Telstra is not going to support the new Nokia music service which is essential for the new 5800 Nokia Smartphone which the Finland based Company is banking on to take on the Apple iPhone. Instead the Company will push BigPond Music.
And in another blow for Nokia it is reported from Europe that their 5800 Smartphone will not be sold in Australia until 2009.
Insiders at Telstra have said that the carrier is “keen to promote their own service over that of phone Companies”. In the UK 4 carriers have already said no to selling the Nokia music service, among them are Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-Mobile.
Instead Nokia is looking to resellers to sell their music service. In a statement to the Financial Times Nokia said: “We are optimistic we will have several operators on board by the end of the year.”
Nokia’s answer to Apple’s iPhone will go on sale in India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain by year-end but not in Australia, The UK, Germany or the USA.
Reuters Reported “The phone is competitively priced and Nokia’s competitive advantage is in emerging markets. When putting two and two together it’s logical they start the roll-out from emerging markets,” said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics who also claimed that Nokia will ship more than 10 million touch-screen phones next year.
JP Morgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said he had hoped the 5800 would be in shops in developed markets by Christmas. “This is disappointing as we had expected the device to be shipping in the critical holiday season for most developed countries”.
