Parks include Central Park, Union Square Park and Corona Flushing Meadows and will feature the network infrastructure owned and managed by WiFi Salon.

According to the release, Nokia will introduce its mobile multimedia services in the parks during the summer, with media partners providing complimentary mobile versions of their content.

"This is a great opportunity for Nokia to showcase the capabilities of our mobile multimedia devices," said Floris van de Klashorst, Nokia's director of multimedia. "Wi-Fi in the parks is an excellent way to pilot new services with our partners in the media industry, while New Yorkers can enjoy some of their favorite pastimes while in the parks -- such as reading the paper, listening to music or accessing the Internet -- in an entirely new way."

Users have access to the multimedia services via Nokia products that have wireless LAN built in, including the Nokia N80, Nokia N91, and Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. The public WiFi network is also accessible by laptops and other portable devices with wireless LAN.

"Wi-Fi can be more than about Web surfing and checking e-mail," added WiFi Salon CEO Marshall Brown. "What if a hot spot was not just a gateway, but a destination? What if it offered rich multimedia experiences based on the neighborhood where you are located? As prime neighborhood meeting grounds, parks are ideal places for people to experience this new approach to public Wi-Fi."

Copyright 2006 by United Press International