As Apple seems to have hit the spot right-on with their shiny, multifunctional iPhone, phone producers around the world are striving to compete. Some create phones similar to the iPhone, thinking that a lower price and similar offerings will entice buyers and convince them to switch to their company.

Others offer a variety of phones, realizing that few people truly need all the characteristics and services the iPhone has to offer. It’s obvious that a teenager doesn’t need the same applications as a large company’s CEO, and a doctor’s expectations from a phone differ from those of a street vendor.

Nokia, one of the fiercest competitors on the mobile phone market, is again attempting to top all offers. Their new star is a touchscreen phone with an all-time favorite mp3 player. It’s estimated to launch in Europe by the end of this year, given that Nokia is a Finnish company. They have yet to announce a release date for the United States, the market where the iPhone reigns (still) undefeated.

A new version of the phone will be launched next year, and it will offer music enthusiasts a much coveted service: the possibility to download tracks free of charge, for a period of one year.

Somehow, the new version of the 3G 5800 XpressMusic seems to be the ferocious competitor Apple and its iPhone were waiting for. The music track downloading feat will also be available for PCs, enabling buyers to transfer their downloaded tracks to their phones.

The touchscreen has the possibility of being used with a finger, stylus or a plectrum, giving the user several possibilities to navigate about their phone, exploring the multiple options and features this seemingly wonder-phone has to offer.

The 5800 will have a browser with Flash Lite 3 installed so it can surf the entire net, built in GPS navigation, a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, and Nokia says that its music player will be very easy to use as it will be accessible from anywhere in the phone’s menu.

The 5800 Xpressmusic can record videos at VGA quality of 640 x 480 pixels (which the iPhone cannot) and it allows users to expand the phone’s memory with additional memory cards (Apple’s gadget has a built-in memory).