Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter announced Wednesday it has launched the first “newspaper” mobile phone in the world, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday.

The mobile gives subscribers free, direct access to the paper's Web site.

Thorbjoern Larsson, editor-in-chief and publisher of Dagens Nyheter (DN), told AFP the new phone is just another way to get news to readers who don't have access to a paper or a computer.

Subscribers to DN, which has the largest circulation of Swedish morning papers, can buy a Nokia 6120 third generation mobile phone on the newspaper's Web site. When they sign up for a 199-kronor (US $31 or 21 euro) monthly call plan, subscribers can then surf the newspaper's Web site for free by hitting a special “DN” button. So far, the plan looks promising, Larsson said.

“After we announced the launch this morning, we received so many calls that our switchboard broke down. There's a lot of interest out there,” he said, according to AFP.

According to DN, Sweden is behind other technologically advanced countries, like Japan and South Korea, when it comes to the number of people who access the Internet via their mobile phones.

“Many people (in Sweden) think it's complicated (to Internet surf on their mobile phones) and they don't know how much it costs,” Johan Othelius, the paper's head of marketing, told DN. “Now we're removing that obstacle.”