When Google announced plans in October to revolutionize the software of cellular phones, few were more eager to hear the details than the industry veterans at Nokia. They still are.

"Weصve seen an announcement,س Nokiaصs chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said with more than a hint of sarcasm. زConceptually, we could have made that announcement a long time ago.س

For a decade, Mr. Kallasvuo said in an interview here, Nokia has had its own army of software developers, writing applications for the next generation of mobile telephone services.

In the United States, at least, it has little to show for it. Although it is the largest handset maker in the world - with 39 percent of the global market of 1.1 billion phones - Nokia has languished in the American market, hurt by its refusal to adapt its strategy to the marketصs idiosyncrasies.

"We felt we could teach the U.S. market how we do business elsewhere, and frankly, that failed,س Mr. Kallasvuo said. زNow we just want to act, based on the needs and requirements of the market.س

As it sets out to regain its footing in the United States, Apple and Google are going after Nokiaصs franchise. But in doing so, they are shaking up the wireless industry in a way that may open up the one market that has flummoxed Nokia.

Apple, with its innovative iPhone, is changing the business relationship between the handset maker and the carrier. زApple has managed to get operators to pay a bounty for new customers signed up - that is a sea change,س said John Tysoe, an analyst with the Mobile World, a research firm in London.

Google plans to create software that will turn cellphones into the principal portal to a mobile Web. Android, Googleصs open-source platform for software, aims to transform the cellphone into a pocket computer in which any number of software applications could be added to a phone just as software is added to a PC.

Nokia views Apple as the first credible entrant into its market in years, Mr. Kallasvuo said. As for Google, he said he would wait for more details before deciding whether it is a threat or an opportunity. It did not go unnoticed that Google did not ask Nokia to join its Open Handset Alliance, a 34-company group that includes Motorola, Samsung and HTC.

"Itصs very clear that Apple, Google and other players are bringing in a lot of new directions,س said Mr. Kallasvuo, 54, on a rare day working at Nokiaصs waterfront headquarters in a suburb of Helsinki. زConvergence is a nice, dandy word, but it means industries colliding.س

For Nokia, the cellphoneصs growing role as the indispensable device in a wireless, Web- connected world ought to be a boon. It already sells half of the worldصs so-called smartphones - Web-enabled devices like the iPhone, Research in Motionصs BlackBerry and Nokiaصs N95.