STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Nokia Corp., the world’s biggest maker of cellphones, unveiled new models this week that boast more music features and mesh better with Facebook and the Finnish company’s upcoming netbook.
The announcements are part of Nokia’s attempt to branch out into new markets such as wireless online services.
“We are not on the defensive, we are on the offensive,” Nokia executive vice president Anssi Vanjoki said at the two-day Nokia World event here.
The Espoo, Finland-based company said it made a deal with Facebook, the wildly popular social networking site that will let users of some of its handsets update their location and status directly to the site through a Nokia Ovi account.
The feature will premier on the new N97 mini phone that was also introduced and will retail for 450 euros ($644.13) without a contract when it starts shipping in October.
“People want to bring their physical and online worlds together via the Internet. The Nokia N97 mini is designed for this new social Internet and to help navigate people and places,” said Jonas Guest, vice president of Nokia Nseries.
Nokia has been the top handset maker since 1998 but has gradually expanded to include online services such as downloads of music, games, maps and the fast transfer of photos and video, especially as markets have become saturated.
It is estimated that the global online market will reach 100 billion euros by 2010.
Nevertheless, Nokia unveiled new devices at its exhibition here, and offered more details about its new laptop, dubbed the Nokia Booklet 3G, which will ship in the fourth quarter with Windows 7 and retail for 575 euros.
In contrast, many new netbooks by Asus, Lenovo and Dell are often priced around 350 euros or less.
However, Nokia expects the Booklet 3G to be distributed by cellphone providers, many of whom will likely offer it for a much lower prices in concert with a two-year contract that includes monthly fees for Internet access using cellphone networks.
Nokia said it was already in talks about such an arrangement in Germany with mobile network operator 02.
Made of aluminum, it sports a 25-centimeter screen, weighs 1.3 kilograms and boasts an Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz chip, along with a gigabyte of memory. It will have a third-generation hot swappable SIM card to access cellular networks.
Unlike most netbooks, Nokia’s Booklet will have a built-in GPS navigation chip coupled to Nokia’s Ovi Maps software.
Nokia previously tried to expand its portfolio beyond cellphones, making a “tablet” computer that ran non-Windows software. It failed to be a mainstream success.
Nokia also unveiled a pair of new music phones, the X6 and X3.
The X6 features 32 gigabytes of memory, can play up to 35 hours of music and has a 3.2-inch touch screen. It will retail for 450 euros.
The X3 is a more compact version that features direct access to Nokia’s music store and features a built-in FM radio and 3.2-megapixel camera. It has a suggested retail price of 115 euros. Both devices are set to ship in the fourth quarter.