Nokia yesterday launched its free music package at an analyst and media event in London. According to analysts, “Nokia’s "Comes with Music" will challenge Apple’s dominance in the digital music business.

The Finnish phone maker also launched its first touch-screen phone, the 5800 Express music, to compete with Apple's popular Iphone, and priced at almost half the price of the competition, at $395 excluding subsidies and taxes. It will be on sale shortly.

Nokia will start offering Comes with Music through mobile phones from 16 October in Britain, through the Carphone Warehouse dealer. Initially it will be available on 5310 Express mobile phones, which cost $229. Later on, the service will be available on other models as well.

Users owning a special device can download unlimited music for free through their mobile phone or computer for up to 18 months.  Tero Ojanpero, executive vice president and head of entertainment and communities business at Nokia, said the new service is about changing the way we consume music.

After Britain, the service will be rolled out in 10 other countries, including France, Sweden, Spain and Singapore, where the online Nokia Music Store is available. Nokia’s music store, aiming to challenge Apple’s Itunes, has signed deals with Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI, Warner and a host of independent labels to give customers a wide range of music to choose from.

However, with the growing demand for music packages, another cell phone maker, Sony-Ericsson, on Wednesday announced plans to launch an unlimited music download service by the end of the year - but as part of a mobile phone package, whereby customers can keep only up to 300 songs.  Korean mobile company LG also plans a similar service, but Nokia's package will differ from others on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 18 month subscription period. X

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