Nokia offers Tube as iPhone rival, dismisses Apple

Nokia has given its touchscreen phone an early name and demonstration, the company has revealed at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference. The handset maker at the Redwood City-based event said its first touch device is internally known as the Tube and is said to be visually similar to the iPhone. However, the Finnish handset is already known to include features that its Apple competitor lacks, including the ability to directly upload videos as well as support for Java-based apps.

Neither additional features nor a release date have been discussed, though Nokia has demonstrated the Tube playing Shrek the Third and last year showcased a likely related concept that includes iPhone-like photo navigation and an accelerometer that auto-rotates the image depending on the phone's relative position to the user.

At the conference, Forum Nokia VP Tom Libretto directly compared the Tube to the iPhone and explained that both features as well as sheer market influence would help Nokia outmuscle Apple. The latter has shipped 4 million iPhones as of January but is dwarfed by Nokia's sales, which saw 133.4 million phones shipped just in the holiday quarter alone. Apple is simply unable to match that production scale, according to the executive.

"We've done that [iPhone level of volume] since we've had dinner on Friday," Libretto says.