Nokia Battles Branding Issues In Music-phone Revolution

BusinessOnline.com runs a Dow Jones News article on Nokia music phone efforts, which might be hindered by its lack of brand appeal. After being late to market with clamshell design, Nokia is moving quickly into music phones. Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics said, "In 2002, they were fairly early to the market with phones oriented toward music. The brand appeal is key in that sector, and theirs is not at strong at iTunes or Walkman."

Nokia has been aggressive on the handset front offering a number of music playing models, such as the upcoming high-end N91, which will have 4GB of internal memory and cost around 700 euros, or about $830.

Mawston added that "The N91 is a flagship device that they're hoping it will have a halo effect on the lower-range models."