MUMBAI: Nokia India on Tuesday announced the scheduled launch of the beta version of the Nokia Music Store, and has struck up content partnership with the Indian Music India (IMI) that will give it access to a host of international and Indian music companies' music.

The Nokia Touch Music... device, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was also unveiled in Delhi today  Nokia Music Store, a part of the OVI, is an online music service that will deliver over a million tracks from global hits to local artists and provide Indian consumers the freedom to enjoy music at their fingertips  Everything works with one user interface, giving people the opportunity to connect to the music they want, in the way they want.

The Nokia Music Store beta will go live in December 2008, according to the company. The scheduled commercial launch will be in the first quarter of 2009 Nokia has tied up with leading international music companies – Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner – and major independent Indian record labels including Tseries, Big Music, Yashraj and others. The company is also planning to join hands with India's leading music body, Indian Music Industry (IMI), a consortium of over 150 music companies, to give consumers an opportunity to discover and enjoy their favourite music across genres and languages, says a release.

The Nokia Music Store is a service where you can browse and buy music in order to download on your PC and compatible Nokia mobile device. Music downloaded from Nokia Music Store can be conveniently moved between your PC and compatible Nokia device, as well as copied to CD and moved on to compatible digital music players. Nokia Music Store also offers a monthly subscription service that allows you to stream unlimited music from the Store catalogue direct to your internet-connected PC. The Nokia Music Store is available in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Australia, France, Sweden, Spain and Netherlands and will expand to more countries throughout the year.

According to Nokia Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki, With more than 300 million music enabled devices sold, and a strong base of over 10 Nokia Music stores in operation globally, Nokia has been able to gain incredible amount of knowledge and insights on what people want in a music device and track important trends on how people consume music. We will continue to break new grounds in this space by building more and better services for our consumers....

Mobile music will continue to be a key priority area for Nokia in 2009 and our strategy is aimed at developing the market for mobile music by following a partnership driven model that enriches consumer experience with innovative devices, accessories and local content,... Vanjoki added.

Commenting on Nokia's association with music labels Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar, We are happy that major international and national music companies have joined hands with us in our music journey. Together, we will shape this industry and transform the way people enjoy music.

IMI president Vijay Lazarus says, Our association with the market leader Nokia is a significant step forward in shaping the digital music ecosystem in India. It's our first initiative to fundamentally align the interests of music companies with telecommunications. Through this innovative service, we aim to create the most comprehensive music offering designed to meet the increasing consumer appetite for mobile music."