• The New York Times, Tuesday, December 11, 2007 1 PM

Network operators like AT&T and Verizon Wireless are freeing customers from locked-in handsets and multi-year service agreements, while bold newcomers like Google and Apple are forcing network operators and handset makers alike to innovate.

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker with a 39 percent global market share, regards the entry Google and Apple as both an opportunity and threat to its business. Nokia's mobile Web-based services initiative called "Ovi", which is Finnish for "door," will offer everything from digital mapping to downloading music. In fact, Nokia recently struck a deal with Universal Music Group, the world's largest record label, to offer its customers a year of free unlimited songs from UMG's music catalog. The service is known mysteriously as "Comes With Music."

As for digital mapping, the consumer electronics giant in October threw down a hefty $8.1 billion for the navigation software company Navteq. Nokia plans to use Navteq's technology for a range of location-based services. Consumer watchdog groups might balk at such an attitude toward privacy, but Nokia says young people who use sites like Facebook and MySpace are more comfortable giving up that kind of information.

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