The following story is a mixture of rumour and speculation. We'll say that up front. But the rumour came from multiple sources, and it made us speculate, so we thought it was worth running.

The rumour is this: Nokia is planning to launch a 'Comes With Games' initiative, possibly by Christmas, with at least one top-tier mobile games publisher already signed up.

What's 'Comes With Games'? Well, Nokia has already announced its plans to launch Comes With Music, an initiative which will see the price of music rolled into the cost of buying a handset. You'll buy a phone, and then get unlimited music downloads for a year.

Comes With Music is due to launch this year, with major labels Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group already on board. So, Comes With Games would presumably be a similar idea, but for games. You buy a handset, and you get free games for a set period from participating publishers.

Crazy talk? So far, the scheme is only gossip from sources outside Nokia. I raised the idea during an interview this morning with Nokia's Ari Tulla, but he didn't bite one way or the other – and since the interview wasn't arranged to discuss it, I didn't press the point.

The speculation comes in here – is a Comes With Games possible? On one level, clearly yes. Mobile games are digital assets, like music, after all.

There are key differences, of course. Is offering a phone with free games as powerful a marketing tool as free music? Probably not. Should a £5 game be treated in the same way as a 79p digital song? That's open to question.

It's unclear whether Comes With Games would even work in the same way as Comes With Music. Perhaps Nokia could tie it to N-Gage, add £60 to the price of a handset, and let you download a free game every month.

Perhaps it's nothing to do with N-Gage at all, and relates to Java games instead. During the GCDC mobile conference sessions yesterday, Nokia hinted that its SNAP Mobile connected platform is about to undergo a significant change. Buy a phone, get a year of free ad-funded multiplayer Java gaming?

The big question about any Comes With Games initiative, however, would be what the operators would make of it. Would they be cut in on the deal somehow, or be cut out altogether? And if the latter, what would their response be? If it is in the works, have they been consulted?

Also, would it extend to all publishers, a select few, or even just one partner? Questions, questions. Not necessarily insurmountable barriers, though.

Nokia certainly isn't shy of innovation right now, whether business or technical, so Comes With Games (if it happens) could be a significant rock hurled into the mobile gaming pond. Like we said, it's only a rumour, but watch this space.