Etisalat and Nokia collaborate to boost advanced Mobile Internet based services in the UAE

Working together to provide convenient payment options for accessing OVI Maps and N-Gage Mobile Gaming services

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Espoo, Finland - As part of their plans to further boost the adoption of advanced Mobile Internet services in the Middle East, Etisalat and Nokia announced a joint collaboration to provide convenient access to advanced mobile Internet based services. These services include maps, navigation and games on Nokia devices, based on the Ovi services platform provided by Nokia.  

 

In the first phase of the collaboration, Etisalat's UAE mobile customers will be able to enjoy Ovi Maps and N-Gage Games on their Nokia devices, through an easy and convenient payment mechanism. Subscribers to Ovi Maps and purchasers of N-Gage games can now choose to combine their payments for these advanced mobile internet based services with their Etisalat account. The payment will be directed to their account automatically, if chosen accordingly, while customers will also have the existing option of paying through their credit cards.   

 

The United Arab Emirates will be the first country in the Middle East and Africa to roll out this service during Q2, 2009, while the cooperation will be extended to other Etisalat operations in the Middle East and Africa in due course.

 

"Etisalat is delighted to associate with Nokia to promote the next generation mobile Internet services in the Middle East. Etisalat strives to offer the best mobile experience to its customers, while providing them the benefits of convenience, coverage and value. Through this association, Etisalat customers will be able to enjoy advanced services like Mobile gaming and Ovi maps, on Etisalat's widespread and reliable network, that covers the whole UAE for 2G and 2.5 G and 99% of populated areas for 3.5G networks." said Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat.

 

"We also look forward to extending this association to all our subsidiaries to boost the adoption of mobile Internet services across the region," added Al Haddad.

 

"We are excited to be further promoting our good cooperation with Etisalat. As market leaders, this agreement allows us to combine great services with ease of accessibility to provide consumers with a seamless user experience.  Nokia will continue to improve the way people discover and use our services through Ovi, as we continue to add new elements and services.  Our focus is on building the best possible experiences and giving our consumers the choice to access them the way they choose," said Urpo Karjalainen, Senior Vice President, Operator Sales, Nokia. 

 

Ovi allows easy access to Nokia services like maps, navigation, games, messaging and music, as well as the ability to manage, sync and share personal files or information.

Ovi, the consumer brand for Nokia internet services, brings together the online world, the mobile device and computer into an easy to use and consistent consumer experience.

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE April 27, 2009

My Location now in Google Toolbar

Since its launch in Nov 2007, My Location has helped millions of people know where they are and get better local results on their mobile devices. We thought, wouldn't it be great if laptop and desktop users could also take advantage of My Location?

Today we're pleased to announce the launch of Google Toolbar with My Location, part of a new initiative called Toolbar Labs.

Imagine searching for pizza from your computer and seeing the closest pizza places without having to enter your location. No more entering zip codes or city names in your queries -- isn't that magical? Of course, you can already do this with your phone, and searches on the computer can sometimes use an IP address to determine the city that you're in. But now your location can be determined much more precisely on your computer (as long as you opt in) and you can get better search results.

How does this work? Google Toolbar with My Location uses information about surrounding Wi-Fi access points to estimate your location. Naturally, this means it won't work if you're on a computer that doesn't have Wi-Fi (or has Wi-Fi turned off).

Along with getting more locally relevant Google search results, we also have additional goodies. Entering "maps.google.com" in your browser takes you to Google Maps automatically centered around your current location. You are one step closer to finding what you want. There is also a Google Maps gadget that uses My Location, installed in the Toolbar by default.

We take user privacy very seriously, so we make it easy for you to disable or enable the "My Location" functionality in Toolbar with just the click of a button. If you would like to know more about our privacy policy, please refer to this link.

We are really excited about this launch and hope to hear from you what you think.Let us know!

Google Toolbar with My Location is currently available only for Internet Explorer and works only within the US. You can download it from here.

Written by Venkat Malladi and Tsuwei Chen, Software Engineers, Google Mobile

Posted at MobilesTraker@gmail.com

Dividend of EUR 0.40 per share; Board and Committee members elected

Dividend

Espoo, Finland -The Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation held on April 23, 2009 (AGM) resolved to distribute a dividend of EUR 0.40 per share for 2008. The dividend ex-date is April 24, 2009 and the record date April 28, 2009. The dividend will be paid on or around May 13, 2009.

Board and Committee members

The AGM resolved to elect eleven members to the Board. The following members of the Nokia Board were re-elected for a term until the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2010: Georg Ehrnrooth, Lalita D. Gupte, Dr. Bengt Holmström, Dr. Henning Kagermann, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Per Karlsson, Jorma Ollila, Dame Marjorie Scardino, Risto Siilasmaa and Keijo Suila. Isabel Marey-Semper was elected as a new member to the Nokia Board of Directors for the same term.

In its assembly meeting, the Board of Directors elected Jorma Ollila as Chairman of the Board, and Dame Marjorie Scardino as Vice Chairman of the Board.

The Board of Directors also elected the members of the Board Committees. Per Karlsson was elected Chairman and Henning Kagermann, Marjorie Scardino and Keijo Suila as members of the Personnel Committee. Georg Ehrnrooth was elected as Chairman and Lalita D. Gupte, Isabel Marey-Semper and Risto Siilasmaa as members of the Audit Committee. Marjorie Scardino was elected as Chairman and Georg Ehrnrooth and Per Karlsson as members of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee.

