Call them brazened but — they have every right to be. i didn’t have time to head over to CommunicAsia ‘09 because Nokia kept me busy, and I guess that was the whole point. For the past few years, Nokia has broken away from the CommunicAsia expo after they started to focus more on software development rather than hardware.

She didn’t have to ask me, but Nikka Abes, Nokia Corporate Communications Manager for the Philippines did throw a question, asking if the media is noticing Nokia’s new direction, focusing more on the Ovi Platform and its various services and how it integrates with S60. In the same light, the S40 platform also has its perks with Life Tools and Mail on Ovi gaining much ground in developing countries.

Breaking away from CommunicAsia was a good move. Not really to “cock-block” the media from viewing other phone brands in one big expo, but it’s more along the lines of “we have so much to present to you — we need more than an expo floor.”

For me, it was also great that we got to spend time with Nokia’s General Manager for Philippines, William Hamilton Whyte, who was easy to reach and joined us for drinks on more than one ocassion. Come the N97 launch back in the Philippines I really didn’t feel the need to interview him anymore as I’ve pretty much exhausted everything I needed to ask over a few drinks — on more than one night.

Nokia Connection ‘09 was a fruitful experience, as it always was in the past. This was the third time Nokia sent me to attend their conferences, the first being the Ovi launch two years ago and Nokia Connection ‘08 last year.

Good times.

[image c/o author]

Post from: Cellphone9

Although Nokia’s Mail on Ovi platform is meant for anyone, the application itself is geared towards developing nations and may go hand in hand with Nokia Life Tools, a product that made debut in India. Mail on Ovi works specificially for S40 phones – entry level phones that can access GPRS or EDGE and brings the ease of use of email to the hands of the masses. In essence, this is an upgrade to the limited logistics of SMS, allowing people to send longer messages.

The document below outlines precisely this:

Ovi Mail Backgrounder_May 2009

[image taken from Bridges PR for Nokia PH]

Post from: Cellphone9

Mail on Ovi can be used by entry level Nokia phones to create and access your email from your mobile phone. According to a recent press conference, Nokia general manager William Hamilton-Whyte said that the Philippines, apart from being the texting capital of the world has the same potential to be the mobile email capital. It is just a matter of educating the masses in the use of mobile email as they can use this as an upgrade to SMS.

Post from: Cellphone9

Last week I came from the launch of Ovi Mail in the South East Asia with debut in the Philippines. The concept is pretty simple — email with utmost simplicity from a S40 phone. This is definitely targeted to those who don’t have need for a high end S60 or enterprise phone, but still need to use email. Rather, be introduced to email. The Nokia 2330 was one of the units launched simultaneously to complement the rollout of Mail on Ovi.

The Nokia 2330 allows for Bluetooth connectivity and only uses GPRS to connect to the Internet, which is sufficient for Ovi’s Mail app. It comes with an FM radio and MP3 player as well.

[Photos from Bridges PR]

Post from: Cellphone9