Nokia Pumps Up N95 With Video Content

Nokia has released details about the new partnerships it inked for its content initiative, which we pointed to yesterday. CNN, IBN News, Jamba, Sony Pictures, RooftopComedy, ROK, and Versaly Entertainment will join YouTube and Reuters to provide content video for the largest handset maker in the world. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a start, and it neatly avoids the consumer-unfriendly carrier decks. The thing is, this content will only be available on one (one-and-a-half, if you count the 8GB model) cell phone: the N95.

The N95 is a pretty great phone — Om reviewed it at length on GigaOM — but it’s hard to get past the $750 price tag.

If you’re willing to cough up the cash, you’ll be able to watch video via 3G, Wi-Fi or PC. For you iPhoners out there, this beats slow and limited YouTube on your one-button handset — event Google (GOOG) admits YouTube is not getting much use on the iPhone.

Though mobile video has grown much more slowly, especially in the U.S., than some had hoped, ABI Research recently predicted the worldwide market would be worth $17 billion in 2012, up from $1 billion in 2007.

A Nokia spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter the Nokia Video Center content would “eventually” be included on phones other than the N95.