the music industry significantly.

"The introduction of mobile handsets featuring unlimited music downloads out-of-the-box will bring about a fundamental change in the way the mass-market consumes digital music," said Rob Lewis, chief executive officer of British digital music firm Omnifone.

PUSH INTO SERVICES

The music download package is Nokia's first major push into the services business. Last year the company unveiled a revamp of its whole organization, aiming to build a new business from internet services to combat slowing growth in sales of handsets.

Nokia has acknowledged the impact Apple has made on the industry with its iPhone over the past year, saying the Cupertino, California-based computer and consumer electronics company had done the mobile phone industry "a big favor."

"We have a new, credible competitor in this business," Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the Churchill Club on Wednesday, a speakers' forum for Silicon Valley civic leaders.

"Of course we need to be able to respond to any competitor and we will."

Nokia will launch the package in Britain, the world's third largest music market. UK retailer, Carphone Warehouse, will start selling the products on Oct 16. Nokia 5310 will sell for 130 pounds ($230), while the price for a version of Nokia's sophisticated N95 smartphone with eight gigabytes of memory was not revealed.

Analysts said the choice of a relatively cheap model was a clear indication Nokia was trying to win over consumers who often are not paying for music but getting it through file-sharing sites on the Internet.

"If you have access to everything, what's the need for pirated music?" said Universal's Rob Wells.

(Additional reporting by David Lawsky in San Francisco and Eric Auchard in Santa Clara, Sinead Carew in New York and Agnieszka Flak in Helsinki; editing by Carol Bishopric)


BlackBerry takes on iPhone
Associated Press
Originally published 08:06 a.m., October 8, 2008
Updated 08:06 a.m., October 8, 2008

NEW YORK -- Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, is taking on Apple Inc. with a touch-screen phone that puts a new twist on the technology.

RIM is known for its e-mail-oriented phones with large keypads. With the new model announced Wednesday, the Storm, RIM is for the first time giving up the physical keypad in favor of a large screen, just like the one on Apple's iPhone.

But RIM has listened to users who find the iPhone's glass screen awkward to type on because its virtual buttons provide no tactile feedback. The Storm's whole screen is backed by springs, and when pressed, it gives under the finger.

The long-rumored Storm will be available from Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and from Vodafone Group PLC overseas before the holidays, the companies said. No price has been disclosed yet.

In an unusual twist, the phone will work both on Verizon Wireless' network and on Vodafone's, even though they use incompatible technologies. Like a few other Verizon Wireless handsets before it, the Storm will be equipped with radios to handle both networks, making international roaming a possibility. The iPhone, carried by AT&T Inc. in the U.S., can already roam internationally.

The addition of a touch-screen phone to the BlackBerry lineup, the mainstay of e-mail-addicted executives and managers, is a testament to the effect of the iPhone. RIM's share of the U.S. smart-phone market has stayed above 50 percent, but the iPhone has clearly helped expand that market.

Over the last year, technology buyers at large corporations have found their employees demanding a touch-screen phone, said Mike Lanman, chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless.

"Everybody eventually leaves work ... and becomes a person," Lanman said.

The iPhone's facility with Web browsing and movie playing are big reasons for its appeal. The Storm will initially lack an equivalent of Apple's iTunes movie store, though shorter clips will be available through Verizon Wireless' VCast service.

As a Web browser, the Storm more closely emulates the desktop experience than the iPhone does. That's because the screen can distinguish between light touches and firm presses. A light touch can move around a cursor, while a firm press activates a link, much like moving a mouse cursor has a different effect from clicking a mouse button, said Mike Lazaridis, RIM's co-chief executive.

Verizon Wireless is the last of the four national U.S. brands to unveil a flagship touch-screen model. AT&T has the iPhone, Sprint Nextel Corp. sells the Samsung Instinct, and T-Mobile USA just announced the G1, the first phone to run Google Inc.'s software. Verizon Wireless does have other touch-screen phones in its lineup, but none that it has promoted with as much vigor as other carriers have.