Equipment vendor Nokia has taken many steps to revitalize its slumping core cell phone business, including adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone as its primary OS. The company now also wants to change the way its mobile devices sound. Nokia has announced a crowdsourcing contest to find a fresh remix of the ringtone that has been embedded in all its phones for the past 18 years.
The original Nokia Tune ringtone, which Nokia claims can be heard over one billion times daily, was introduced in 1994. It is an excerpt from Francisco Tarrega's waltz "Gran Vals" (below).
Although the company is searching for a refresh of the tune, Nokia is at the same time "looking for a tune that is fresh, expressive, original, and creative yet distinctively a Nokia Tune... in the spirit of 'Connecting People.'"
Ten semi-finalists will be selected on October 5. Five of these will be selected by public voting ("Likes"), and five by a professional jury. The jury will then choose the winner and runners up.
The first prize is $10,000. Five runner-up prizes of $1,000 each will also be awarded. The winner’s remix will be loaded onto over 100 million Nokia devices manufactured during 2012. Both the winner's and runners' up ringtones will be available as free downloads from Nokia's online Ovi Store.
