Nokia launches Ovi Life Tools in Africa's largest mobile market

 

Nokia has announced that Ovi Life Tools, its leading emerging market information service, is now available in Nigeria - one of Africa's fastest growing economies and the continent's largest mobile market. The launch follows hot on the heels of highly successful launches over the last year in Indonesia, India and China. Nokia claims that currently it has over 6.3 million Ovi Life Tools users globally, and the introduction of this service in Africa is seen as an extension of Nokia's grip in emerging markets.

Ovi Life Tools offers a wide range of information services covering healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment which address the needs of consumers and helps improve their economic prosperity and quality of life. It is a key part of Nokia's overall strategy to connect the next billion people by providing access to locally relevant services on affordable mobile devices.

 "This is another important milestone for Nokia as we continue to expand our services in emerging markets. Farmers will be able to check market prices without travelling long distances, people will be able to find important information to stay healthy and students will be able to learn English and improve their general knowledge at their own pace. All of this on easy-to-use and affordable mobile phones", Nokia's head of Mobile Phone Services, Dieter May, said.

Nigerian users will have access to a wide range of services and information on their mobile phones through Nokia's Ovi Life Tools which include:

- Healthcare services: Mother and childcare, health & fitness and disease information.
- Agriculture services: Market prices, news & advice and weather.
- Education services: Learn English, acquire general knowledge and access exam results.
- Entertainment services: Football results, music, news alerts, horoscopes and jokes.

May continued: "We have made sure that the service is locally relevant. The agriculture service provides prices on 25 different commodities including cocoa, beniseed (sesame) and fish to name a few, and covers all 36 states in Nigeria. But people also want to have fun, so in football crazed Nigeria we have made sure that the news and entertainment service includes the latest results from the European leagues and from the national team. Affordability is also critical. With almost 30 percent of the population below the poverty line, every cent makes a huge difference to people's household budgets, so we have set out to build a service that is able to further improve their quality of life for just 1 Euro per month."

According to the release, Nokia's Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria will be offered on the Nokia 2690 and on the Nokia C1-01 through two of Nigeria's largest operators, Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile, at the affordable price of NGN 250 (EUR 1.25) for the agriculture service and NGN 200 (EUR 1) per month for all other subscriptions. More devices will be added in the future.

Nokia Ovi Life Tools will be available countrywide in Nigeria in three languages - English, Hausa and Pidgin English.

Source: www.nokia.com