Nokia hopes to attract buyers with e-mail feature

New N97 model launched in Barcelona

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Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile telephones, is hoping to attract more customers by offering new services.
      At a press conference in Barcelona on Tuesday, the company introduced an application that allows users to access numerous e-mail accounts on their mobile telephones.
     
The technology allows users to access gmail, hotmail, and AOL accounts. The user would not need to seek the messages from a server. Instead, the messages would be put automatically into the telephone’s e-mail system.
      Nokia’s software also makes it possible to use various instant messaging services. In addition, the user can get a personal Nokia @ovi.com e-mail address.
      Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo says that Nokia’s aim is to bring e-mail within the reach of everyone.
      He noted that 75 per cent of the world’s population do not yet have e-mail. “Most of them will have their first experience with e-mail on a mobile telephone”, he predicted.
     
Nokia also introduced its new N97 model with a 3.5 touchscreen and five-megapixel camera. Beneath the tilting screen it has a traditional keyboard. The phone is similar in appearance and functions to the Sony Ericsson Xper model.
      Anssi Vanjoki, director of the company’s Markets unit heaped praise on the new model, and no small amount of scorn on its competitors. He was especially derisive of Apple, whose popular iPhone has a two-megapixel camera and whose lens is somewhat awkwardly located in an upper corner. It also cannot be used to record moving pictures.
      “This is no toy camera in the corner of a phone”, Vanjoki said.
     
The large, and somewhat heavy phone has an estimated tax-free price of EUR 550. In Finland, it will retail at EUR 990, which is about twice the retail price of an iPhone.
      Nokia also said that it had closed its deal for buying the software company Symbian Limited. The move was described as a “fundamental step” in the establishment of a Symbian Foundation (see link).


Links:
  Nokia press release (2.12.2008): Nokia acquires Symbian Limited
  Symbian Foundation
  Nokia press release (2.12.2008): Nokia World 2008: Transforming THE Internet into YOUR Internet
  Nokia press release (2.12.2008):Desktop. Laptop. Pocket: The era of the personal Internet dawns with the Nokia N97

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