Nokia unveils new mobile phones for faster internet experience (Pakistan)
Nokia has unveiled two new mobile phone models as it continues to accelerate its strategy to connect the next billion consumers to information and the internet. The Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 have been designed to appeal to young, urban consumers who want to experience a fast, affordable online experience.
Both devices are perfect for communicating across Facebook, Twitter and social media networks. The internet experience is also smooth thanks to the Nokia Browser. This innovative technology allows users to consume less data by up to 90 percent, by compressing websites in the cloud. Both devices offer direct access to Facebook and Twitter from their home screens. The Nokia 112 also features preloaded eBuddy instant messaging service right out of the box, so users can use popular chat services to keep conversations going 24/7.
In common with other Nokia mobile phones, consumers can choose from thousands of apps to download on the Nokia Store. With the upgraded camera, they can now customize their contacts with pictures, and share them with friends via social networks and Bluetooth.
Mary T. McDowell, executive vice president, Mobile Phones, Nokia, said that today’s mobile phone users want a quick internet experience that allows them to discover great content and share it with their friends – but without being held back by high data costs. The new Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 devices combine browsing, social media, apps, world-class entertainment and long battery life to create a great package for young, urban consumers who want to do it all.
The devices all feature a generous 1.8″ display optimized for a great gaming experience. In the coming months, the Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 will bring free 40 key EA Games, valued at EUR 75 if bought separately, including well known titles like Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed(TM) The Run, Monopoly Here & Now, and SimCity(TM) Deluxe. Consumers will be able to easily access the content by clicking on the Games Gift EA icon on their home screen which will take them to the Nokia Store to download the games. Once they have accessed the offering, they will have 60 days to download the games of their choice, keeping the games forever.
Both new phones offer an improved VGA camera for sharp and clear pictures with support for up to 32GB of external memory, enough for more than 6000+ songs or 90,000 pictures. Consumers can tune into their favorite radio stations and share their favorite songs with friends over Bluetooth. The phones have been optimized to provide a long-lasting battery life, with over 10 hours of talk time and nearly a month’s standby, meaning that consumers can stay in-touch and entertained all day long.
The Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 are both Dual SIM phones, featuring the benefits of Nokia’s unique and industry leading Easy Swap technology. This enables users to switch between SIMs quickly without having to remove their battery or turn off their phone. The Easy Swap technology can personalize and remember up to five different SIM cards, giving consumers full control over their costs.
The Nokia 110 will also be available as single SIM versions - Nokia 111 and Nokia 113, with this last one available in Europe and Eurasia only. The estimated retail price for Nokia 110 and its single SIM versions is about $45 and they are expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012. The estimated retail price for Nokia 112 is about $49, excluding taxes and subsidies, and is expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2012.
Orange Tunisia offers its customers free mobile access to Wikipedia (Tunisia)
All customers who own an Orange SIM card and a phone can access the Internet using their phone’s browser to the largest online encyclopedia in the world, as often as they want at no extra cost as long as they remain on the pages of the Wikipedia mobile site.
They have the opportunity to navigate freely among millions of items available in the languages ??most used in Tunisia 1 (including Arabic, French and English).By supporting the connection fees for its customers, Orange Tunisia supports the initiative of the Wikimedia Foundation to disseminate knowledge to billions of people around the world where Internet access is mainly from their mobile phones.
This approach is part of a major and unprecedented partnership signed last January between the Orange Group and the Wikimedia Foundation. This partnership will eventually enable over 70 million Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East (AMEA) easier access to knowledge. According to Marc Rennard, Executive Director of the Africa, Middle East and Asia Orange, in countries where it is not easy to access knowledge, they offer access to all their customers from the mobile to Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia in the world with no connection fee. This is the first partnership of its kind and demonstrates again the ability to innovate Orange in Africa and the Middle East, and provide real value to their customers.
Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia reference with nearly 500 million unique monthly visitors and more complete with over 20 million articles in 280 languages, from the contribution of a community of volunteers.
Mobile phones help target areas in need of disaster aid
A new study has revealed that scientists can map population movements based on location data from the mobile handsets. This information will allow organizations providing aid to channel relief supplies to the most affected areas.
