Nokia, the world’s largest handset vendor, has used its ‘Nokia World’ event in Barcelona this week to unveil its first touchscreen Nseries device and a host of new products in its ‘Ovi’ mobile Internet services portfolio. The new Nseries phone – the N97 – is the vendor’s second touchscreen device following the launch of the 5800 XpressMusic last month, though the N97 also includes a physical QWERTY keypad. Both devices are seen as Nokia’s response to Apple’s iPhone and other recent high-end touchscreen devices from rival vendors such as Samsung, LG, HTC and Research In Motion. The N97 features integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, which the vendor says will make it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their status and share their ‘social location’ as well as related pictures or videos. The device supports up to 48GB of storage, including 32GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16GB microSD card. It is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of €550 before taxes or subsidies.

Alongside the launch of the N97, Nokia also announced new Ovi services, including ‘Maps on Ovi,’ ‘Mail on Ovi’ and Nokia Messaging. The mapping solution claims to be the first free service that allows people to pre-plan their journey at home on their PC and synchronise with their mobile. Nokia Maps has been updated to include a number of new features such as high-resolution aerial images, 3D landmarks for 216 cities and terrain maps. Meanwhile, Mail on Ovi will allow users access to email, as well as cross access to other Ovi services, both on the mobile device and on the PC. The beta version of Mail on Ovi will roll-out globally beginning this month. The vendor also launched Nokia Messaging giving consumers access to existing email and instant messaging accounts from the likes of Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail.