Nokia meets demand for localisation

Ruwanthi Abeyakoon in Amsterdam

Rural women can use their mobiles to create business opportunities, Head of Mobile Phones, Nokia, Kai Oistamo said at the Nokia World 2007, the annual conference in Amsterdam, yesterday.

"Mobiles can be used by rural women to commence businesses. Exciting changes are taking place in countries like Africa where women lend their phones to others in the village to make calls. When people start coming to their houses they start a small business like selling food. Women have the purchasing power in emerging markets and they make the purchasing decision most of the time," he said.

"In few years time mobile phones will be the most used device to access internet. The key objective is to know what the consumer wants. The emerging market is interesting. There is a great deal to be done to the emerging markets if you have an insight. You have to put yourself in the shoes of who you are designing for," Oistamo added.

He also noted that Nokia is concerned about the security of the devices. "We are bullishly leading in security and will continue to be ahead of the people who are trying to break it," he said.

"There is a demand for localisation. Nokia creates very human technology. We also create solutions that appeal to both men and women. We have 83 different languages to make the products localised," Oistamo added.

Vice President, Entry and Internet Services, Soren Petersen said Nokia is built to bring innovation levels to lower prize points. 'Nokia 2630 was launched recently for entry level market. Touch screen and slide phones will also be introduced to the entry level market.

We are expanding the offerings and will enlarge the portfolio,' he said.

"We will create a parallel universe. The entry market has exactly the same needs but they are barred by affordability. The aspiration levels are very high. Thus Nokia is striving to cater the demands of the entry market," Petersen said.

He also noted that counterfeits are an interesting issue. "There is growing recognition of the fakes. People understand the difference. I will make the task of combating the counterfeits easy," he said.

"Counterfeits do not harm our business. We are monitoring this issue closely and will take action to combat counterfeits," he added. Petersen pointed out that mobile internet will attract the crowds in the emerging markets.

"The notion of the PC is not there any more and people access internet through their mobile. We are looking for better ways to develop our portfolio," he said.