Nokia is really turning the screw on Apple around the world, not only is it adding new countries every week which have their own Nokia Music Stores, in some of them it is also adding Comes with Music devices ‘ which have a free music option built into the price of the device ‘ and now it is already launching more music phones just weeks after Mobile World Congress.
Two of the three new phones are part of Nokia’s Comes With Music offering the 5730 and 5330, while the third is a cheap FM radio phone for emerging markets, the Nokia 5030.
At MWC Nokia had already launched the 5630 XpressMusic ultra slim music phone with 4GB of memory and 22 hours of playback and a new ‘say and play’ voice recognition system for saying either the name of the track or the artist to trigger the playing of a new song, due out in the second quarter. This was to go with its initial XpressMusic devices and the fabulous 5800 (Tube) touch screen music phone launched in December.
At MWC Nokia also added a traditional 3.5 mm jack to its phones which means that just about any headphones will fit into the device, as well as adding to the 5630 built-in surround-sound speakers and changing the software so that the contacts bar on the Home screen allows for 20 contacts there, instead of 4.
‘We’ve sold more than 425 million devices with a digital music player and more than 700 million devices with an FM radio, which clearly shows that the mobile phone is the natural device for listening to the music and carrying it with you,’ said Jo Harlow, Devices, Nokia. ‘Combining a connected digital music player like the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic with unlimited access to millions of tracks via Comes With Music means that in addition to their favorite tracks, music lovers can discover, experiment, and keep the new music they find.’
The Nokia Music Store is now available in 15 markets and this week Mexico was the latest country to launch a Store with Portugal, Norway and South Africa being lined up in the coming months.
Comes With Music phones give people unlimited music downloads from the Nokia Music Store for a year or 18 months depending upon the territory and it is already available in the UK, Singapore, and is due in Australia this month. Italy, Sweden and Mexico, are planned for Comes With Music I the next few months.
The brand new 5730 XpressMusic is a Comes with Music phone with a full QWERTY keyboard plus all the usual top end stuff, N-Gage games, Facebook, and Ovi. This will also come out it the third quarter at around €280. The 5330 XpressMusic is a more basic version of the phone for around €160. Both have Bluetooth Stereo Headsets will work with Nokia Mini Speakers
The 5030, Nokia is calling its XpressRadio phone and it’s the first phone it has made which has an internal FM radio antenna, so you don’t have to plug in the headset which acts as an antenna. This phone is phenomenally cheap at under €40 and although it is not a Comes with Music phone, it hits up against rivals which are offered in emerging markets.