Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, delayed its N-Gage gaming service for a second time for further software work.

The service will start in early 2008, rather than this month, Kari Tuutti, a spokesman for the Espoo, Finland-based company, said today in a telephone interview. Nokia initially planned to begin the service last month, and on Nov. 2 pushed it back for the first time because of software glitches.

``It's a few weeks' postponement,'' Tuuti said. ``We've identified one software element that needs to be fine-tuned.''

N-Gage is part of Nokia's plan to expand beyond handsets and equipment. The company will sell music, maps and games for mobile phones through the Ovi Web site. This month Nokia unveiled the ``Comes With Music'' program, allowing customers to buy a phone with a year of unlimited access to millions of songs.

Facing competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Nokia has introduced new music phones and is seeking to sell more services. Ovi, which means ``door'' in Finnish, will sell games for 6 euros to 10 euros each.

Nokia fell 25 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 26.75 euros in Helsinki trading. The stock has risen 73 percent this year and is heading for its biggest annual gain since 1999.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Fredriksson in Stockholm at mfredriksson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 27, 2007 11:40 EST