Nokia Launches IPhone Killer with N81

With Cingular Wireless from AT&T and Apple benefiting so much from the launch of the ultra-successful iPhone, people knew it was only a matter of time before phone manufacturers started to release their own multi-function, digital entertainment centers. With phone capabilities as well as video, audio, and Internet features, the iPhone hit the market with blazing sales. Now that the phone has been on the market for two months, the real test comes as Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer releases its iPhone killer, the N81.

The Finland based company, long entrenched for its simple, basic phones has chosen to enter the premium end of mobile phones and offer an alternative to the iPhone. But a phone by itself would fail to truly push Apple so Nokia too the additional step by launching its own music service to compete with iTunes and to make sure its newest phones have the latest media capabilities, similar to those seen via the iPod. The Ovi, is Nokia's version of a music store. While it is not yet known how many songs will be available via the musicstore, Nokia has already promised the store to have a catalog of possibly 2-3 million songs.

What will immediately separate Nokia's phones from those offered by Apple will be the push to be experience-driven devices. This is seen by Nokia's move to allow users to transfer songs from the desktops or laptops to their phones. Also, users will be able to download games from the Ovi site to existing Nokia-branded phones. This type of focus moves from focusing simply on the vocal aspects of using a phone. Today, the market wants to do more than simply talk on a phone. Users want to be able to take a picture, send a picture, text a picture and then talk to someone about the picture, all from the same device. Equally they want to download the newest U2 song, listen to it while they work out and answer the phone when it rings. Such uses requires a device that is friendly to embracing the varied needs of its users.