Nokia Launches Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) Services in India

Nokia announced the launch of its much anticipated and localized Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) service. Delivering the latest and rich local catalogue and created specifically for the Indian market, the service will offer more than four million tracks from across 19 genres including Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Pop, Bollywood, Sufi, Indipop, Indian Classical, Devotional, Ghazals, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri, amongst others. Consumers who buy a Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited enabled device will be able to download millions of tracks for free, direct to their mobile phone or to their PC from the Ovi Music Store for 12 months. More importantly, they will get to keep all their downloaded music forever.

Ovi Music Unlimited will redefine the way Indian consumers discover, download and enjoy digital music. The service offers consumers free access to the latest high quality legal digital music downloads and customized playlists. The service also offers full metadata and improved search, with the ability to search for tracks by the name of the actor, actress or movie. Tracks can also be shared between Ovi Music Unlimited users via Bluetooth technology. New songs by major labels will also be available on Ovi Music Unlimited when released in India.

"Ovi Music Unlimited delivers a compelling digital music download experience with features unique to the market," says Ms. Elizabeth Schimel, Global Head of Music and Connected Entertainment, Nokia. "In partnership with major global labels and more than 150 local music labels and publishers, the service offers the richest choice of local music paired with tracks from major international artists, creating the largest catalogue of its kind in India."

Continues Schimel, "India is the 30th market to launch our unlimited music download service, and follows recent launches in China and Indonesia. The service adds further scale, evolution and differentiation to our global music services."

The service will include catalogues from major global labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. Nokia's local partnership with Indian Music Industry (IMI) brings a consortium of more than 150 music companies; Hungama that represents major labels including Yash Raj, Tseries, Eros; and SIMCA (South Indian Music Companies Association), amongst others.

Mr. D. Shivakumar, Vice President & Managing Director, Nokia India says, "Music is an intrinsic part of the Indian culture. We did in-depth research over months with Indian consumers on how they would like to consume music on their mobile phones and used the findings to create a �Made for India� music service proposition in the form of Ovi Music Unlimited. We are very excited about launching this amazing service that is truly unique and addresses key challenges of accessibility, affordability and piracy that have existed around music consumption."

The customization of Ovi Music Unlimited includes reducing the Ovi client size from 60 MB to 3 MB to address broadband seed challenge, multiple PC access to address the challenges around low PC penetration, sharing music through Bluetooth and creating search parameters by actor, actress and movie names. The freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled and Nokia is confident that it will influence how the Indian users consume music in the future.

Nokia X2 in India:

Also announced today is the Nokia X2 - the latest Ovi Music Unlimited enabled music device. Designed for young music lovers, the Nokia X2 comes with dedicated music keys and 3.5mm AV connector, FM radio with built-in antenna, a digital music player and loud stereo speakers for sharing music. On top of a great music experience, the Nokia X2 offers a 5 megapixel camera with flash and a video recorder.

With access to Facebook from the home screen, and the latest games and apps downloadable from Ovi Store, the Nokia X2 also offers Nokia Messaging for email and IM. Priced at approximately EUR 85, excluding local taxes and subsidies, the Nokia X2 will be available in India during the third quarter of 2010.

Source: Nokia India