Nokia Goes to Etisalat in UAE for Mobile Internet Services
Etisalat, a telecom service provider in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
and Nokia announced their collaboration today (April 27) to provide
access to mobile Internet based services in the Middle East. The
services include maps, navigation, and games on Nokia devices, based on
the Ovi services platform provided by Nokia.
In the
first phase, according to Nokia, Etisalat's UAE mobile customers will be
able to enjoy Ovi Maps and N-Gage Games on their Nokia devices, through
an easy payment mechanism. Subscribers to Ovi Maps and purchasers of
N-Gage games can choose to combine their payments for these mobile
internet based services with their Etisalat account.
The
United Arab Emirates will be the first country in the Middle East and
Africa to roll out this service during Q2, 2009, while the cooperation
will be extended to other Etisalat operations in the Middle East and
Africa, Nokia says.
Of
late, Nokia has been facing some severe business pressure in the
dwindling mobile market. This is also reflected in its financial
results, as its
net sales plummeted 27% year-on-year at EUR 9.3 billion
for the first quarter of 2009.
Now, to
improve its sales performance, it’s taking a number of steps including
its expansion in the emerging markets. Its collaboration with Etisalat
is among those steps.
And
mobile Internet is believed to be a potential market. For example, in
the U.S., the number of people using their mobile devices to access news
and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to
January 2009. Among the audience of 63.2 million people, 22.4 million
(35%) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year,
reports comScore.
Ovi
allows access to Nokia services like maps, navigation, games, messaging
and music, as well as the ability to manage, sync, and share personal
files or information. It’s the consumer brand for Nokia internet
services.
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