The Hindu Business Line : Nokia expanding focus, to offer Net services here

Inernet on mobile
Nokia will bring its Music Store and N-Gage that will enable mobile users to buy music and games from a range of artists and publishers.
Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices.

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, Dec. 11 In a bid to capitalise on the booming mobile value-added services market, handset manufacturer Nokia is planning to expand its focus from mobile devices to offer a range of Internet-based services in India early next year. The company is all set to bring its services arm — Ovi — which was launched globally in August.

Mr D. Shivakumar, Vice-President & Managing Director, Nokia India, told Business Line, “Ovi is an important initiative for Nokia in its efforts to bring the power of communication to the consumer. Ovi, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as acts as a gateway to Nokia services. We should be in a position to roll out this in India by June 2008 or earlier.”

As part of Ovi, Nokia will bring its Music Store and N-Gage that will enable mobile users to buy music and games from a range of artists and publishers, including exclusive content only available through Nokia. Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices. The company plans to charge a fee from users for the service though India specific plans are still being worked out on this front.

“In India everything is free. TV is free and so is Internet. So we have to find a way to monetise the services being offered by Ovi. It could be a mix of free and paid content,” said Mr Shivakumar.

Targeting rivals?

Market analyst point out that the move from Nokia could be a global attempt to counter Apple’s successful iPhone and Google’s initiatives to bring Internet services on custom made mobile handsets. However, Mr Shivakumar dismissed the thought.

“It has got nothing to do with what other companies might be doing. The industry is converging towards Internet driven experiences and Ovi represents Nokia’s vision in combining the Internet and mobility,” he said. Nokia plans to tap the large number of application developers in the country to come up with services specific to India including bollywood songs, cricket related content and also comics.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Broadband

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page