Nokia

Last year alone, Nokia (NOK) sold 147 million music-playing phones worldwide, while Apple's (AAPL) sleek touchscreen has sold 5.7 million units so far this year. And although the iPhone is now the top-selling music phone in the U.S. market, it doesn't even make the top five in Europe where three of Nokia's music-playing handsets are best-sellers. Now the Finnish phonemaker plans to launch a new service later this year that will let people download as many songs as they want for a limited time.

Unlike the iPhone's pay-per-track model, Nokia's new "Comes With Music" plan will offer several handsets that include a year's worth of unlimited music in the cost of the phone. Once the year is over, subscribers will be able to keep their existing tracks on their phone or PC, and Nokia says they'll have several options of extending their "Comes With Music" membership without necessarily having to upgrade to a new device. The company is still mum on what those other options may be, though it's likely customers will have to start paying a subscription fee to keep the unlimited downloads service.

"The track-by-track purchase methodology was cumbersome to people," says Liz Schimel, head of Nokia's music business. "Consumers were looking for a more seamless way to access a lot of content."

Subscription-based, all-you-can-listen-to digital music models have been around for a while. Companies like U.K.-based Omnifone and Rhapsody offer similar services and for years rumors have circulated that Apple itself will launch a flat-rate, unlimited version of iTunes. But Nokia is the first mobile giant to turn away from the a-la-carte model of selling mobile music, and, unlike other existing subscription-based services, its will allow people to keep their tunes on their phone and PC even after their subscription expires.
The Nokia N8 also doubles as a portable entertainment centre. Watch HD quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound and hook into a dedicated Web TV application for access to news and entertainment on the move.

It’s not just its 12-megapixel camera and HD video skills with HDMI support that set the Nokia N8 apart from the crowd. Packing more memory than most, the Nokia N8 has 16GB of built-in storage and is expandable up to 48GB with a micro SD card.

Joining the social messaging fold with the likes of the latest Eseries and Cseries devices, the N8 enters the fray with live Twitter and Facebook updates direct to your homescreen. Comment, read and send messages, update your status and share your location and photos with one touch.

Embracing location based services, the N8 is location-savvy and comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation with support in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Powering the Nokia N8 is the all-new Symbian^3 platform. This latest incarnation introduces major new advances including multi-touch and support for gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. Onboard there’s also three customisable homescreens that can be loaded with applications and widgets and flicked through by a swish of the finger. There’s also improved 2D and 3D graphics for a faster and more responsive UI, greater memory management and a visual task manager.