The AGM resolved the following annual fees to be paid to the members of the Board of Directors for the term until the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2010: EUR 440 000 for the Chairman, EUR 150 000 for the Vice Chairman and EUR 130 000 for each member. In addition, the AGM resolved that the chairmen of the Audit Committee and the Personnel Committee will each be paid an additional annual fee of EUR 25 000, and other members of the Audit Committee an additional annual fee of EUR 10 000 each. The AGM also resolved, in line with the past practice, that approximately 40% of the remuneration will be paid in Nokia shares purchased from the market.

Other resolutions of the Annual General Meeting

The AGM re-elected PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy as the external auditor for Nokia for the fiscal period 2009.

The AGM authorized the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 360 million Nokia shares. The authorization is effective until June 30, 2010. The shares will be repurchased in public trading for purposes identified in the authorization by the AGM at a price based on the market price of the Nokia share. Repurchases may also be carried out by entering into derivative, share lending or other arrangements, in which case the repurchase price paid by the Company may differ from the market price of the execution date of the arrangement. The object of the repurchase authorization is to maintain flexibility, but the Board has no current plans for repurchases during 2009.

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE April 23, 2009

Which mobile ads are right for me ?

In December, we launched ads for iPhone and Android devices. This feature allows advertisers to target their standard AdWords text and image ads to the iPhone, Android devices, and other mobile devices with full (HTML) Internet browsers. Before that, advertisers who wanted to reach mobile users had to create mobile-specific text and image ads that would only show on phones with mobile Internet (WAP) browsers. Now that mobile ads can be targeted for both full HTML and WAP browsers, some of you advertisers may be wondering, "which mobile ads are right for me?"

Standard mobile ads show on mobile devices with WAP browsers and usually direct users to a mobile website -- most likely written in a mobile markup language such as XHTML, WML, or CHTML. Standard mobile ads also offer aclick-to-call feature, which lets you direct users to a business phone number instead of a mobile website. If you have a mobile website or want to collect leads via phone, standard mobile ads may be right for you. You can learn how to create standard mobile ads here.

High-end mobile ads show on iPhone and Android devices and don’t require a mobile website. High-end mobile ads don't have a click-to-call option, but they do allow advertisers to direct users to various other properties such Google Maps, the iPhone App Store or Android Market, or YouTube. If you specifically want your ads to show on iPhone or Android devices, these ads might be right for you. They are also a good choice for new mobile advertisers because they are easy to enable through your campaign settings.

Of course, depending on your needs, you can also use both types of mobile ads. To summarize, here's a table with information on standard and high-end mobile ads.

Source: Posted by Alexandra Kenin , Product Marketing Manager, mobile ads, at MobilesTraker@gmail.com

From Google Mobile Blog. Email delivery powered by Google.

Orange and Nokia extend strategic partnership with mobile email

Leading international collaboration adds email to music, gaming and maps for the ultimate mobile multimedia experience

Espoo, Finland - Orange and Nokia today announced they will extend their partnership with a new, simple-to-use email service for consumers. This extension to their multi-country agreement will deliver and launch a co-branded solution, Nokia Messaging by Orange, on a range of Orange Signature devices, aiming to bring mobile email to everyone with a phone, as well as working professionals.

 

First announced in February 2008, this three-year agreement was formed by Nokia and Orange to meet growing demand for multimedia on the mobile. It combines and integrates the best available services from both companies in the areas of music, games and maps across a range of Nokia devices. The successful alliance will expand the portfolio to eight countries and will include up to 30 Nokia devices in the Orange Signature range in 2009.

 

Launching first in the UK from this summer, followed by France and Spain, Orange customers will be able to take advantage of built-in push email on the forthcoming Nokia E75 and a range of Nokia devices.  

 

Olaf Swantee, Senior EVP of Orange's global mobile business, said, "It was only a few weeks ago that we announced our strategy to make mobile multimedia a mass market phenomenon. This extension to our partnership with Nokia shows how serious we are about bringing mobile multimedia to every customer. With our leadership in innovation, proven expertise in convergence across our fixed, mobile and broadband networks and knowledge of our customers, we think this offer will help increase consumer appetite for mobile email."

 

Raoul Roverato, EVP of Orange's New Growth Businesses, confirmed, "Orange and Nokia have worked jointly as a team during those past months to provide the best of breed services to Orange mobile customers based on each company's assets and service platforms. This new milestone will strengthen our partnership with Nokia and underline our commitment to provide additional value to Orange customers. This will pave the way to new opportunities of partnerships between the two companies in the coming months."

Nokia press release April 16, 2009

Nokia Life Tools pilot shows high appeal for livelihood and life improvement services in India

Commercial launch of the service in India in the first half of 2009

Espoo, Finland - Nokia recently concluded the pilot phase of its pioneering Life Tools service in Maharashtra, India, and the results show that subscribers are reaping the benefits. Extensive feedback from actual subscribers revealed that the service had wide appeal, and connected with subscribers at both emotional and functional levels.

 

Nokia Life Tools will launch commercially India-wide in the first half of 2009. The service will be enabled in the Nokia 2320 and Nokia 2323, which will soon begin shipping, and on more devices to be announced later in the year.

 

"The creation of Nokia Life Tools is from the ground up: it is built by a team that immersed itself in the rural conditions and did extensive research to understand how people led their lives, the kinds of services they were currently receiving, and what they wanted to see as changes or improvements," said D Shivakumar, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia India. "The results from the pilot in Maharashtra are testimony that Nokia still plays a very relevant role in people's lives - connecting them in new and better ways through devices that they continue to love, and services that help them improve their lives."

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE April 8, 2009