No
PC; it’s Mail on Mobile with Nokia Ovi
The
harsh economic conditions in the developed markets are forcing mobile
players to experiment in the untouched, virgin markets. Nokia is leading
this effort. It says over 110 million Nokia mobile phone users can set
up their own Ovi email account directly on their phones without a PC.
Under beta now, mail on Ovi is a free email account from Nokia.
People
who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own email address
directly on their mobile phones. The Ovi email account, says the
company, gives a person all the features and functionalities of a
typical PC-based email account.
As
developed markets are increasingly saturating, Nokia has been targeting
mobile have-nots in the emerging markets. Last month, it released the
new software development kit (SDK) for its Series 40 6th Edition
mass-market mobile devices.
According to IDC,
mobile phone market will get affected
because of economic crisis and total mobile phone volumes will be 1.9%
lower in 2009 than 2008 levels. The researcher expects worldwide growth
to be just 7.1% in 2008 before slipping into negative growth in 2009.
This is
among the reasons that most mobile players are bundling various services
and product features to get sufficient market share and keep their sales
machinery humming.
With a
slew of mobile devices and services, last month Nokia also decided to
target
consumers in the emerging markets.
Estimated retail prices of the new devices – with which Nokia is
planning to bridge the digital divide – range from 25 EUR to 90 EUR. The
campaign will begin in India next year.
As part
of its strategy for the developing markets, a couple of months ago Nokia
had also introduced data gathering software solution, which is designed
to help public sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) collect
data on critical issues such as
disease outbreaks or disaster relief via mobile
devices.
Nokia
Ovi is among the tools for the company to capture more share in the
virgin markets. During the Beta period, consumers will be able to choose
from 12 languages based on the settings of their device, including
English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog,
Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
"Rather
than focusing purely on push email for mobile users, we are mobilizing
email across Nokia's mainstream device portfolio, while giving consumers
in emerging markets their first email account, Mail on Ovi, as well as
their very own internet identity. These people are the new 'mobile
digital natives' who will exclusively use their mobile phones for email
and internet, rather than a PC," says senior VP Tom Furlong, who
oversees consumer messaging task within Nokia's Services & Software
organization.
The
company informs that mobile phone users from India, Malaysia, and the
Philippines have been able to use the beta service since November, and
the availability is now being extended to other parts of the world.
Nokia
has launched more than 35 Nokia Series 40 device models which
immediately enable the creation of the Mail on Ovi email account. As of
October 2008, Nokia has shipped more than 110 million of such devices
globally, it says.
