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The world’s biggest maker of mobile handsets, Finnland-based Nokia, is set to go head-to-head with Apples’s iTunes online music service by offering free music downloads to buyers of new Nokia phones with integrated music players. Nokia just announced a deal with the Universal Music label to provide the label’s releases, and aims to ship more than 180 million music-enabled phones by next year. Currently top stars such as Akon, Al Jarreau or PJ Harvey are signed by Universal Music.

The new download service is called “Comes with Music” and is scheduled to start in the second half of 2008. Nokia customers will then get free music from Universal’s entire back catalogue for 12 months - and actually be able to keep all the music.
The Apple folks in Cupertino, who dominate the digital music market with their iTunes online music store, are certainly not gonna like this offer.