Nokia Unveils New Multimedia Phones
Nokia on Tuesday introduced three new phones, as well as announcing several partnerships aimed at further solidifying its leadership in the mobile multimedia category.
The devices would join Nokia's N Series line of "converged" devices, which offer several different entertainment options in a single electronic device. The partnerships are intended to support these new handsets.
Nokia said it expects the market for converged devices to grow to 100 million units in 2006 and 250 million by 2008. Third-party research showed that 53 million devices were sold in 2005, with Nokia accounting for more than half that number.
"Nokia Nseries brings mobility to those experiences which used to be linked to a place or a single purpose device," Nokia executive vice president and Multimedia general manager Anssi Vanjoki said in a statement. "Our goal is to make it easy for people to have their favorite experiences with them all the time."
Vanjoki added that Nokia has sold some 5 million N Series phones since their launch last year.
The new Nokia N93 will double as a video camcorder that can be connected to the user's television screen. The phone has a 3.2-megapixel camera along with DVD-like video capture and video stabilization features.
Additionally, Adobe has announced support for the N93, teaming with Nokia to provide a complete video editing solution. The standard sales pack of the device would include a copy of Adobe's Premiere Elements 2.0 and Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0, the company said.
The Nokia N73 can be used as a digital camera, and packs in stereo speakers with 3D sound. A 3.2-megapixel camera is included, as well as support for uploading photos to the Yahoo! Flickr website.
Yahoo has joined forces with Nokia to support the N73, as well as for the N93 and N72 announced Tuesday. The functionality to upload the photos would be built in directly to the Image Gallery application of each device. No additional software would be needed, Nokia said.
The Nokia N72 is the third new handset from the company. Its focus will be on digital music, with an integrated audio player and FM radio. Additionally, the phone will include a 2-megapixel camera.
The N72 is slated to become available in June, with the N73 and N93 launching in July. Unsubsidized prices will range between 320 euros ($396 USD) for the N72 to 550 euros ($681 USD) for the N93. All phones will be released in Europe first, and no release dates for other markets were announced.