Nokia emulates Iphone and Itunes

AT A press conference in London, Nokia demonstrated its next generation UI which it called the Experience Suite. Those owning an Apple Iphone would have experienced a strong sense of déjà vu.

That's because it takes full advantage of the touch screen to manipulate video clips - the feature which most impressed the INQ about the Iphone.

Navigation is controlled via an enhanced cursor pad. In the demo it was just like the central navigation pad on the N95, for example. But much larger.

The new UI will enable the handset user to navigate between applications using one flick of the thumb. The applications are found by shuffling through various 'panes'. Lucky Nokia didn't call them windows.

There's no need to use keys with the UI, although the UI will be employed on slider phones to make it easy for users to send texts.

The new UI should make its first appearance with the Nokia N81 and an enhanced version of the existing N95 - the N95 8GB. Both should be available in Q4 2007.

Nokia also revealed that built into future phones will be the gaming technology which it has created with its dedicated N-Gage devices. There'll also be access to Nokia's new Music store which it also announced today.

The Music Store will be a direct rival to Apple's Itunes store. But unlike Apple's store, Nokia's will be totally open. The company claims to have the support of not only the Big Four but independent labels too.

Nokia will eventually provide a PC client that will enable users to rip CDs directly to their mobile phones.

To say that Nokia has taken on Apple in both UI terms and in internet music provision is putting it mildly. µ