Nokia Launches N-Gage Unit to Varied Response: 10/07/03 (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker Nokia on Tuesday launched its much-hyped N-Gage gaming handset, with prices varying widely and one operator on its home Finnish turf giving the new model only a tepid welcome.

Nokia launched the phone in Asia early on Tuesday, part of a global blitz to kick off one of the Finnish firm's largest-ever product launches as it seeks growth from the gaming sector to offset slowing expansion of the global handset market in which the firm has an almost 40 percent global market share.

Nokia said it aims to sell between six and nine million units in its first year, between now and the end of 2004, as it seeks to break the grip on the handheld gaming console market currently dominated by Japan's Nintendo GameBoy.

"That represents the critical mass required for the business to become a successful platform," Loren Shuster, Asia Pacific director of Nokia's entertainment and media unit, said at an event in Hong Kong.

It is the first device to combine a handheld gaming console with conventional mobile phone features.

Nokia has suggested a "typical price" of 300 euros for the phone, which has a color screen, MP3 player and FM radio to boot, but an initial sampling showed prices well above and below this figure.

Prices of between 299 euros in Finland to 360 euros in Italy were seen by Reuters reporters.

Some UK retailers said on Monday Nokia had offered to subsidize the phones, with British mobile phone service provider mmO2 saying it would sell the device for 99 pounds ($165.9) as long as the customer signed up for a monthly tariff of between 20 and 50 pounds ($33.52-83.81).

In The Netherlands mobile operator Telfort even offers the model for free with a 25 euro ($29.28) a month subscription.

Nokia denies it is offering any subsidies, but has declined to say at what price it is selling the phone to retailers.

On Nokia's home turf Finland, the country's second-largest operator, Elisa, said it was only selling the phone in some of its stores.

"In the future it's possible we could have it, but not now. We'll see how it sells (first)," a sales official said at one of Elisa's largest outlets.

Nokia shares were 1.7 percent lower on Tuesday at 14.08 euros, with brokers in Helsinki saying the rising euro against the dollar, which pinches euro zone exporters, was more a factor in the share price than the N-Gage launch.

Investors shrugged off the share price reaction, pointing out analysts estimate that Nokia is splashing out some 150 million euros to launch the new model.

"This is a very big investment for Nokia and it was prepared so thoroughly that it does not hinge on one day. The Christmas market will be decisive here," one Helsinki-based broker said.