Nokia bids for slice of the mobile internet

Finnish phone company Nokia looks to be moving into the mobile internet. Last week it launched Ovi (which is Finnish for “door”) to provide music, game, map and other download services.

Nokia, which traditionally manufactures handsets, clearly sees a healthy revenue stream opening up from the sale of music and games over the mobile internet.

In addition, the company has also launched several new phones including what they are calling a ‘flagship’ music phone, called the N81, which will compete with the Apple iPhone. Both phones are due to be launched in December, just in time for Christmas.

Next year Nokia is due to launch touch screen handsets, apparently happy to copy one of the key design features of the iPhone.

In response to the growing demand for the mobile internet, Nokia is predicting that global sales of multimedia phones, with functionality such as cameras and music players, is going to rise from 80m in 2006 to 120m in 2007.