Nokia starts roll-out of gaming, networking sites

By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia began the roll-out of its "N-Gage" gaming service and "Share on Ovi" media sharing site on Tuesday as falling handset prices spur the world's largest cell phone maker to expand into mobile Internet services.

Nokia, which made 40 percent of all cell phones sold in the last quarter of 2007, is the first handset maker to move strongly into the content space.

Millions of users have downloaded songs, video clips, programs or documents since the company launched the Nokia music store and Mosh, a file sharing site, last year.

"These are the first steps on the long journey towards becoming a competitor in the Web 2.0 services space," said CCS Insight research director Ben Wood.

"It now faces the challenge of building awareness for these and other services with consumers who have already gravitated towards established web brands such as Google."

Nokia delayed the opening of its N-Gage gaming service twice last year due to delays in software testing.

On Tuesday it opened it to owners of its N81 multimedia phones around the world, asking them for feedback before opening the service to a wider audience.

"I'm very positive on N-Gage. This is exactly what this market needs when it's clear that some of the operators have thrown in the towel," said Ilkka Paananen, head of game development at mobile gaming firm Digital Chocolate.