Mobile-phone giant Nokia will start to use Microsoft's copy protection software to boost the use of wireless entertainment, like music and videos, the two companies said on Monday. The world's largest cell-phone maker Nokia will license. Microsoft’s Play Ready digital rights management (DRM) technology, and build it into its S60 software, the most widely used software platform in cell-phone industry. Microsoft’s technology allows people to share protected pieces of content -- like music, games or videos -- between mobile phones, PCs and other devices.Nokia's S60 software is used extensively in Nokia's line-up, but also in advanced cell phones of LGElectronics and Samsung Electronics. Its closest rival is Microsoft's own Windows Mobile. In 2005 the two companies signed their first co-operation agreement to take Windows Media player on to Nokia phones, raising many eyebrows as the two had been fierce competitors in the mobile software industry. As cell-phone prices decline, handset vendors are looking for new revenue from potentially lucrative software operations, while at the same time Microsoft is looking for new revenue from the mobile space. In June, Nokia said it would reshape its whole organization to better focus on software and services.Nokia said it expects many S60 and its lower-tier Series 40 phones, which are also included in the deal, using Play Ready technology to hit the market in 2008.
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