With 3G in mind, Nokia plans new strategy

Gearing up to meet the challenges of next generation mobile services -- 3G, the world's largest handset maker, Nokia, on Wednesday announced a slew of new services like music online and location based services to be made available on its new phones, to be launched shortly.

"We are moving away from just devices to devices plus services plus solutions. With the 3G mobile services set to make advent by the middle of next year, we feel that revenue from non-voice services is bound to increase significantly," Nokia India Ltd vice president and general manager D Shivakumar told reporters.

Asked whether Nokia is planning to acquire some of the content providers to enhance services, Shivakumar said, "There is no plan for any acquisition but it will be done through a collaboration with the innovators."

He, however, said that there would be significant investment in ramping up the facilities but declined to give details.

In fact, Nokia called upon Indian mobile and web application developers to create innovative consumer applications exclusively for the upcoming handset N97.

"The applications (for the phone) will be available through the newly announced Ovi store 9a platform created by Nokia for offering value-added services," the company said adding that the Nokia N97, expected to be launched in India by mid-2009, will be the first device from the Finnish handset maker to feature the Ovi store.

India has the largest and most vibrant pool of qualified developers in the world. As the Internet is entering into the core of mobile experiences, the company sees an unprecedented opportunities for Indian developers in shaping the future of mobile experiences.

Targeting the youth, Nokia also announced the availability of its gaming services 'N-gage' in India with additional games and expanded online offering.

Nokia N-gage is a part of Nokia's Internet service brand Ovi and brings alive a made-for-mobile gaming service to provide consumers the power to personalise the Internet experience, Nokia officials said.