Speaking at the ‘Ovi Mail’ launch for emerging markets, Vice President, Entry Category Marketing, Paula Laine was of the view that mobility has a profound impact on people's lives. Nokia now has an email service with the potential to provide a personal digital identity, perhaps a first step to discovering mobile aspects of the Internet. She said that 1.8 million mobile consumers, of the 20 million new mobile subscribers added daily, are from emerging markets.
As the market head of the entry category, Paula has been with Nokia for nine years in various strategic roles, ranging from mobile phones to networks and CDMA technology. Most recently, she was a technical assistant to Nokia’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
Ovi Mail gives first-time email users the opportunity to set up and start using an email account (username@ovi.com) on their mobile phones. Ovi Mail is a secure and spam-free personal email service designed specially for Nokia Series 40 devices. Mobile phone users who have any of the more than 40 Ovi Mail-optimised mobile devices can set up their email accounts for free within a few minutes, and start using the account immediately. Another benefit of Ovi Mail is that it supports multiple languages, making for easier communications. Today, Ovi Mail is available in more than 10 languages, and will include more than 85 languages (including Sinhala) in the near future.
Speaking on Nokia’s success in emerging markets, General Manager, Nokia (Emerging Asia), Prem Chand said that Nokia’s vision is to provide access to the Internet through mobile devices in emerging markets, where there is low penetration in the Internet due to higher broadband costs.
“Mobile will be next screen that is going to change the world markets by way of convergence and the Internet” he said, adding that there are 4 billion mobile users globally and 2 people out of 3 users the world over have access to a mobile device.
He said that Sri Lanka is an advanced market for Nokia because of the country’s higher gross domestic product (GDP), literacy rate and technological know-how. “While many people are still primarily using voice and text, the Internet does offer a whole new range of opportunities. Ovi Mail has the potential to be the first digital identity for many people in emerging markets. Unlike most other email services, an Ovi Mail account can be created and used directly on a Nokia device without the use of a Personal Computer (PC). Since the launch of the beta service in December 2008, approximately 90% of Ovi email accounts have been created on a Nokia phone,” said Mr.Chand.
Mr. Chand added that, according to extensive Nokia consumer research, nearly half of the customers from emerging markets state that they would prefer to connect to the Internet over a mobile phone than a PC. He added that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have the lowest Internet penetration rates in Asia. Access to the Internet by means of mobile phones would be a most feasible and affordable option. At present, Sri Lanka’s Internet penetration stands at 3.7%, compared to 1.4% in Nepal and 0.3% in Bangladesh.
Nokia also unveiled its new Nokia 2323 Classic and Nokia 2330 Classic phones, which will be available in stores in June 2009. These models come Internet-ready and work with Ovi Mail, giving first-time email users the opportunity to set up and start using an email account directly on their mobile phones. With a choice of colours (black and dark blue), the user-friendly Nokia 2323 Classic will retail for approximately UD$ 60. The Nokia 2330 Classic is a low cost camera phone with a contemporary design and enhanced features, including a VGA Camera, BT and Stereo FM radio and radio recording, and support for MP3 ring tones. It comes in black or deep red and will retail for approximately US$ 50 at all Nokia stores and authorized dealers nationwide.
Nokia is the world’s number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share and a leader in the converging Internet and communications industries.
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