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Nokia have made their move into the Mobile TV market with the N77, aimed at “bringing Mobile TV to the mainstream”. Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (OPK) claimed the N77 handset would “help take live TV out of the living room into your hand”, and expects it to be available in DVB-H (Digital-Video-Braodcasting, Handheld) markets in Q2 this year.

The phone will also include the NOkia Video Centre, which is possible due to a recent deal being struck with video-sharing giant YouTube. The service will combine branded video services, internet videos and sideload videos from PC in one place. Nokia Video Centre will also be available on the N95 and preinstalled on that device going forward.

OPK says he expects the global market for DVB-H handsets to be 5-10 million by next year, and 20 million by 2009.

Mobile TV may well be on its way, but for it to really take off the handsets need to be more attractive than this one. Sure it’s a lower end device aimed at being price competitive, but it isn’t stretching the boundaries of design. And the primary users of Mobile TV, at least for the first year, are going to be those techies that love to show off their phone. I wonder sometimes how Nokia don’t get things like this.

Nokia also recently expanded its business range, with the eagerly waited (by some at least) E90 - the new Communicator. As the picture below shows, it doesn’t look much like a phone any more - which isn’t a bad thing actually. The past communicators were largely ugly looking phones - this looks more like a mini-laptop with phone capabilities.