Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK) Waxes Musical North of the Border

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) has certainly been nothing if not active in the smartphone arena in 2013, introducing new devices and some new services – or updated and upgraded ones – in an attempt to once again become relevant in the smartphone arena. And maybe it seems purely coincidental, but Nokia has been working on one service in particular since launching the Lumia line of phones and has decided to make an announcement on the same week that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) announces its own similar service.

Nokia Music, which launched with a Green Day concert in New York a few months ago, has been slowly making its way around the world, and now Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) announced that it has landed in Canada for the first time, starting this week. This free streaming service – data charges from a wireless carrier apply, of course – is available on all models of Lumia handsets and gives users a library of about 18 million songs without a subscription or those annoying advertisements.

Users can listen to the songs either online or offline and they can create personalized playlists or browse some already created – including a list made by the members of Green Day.

But fret not, those of you who are music junkies and are willing to pay a premium. Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) has you covered. Nokia Music+ is available for about $4 a month and it gives users the ability for unlimited song skips on playlists, the ability to access music tracks from the web and to produce quality sound through a Wi-fi network.

This service has been available in the U.S. since the Lumia handsets first started launching last fall. What are your thoughts about this? Can this Nokia Music service help Nokia gain some additional traction in the smartphone marketplace, or is this a nominal launch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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