Xbox 360 to go on sale Nov. 22

The next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox game console will be available in the United States two days before Thanksgiving, in time for the important holiday shopping season, the company said Wednesday.

The Nov. 22 launch of Xbox 360 in North America will be followed by a Dec. 2 launch in Europe and a Dec. 10 launch in Japan.

The releases will allow the Redmond-based software maker to get a head start over rival Sony’s PlayStation 3, which is slated to replace the market-leading PlayStation 2 next spring.

The Japanese unit will cost 37,900 yen, or about $345 — slightly less than the $399.99 the company is charging in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Microsoft had previously disclosed the U.S. price, as well as the European price of 399.99 euros.

Microsoft also is selling a scaled-back version, dubbed “Xbox 360 Core System,” for $299.99 in North America and 299.99 euros in Europe. But David Reid, director of platform marketing for Xbox, said the company had decided there wouldn’t be enough demand to immediately launch that cheaper system in Japan.

Reid said the company priced the Xboxes relative to what other, similar gadgets cost in the respective countries. He said the decision to charge less in Japan than the United States did not have anything to do with the fact that the first version of the Xbox has not been as successful in Japan as Microsoft had hoped.

Nokia to offer its own e-mail service

Nokia Corp. is joining a suddenly crowded field of BlackBerry rivals, becoming the first major cell phone maker to weigh into the mobile e-mail market with its own brand and service.

The Finnish company said the new application, Nokia Business Center, will join rather than replace the existing lineup of mobile e-mail and productivity options available on Nokia devices. Those include BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd., GoodLink from Good Technology Inc., and applications from Seven Networks Inc. and Visto Corp.

Much like those players, Nokia plans to offer the new service through wireless carriers, beginning in the fourth quarter.

While at first the service will only be available on six Nokia smart phones running on the Symbian operating system, the company plans to make the application compatible with its entire product line, as well as Java-based handsets made by rivals including Motorola Corp.