Hewlett-Packard Co. Announced on Monday to introduce a new online music service across 10 countries in Europe with U. K. mobile music start-up Omnifone Ltd., placing its first step in a market dominated by Apple Inc.'s iTunes.

The service will be available in the U. K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.

As per the deal, H-P will provide its own digital music service using Omnifone's service, with a label H-P MusicStation. Although the online service is restricted only to Europe, yet it puts HP into competition with Apple in online music.

It is a monthly subscription based service which includes unlimited downloads to personal computers, along with 10 favourite tracks to keep forever in digital rights management-free MP3 format, Omnifone revealed in a statement.

A monthly subscription in the U. K. is priced for £8.99, and €9.99 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. While, in Switzerland and Sweden, the cost will be

14.95 Swiss francs and 99 Swedish kronor, respectively.

In addition, the company will offer a 14-day free trial to its new customers.

Revenue will be split between H-P, Omnifone and the music labels under the partnership.