The Finnish company Nokia officially launched its so-called “Comes with Music” offering on September 2. The service provides access digital music for the price of a handset.

It was first released in the U.K. but the rest of the world will follow soon. Nokia plans to introduce "Comes with Music" next year in other countries such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, and Singapore, but no U.S. launch is yet in sight. Apparently, the expansion to additional countries is quite hard, because Nokia must negotiate rights with record companies and build a repertoire of local artists.

The phone model for this package is Nokia's 5310 phone. With the help of it uses will be able to download as many tracks as they want from Nokia's music store of 2.1 million songs for one year, about a quarter of Apple's iTunes Store.

However, the music already downloaded will not be lost. The world's largest handset manufacturer has signed a deal with Carphone Warehouse to distribute its new package starting in October.

Apparently, Nokia is trying to compete with Apple who dominates the market with its iTunes. Currently, buyers of iPhones or iPod music players must pay extra to download songs from iTunes. Nokia is challenging that business model by charging one price for both the device and the service.

Nokia's basic music-enabled 5310 cost about USD $160 on pre-paid deals and surveys suggest that users are willing to pay between USD $200 and USD $600 for a "Comes with Music" enabled phone.