As expected, Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, is launching its free music platform on Thursday, according to Reuters, as the company throws down the gauntlet for Apple's dominance of the digital music market.

Nokia's package differs from other music services in that buyers can keep all of the music they download in the first 12 months. There's no additional charge to the consumer at all, since the service is bundled in with the price of the phone.

"'Comes with Music' could potentially bring free music to millions of consumers, radically changing the music industry, and offering a significant threat to Apple's dominance," said Strategy Analytics' David MacQueen in a research article. "In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user."