Nokia has high expectations for new Internet services

CEO Kallasvuo introduces Universal music deal in Amsterdam

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"I feel almost at home here, with the emphasis on the word ‘almost'", said mobile phone manufacturer Nokia's President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo addressing the audience gathered in Amsterdam at the company's Capital Markets Day on Tuesday.
      It was a relaxed and self-assured chief executive who appeared at the annual event; there was no sign of last year's somewhat nervous demeanour.
      Last year in the same place, Nokia had to offer explanations for the lack of thin models among its selection of mobile phones, and to assure listeners that the company was up to dealing with competitor Motorola, which was breathing down Nokia's neck at the time.
      Inside a year Motorola has fallen far behind and Nokia's range of models has become the envy of the market. The focus of Nokia's presentation was on new conquests, competitors, and the Internet.
     
Nokia believes that the Internet service market will grow to about EUR 100 billion by 2010, and Nokia plans to grab a big share of it. The market includes various communities, music and other digital content, search engines, and navigation services.
      "In the mobile Internet we plan to be number one. In these services we are expecting billions of euros in turnover over time", Kallasvuo said, adding that it is the only goal that the company could possibly have.
      Nokia believes that the popularity of mobile navigation, music, and games is growing fast. Nokia expects income from both the services themselves, and from advertising.
      Next year Nokia plans to include a GPS satellite navigator in dozens of models. In November it opened a music store in Britain, and the service is to expand into other markets next year. A game store is coming soon.
     
Free music will be on offer for buyers of certain models as of the second half of next year. On Tuesday it was announced that buyers would be given access to the entire music library of Universal Music for a full year, and that the users will be allowed to keep the downloaded music after the year is over.
      Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's General Manager of Multimedia says that promising discussions are underway with other record companies.
      Nokia will pay the record companies, and the cost will be reflected in the price of the phones.
      "It will be an additional feature on the phone, which will be priced accordingly. We can't say anything more about the prices", Kallasvuo said.
      He insisted, however, that the offer would be attractive for the buyer.
      "It really seems too good to be true, as many of those who have heard about it have said", Vanjoki observed.
     
Nokia also revealed more about the contents of the new Ovi portal. Ovi will allow the PC or mobile user to build a personal web page, collecting all media and entertainment content which can be combined in many different ways.
      Ovi, which means "door" in Finnish, gives access to on-line shopping, and many other services.
      Vanjoki emphasised that Nokia is constantly improving the user-friendliness of its services.
      He admitted that for ordinary users, the N-series of multimedia phones might be difficult to handle.
      "So far we have served as forerunners in technology, but in the future, multimedia devices also need to be easily accessible to us ordinary people as well", Vanjoki said.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia buys new talent (7.10.2007)
  Nokia Q3 result exceeds all expectations; net sales of EUR 12.9 billion and EPS of EUR 0.40 (19.10.2007)
  Nokia stock buoyant on announcement of new music & games portal and N81 handset (30.8.2007)

Links:
  Nokia press release: Nokia World 2007: Nokia outlines its vision of Internet evolution and commitment to environmental sustainability December 04, 2007

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