Nokia says new mobile email offer doing well

* Sees mobile email market focus shifting towards consumers

* Says RIM readying Blackberry support for Nokia phones

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

HELSINKI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Nokia (NOK1V.HE) is seeing a good take-up of its new messaging service, the top cellphone vendor's latest challenge to Blackberry-maker Research in Motion's (RIM) dominance in mobile email, a Nokia executive told Reuters on Monday.

RIM (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) created the market for corporate mobile email and its dominant position has protected it from Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

However, "Clearly, things are heading towards the consumer market and that's where Nokia has its strength," Tom Furlong, head of Nokia's messaging services, told Reuters.

RIM has lately focused on developing its consumer offering.

Nokia -- which controls close to 40 percent of the global cellphone market -- last month opened its Ovi email offering, targeting first-time email users, and a messaging service, which enables the user to combine many different emails into a cellphone.