This development was used to provide aid to victims of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. The impact of the earthquake caused many people to flee the capital, Port au Prince. Reports suggest that the data enables scientists and researchers to locate concentrations of displaced people on a map, which can then be forwarded to aid coordinators working in the field. This helps in verifying the number of evacuees as well as in arranging supplies for specific locations.
As per reports, since almost 86 per cent of the world uses mobile phones, this technology can be implemented almost everywhere, enabling quicker response to victims in the event of a crisis.
MobPartner Raises $3.5M from Alven Capital and Newfund
The leading mobile affiliate network MobPartner (http://web.mobpartner.com/) just closed a $3.5 million first round from Alven Capital and Newfund. This funding will enable MobPartner to accelerate its international growth.
Founded in 2008, MobPartner is a pioneer in mobile affiliate marketing. MobPartner’s platform allows advertisers to pay per a defined action such as sales (Cost per Sale), registration (Cost per Lead) or downloads (Cost per Download / Install). This is particularly pertinent for in app advertising (iOS, Android and soon WP7). Mobile site or App publishers (“affiliates”) are paid directly depending on their business performance.
To date, MobPartner deals with hundreds of advertisers and more than 100,000 affiliates worldwide, out of which the most successful earn tens of thousands of dollars per month. The platform has generated more than 2 million transactions since the launch , exclusively on mobile phones. These results establish MobPartner as a key player in the mobile marketing space.
For Vianney Settini, CEO of MobPartner, “the calibre of our investors shows that our initial decisions to create this new market were correct. This funding will allow us to accelerate on an international scale. On the one hand, we will consolidate our presence in Europe and North America and on the other hand, MobPartner will strengthen its presence in emerging markets:Asia, Africa, Latin America, where mobile phone is the main internet access mode.”
Jeremy Uzan, investor at Alven Capital says: “We have been impressed by MobPartner’s ambition and ability to roll-out its model across the five continents. The platform besides being robust in handling huge quantities of data is highly scalable and adaptable to the varied needs of both advertisers and affiliates. This has lead them to establish themselves as market leaders in this vibrant sector. This has established them as market leaders in this vibrant sector”.
Charles-Antoine Morand, of Newfund, added: “On the web, performance marketing now represents a lion’ share in advertising investments. Mobpartner’s expertise will attract major brands and advertising agencies, looking for performance-based solutions on mobile phones.”
Nokia CEO describes company as ‘a burning platform’- Report
World’s biggest maker of mobile phones, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop, believes that Nokia Oyj is standing on ‘a burning platform’.
According to Elop’s internal memo, Nokia’s smartphone business lost its leadership to Apple Inc., which owns the high-end range and Google Inc., which has become a gravitational force, draws much of the industry’s innovation to its core.
Elop, 47, who took over as Nokia’s CEO on September 21, is set to unveil his strategy to investors in London on Feb. 11. The executive, the first non-Finn to head Nokia stated in the memo that the company had poured gasoline on their burning platform by being unprepared for the changes in the smartphone market.
Elop added that Espoo, Finland-based Company, had lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times.
Digital Camera still a hit
According to a new research report, while mobile phones continue to increase share of voice and share of image capture, the dedicated camera remains the image capture device of choice by most consumers.
The device with the largest percentage of all photos taken was the digital still camera, at 51%. Close behind, however, was the mobile phone, at 42%. Demographics play a factor in which device consumers choose for image capture. 13-17 year olds reported taking 54% of their photos with a mobile phone and 36% with a camera, while Moms reported taking 40% of their photos with a mobile phone and 55% with a camera.
As more devices are capable of both still and video capture, the usage pattern for video also tilts towards cameras. There was nearly an even split among amount of video captured on mobile phone versus camera, at 35% phone / 34% camera. Only 27% of video was reported being recorded on either a traditional or pocket camcorder.
When surveyed about the most important features in their next photo capture device (regardless of the actual device used), those favored by more than half of respondents included ease of use, long battery life and ease to carry.
These three attributes are easily satisfied by today’s smart phones, but other highly sought-after qualities for which a dedicated camera is best suited are
- High quality photos in low light environments
- Optical zoom capability
- Fast response time between pushing the button and capturing the image
