The Tube Debuts

I remember how the Nokia execs at the World Mobile Conference press conferences would hem and haw about touch becoming the central metaphor of phone user experience, based on the cataclysmic design of iPhone. But Nokia is a fairly inventive company, and the much anticipated Tube, or 5800 XpressMusic, has been officially launched, as has been noted, elsewhere.

Tube, originally uploaded by Stowe Boyd.

While it is being positioned as a music phone — extra loud volume, for example, allows use as a boom box — the device is designed as an all-media monster. In the photo above the user is watching a video on the screen in landscape.

Nokia is launching a new music service, Comes With Music, which is an all you can eat plan, but uses a (Microsoft?) DRM scheme. Hmmm. I guess I will have to figure out how to get my own mp3s on there: hopefully thay make that easy.

I will be watching to see if mighty Nokia can take a slice of the iPhone/iTunes market space away: while it bears watching, I think its a very tough hill to climb