BARCELONA—Nokia today announced its Ovi store and its plan to reach the masses with e-mail, and it featured two rather high-end devices as part of its Mobile World Congress extravaganza.
“Extravaganza” may be too strong a word, as the company has been somewhat more subdued than others during the current recession. Nonetheless, CEO Olli-
Pekka Kallasvuo & company drew a cathedral full of journalists and analysts to learn about its latest mobile moves.
Those moves include the Ovi store, which Nokia says is different because it’s not just a place to find applications; it’s familiar and knows the user, suggesting things the end-user might like, and doing that with location in mind. “It’s a smart store,” said Niklas Savander, executive vice president at Nokia. The store is not just for smartphones, though. It’s meant to work with a range of phones, from S40 to S60 devices. The Ovi store opens for business in nine countries starting in May.
Nokia also unveiled two additions to its Eseries, the Nokia E75 and the Nokia E55, which are the first to ship with the company’s new e-mail user interface. Both devices are equipped with Nokia Messaging that, when added to the company’s corporate e-mail clients, gives people access to consumer and corporate e-mail.
During their presentations, Nokia executives stressed that e-mail is an essential driver of productivity, and average people – not just U.S. President Barack Obama, who uses the rival BlackBerry device – want their e-mail anytime and anywhere.
The Nokia E75 is expected to ship in March at an estimated retail price of 375 EUR, before taxes and subsidies. The Nokia E55 is expected to ship in the second quarter at an estimated retail price of 265 EUR before taxes and subsidies.
Separately, Mary McDowell, chief development officer and executive vice president at Nokia, said the handset-maker-plus-more wants to bring Ovi to the United States, but the company has nothing yet to announce. The same goes for Comes with Music, which is live in the United Kingdom and will be introduced in more markets this year.
The company continues to work with Verizon Wireless and AT&T. As for LTE, Nokia initially will provide dongles and the like, but it’s a couple years away for any significant volume in handsets.
Meanwhile, Nokia plans on rolling out on a pilot basis in the United States a service whereby a person can point a cameraphone at a point of reference, take a picture and get back information on the place, such as a museum and its hours. “We’re kind of testing different concepts to see what works,” she said. “You can apply the technology so many different ways,” maybe even to get a “read” on personal acquaintances.