Nokia Microsoft deal and Nokia iTunes

Playready for Nokia Phones:

Nokia and Microsoft extended their cooperation to include support for Microsoft PlayReady technology into the Nokia S60 and Series 40 mobile device platforms. Microsoft’s technology allows users of Nokia cellphones to share protected pieces of content—like music, games or videos between phones, PCs and other devices.—between phones, PCs and other devices. The technology supports a range of business models that can be applied to almost any type of digital content (music, video, games, ringtones, images and more) and a range of audio and video formats (including Windows Media Audio ( WMA), Windows Media Video (WMV), AAC, AAC+, AMR and H.264).

Deal between two rivals

Nokia’s S60 software is used extensively in Nokia’s line-up, but also in advanced cell phones of LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. Its closest rival is Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile. In 2005 the two companies signed their first co-operation agreement to take Windows Media player on to Nokia phones. As cell-phone prices decline, mobile makers are looking for new revenue from potentially lucrative software operations, while at the same time Microsoft is looking for new revenue from the mobile space. Microsoft released the PlayReady Porting Kit for mobile devices in early August 2007, and expects the first services using Microsoft PlayReady technology to appear in 2008. Nokia said it expects many S60 and its lower-tier Series 40 phones, which are also included in the deal, using PlayReady technology to hit the market in 2008.

Nokia iTunes to challenge Apple:

Nokia is expected to launch an online music and mobile content store, a rival to Apple’s iTunes, in coming months, using technology gained from last year’s acquisition of U.S. digital music distributor Loudeye. Nokia’s tease site may bring more suprises apart from two new music phones N81 and N82. will launch the new worldwide service Aug. 29 at a London event that will include live music at the Ministry of Sound nightclub. The new Nokia Web site will let consumers download songs to their PCs and transfer them to mobile phones and other portable music players, similar to Apple’s iTunes. Nokia is expected to let users transfer songs to non-Nokia phones using digital-rights-management software. will offer more than a million songs, fewer than Apple’s five million - plus but more than the 200,000 at iTunes’ start. Nokia’s rival Sony Ericsson is also likely to push into the music-downloading sphere.