Nokia's iPhone rival on shelves this year

London: Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, said it will start sales of its first touch-screen model - rival to Apple's iPhone - in seven markets.

It will roll out the 5800 model this year in India, Indonesia, the UAE, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain.

Apple, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have rolled out their own touch-screen phones over the last two years mostly in developed markets.

Cost

Nokia priced the phone at 279 euros ($395, Dh1,452) excluding subsidies and taxes, which it said was roughly half the price of the other main touch-screen phones on the market.

"The phone is competitively priced and Nokia's competitive advantage is in emerging markets. When putting two and two together it's logical they start the roll-out from emerging markets," said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

The research firm expects Nokia to ship more than ten million touch-screen phones next year.

Nokia said the roll-out was similar to that for many other phones, adding that adjusting phone software to meet the different needs of operators in other markets will take some time.