Next Generation Web World: Nokia rolls up sleeves in Middle East, North Africa

Nokia is all set to have, by 2010, an installed base of 300 million internet-capable devices that would enable some 350 million cellular subscribers in Middles East and North Africa (Mena) region to fully exploit the new wave of convergence between internet and mobility.
"Can Nokia change the Internet? ... We believe we have something to offer to the Internet... we are building the foundations for context aware web services... context means time, place and people, when services can be linked to these three fundamental elements, we can see completely new services emerging," said Nokia Executive Vice President, Markets, Anssi Vanjoki while addressing a Media Conference last Thursday here at Dead Sea.
The international conference, titled 'Collaborate... Innovate. Mena Press Update 2008', was attended by more than 80 journalists from across the globe, including 11 representing various print and electronic media institutions from Pakistan. The event also comprised a number of consecutive interactive sessions, namely the design, music, demos, interviews and TWWLN (The World We Live with Nokia in 2008), with Nokia's global and regional executives covering a variety of topics related to mobility.
Highlighting the excessive use and the resultant importance of various Internet-driven electronic devices used for media sharing, social networking, immediate access to entertainment and information etc, Vanjoki said Nokia's new Internet-capable small mobile computers would lay the foundation for new profitable businesses.
Introducing Ovi brand that would enable the users to realise full potential of the Internet, he said that Nokia devices were fast becoming 'fourth screen' for the people to enjoy digital content and share their experiences.
According to Nokia official, the high-end mobile phones had evolved into multimedia computers that were offering the functionalities of many portable single-purpose devices, like camera, music player, pocket computer, GPS, etc. On the occasion, Chris Braam, Vice President, Sales, announced that to change the way, Mena people access, share and experience the music his company was introducing the widest range of music-enabled devices, like Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.
Besides, he said, Nokia would also open the first 'Nokia Music Store' in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December this year. On the Navigation front, Braam said that Nokia maps, covering over 110,000 km detailed roads, 67,500 Points of Interest, and a voice guidance in six languages, were available for six Mena countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
For gaming, he said, N-Gauge was live in the Mena region since April, offering close to 20 game titles. However, throughout the Conference, no Nokia official could come up with a satisfactory answer to the question as to what remedy the world's leading mobile phone supplier would propose for highly advanced techno-based societies, like Japan and Hong Kong, where extensive use of telecommunication had isolated the masses socially which had led to mental frustration, with a high suicide rate being the ultimate result. Vanjoki was not positive when one journalist from Pakistan asked him why his side was not going for self-sufficiency-based options, like transfer of technology, or establishing mobile manufacturing units in the investment-hungry developing countries, like Pakistan.
Expressing concern over Islamabad's strict measures, like levy of Rs 500 tax on the purchase of mobile phones, and declaring them a luxurious item, Steve Lewis, Head of 'Go To Market', termed Pakistan a potential market for Nokia products. Others, who unveiled Nokia's present and future strategy for devices and services, included David Mason Head of Technology Marketing Corporate Strategy, Axel Meyer Head of Design Nokia N-series, Christophe Corsi Head of Live Category etc.