Your next mobile phone could come with all the online music you can handle, after Nokia announced yesterday it would launch one of the first legal music-download services in the Middle East.
The Finnish mobile maker, which accounts for more than one in every three handsets sold worldwide, said yesterday that the Nokia Music Store would launch in the UAE by December.
"It made sense for us to start with this market," said Ayman Chalhoub, who manages Nokia's music business in the region. "This is really an internet business, and the connectivity here, with broadband subscribers, 3G mobile networks, mobile penetration, it is very strong. Music is a local experience and this is an excellent place to start."
Part of the company's package of online services, the Nokia Music Store lets users sample and download music on their computers and mobile phones, paying either a monthly subscription fee or a fixed price for each track.
Internationally, Nokia is one of the main proponents of the "comes-with-music" concept. Under such a system, the purchase of a mobile device includes access to free music downloads from the store. Research suggests the offering can increase demand for devices by up to 50 per cent.
On launch, users will be able to subscribe to an unlimited monthly service that allows them to listen to all the music they want, without downloading and owning the files.
Digital download services like Apple's iTunes Music Store are yet to launch in the Middle East, despite such services being the fastest-growing segment of the global entertainment market. The costs of establishing country-specific distribution deals with major music labels often outweigh the benefits of entering relatively small markets, onlookers say.
Influential Arab music labels like the Saudi Arabia-based Rotana group, however, had enthusiastically signed distribution deals with Nokia, Mr Chalhoub said.
When it launches, the store will be one of the only ways for local consumers to legally download music from the internet. In late May, the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) released details of Getmo, an online music download service that it will launch across the Middle East and North Africa with the entertainment group Sony BMG.
The service will partner with third-party companies like consumer-goods groups and retailers, including credit for music downloads with commonly purchased goods and services. ADMC, which is the parent company of The National, will officially launch Getmo at the Gitex technology conference in Dubai on Oct 19.
Prior to yesterday's announcement, Nokia's music strategy for the region consisted of small steps to promote the music capabilities of its devices. The company released a regional adaptation of its music manager software, which helps users manage their digital collections and transfer them to Nokia phones. It had also partnered with Arabic music labels to include sample pop songs on new devices sold in the region.
tgara@thenational.ae
Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Race card
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m