“Consumers are calling out for the right mix of style and substance,” says Colin Baumgart, General Manager, Nokia South Africa. “We want to deliver phones that look great, but also give the richest possible experience in calling, texting or browsing the Web. We believe that ‘QWERTY’ is not just a feature, but a movement of expression that opens up communications in different communities, and that is why we are calling on consumers to  join ‘The QWERTY Movement.’”

Nokia Asha 303

The Nokia Asha 303 is designed with sophisticated materials and metallic finishes, combining a large 2.6” capacitive touch screen with a high quality QWERTY keypad. The device uses a powerful 1 GHz processor, 3G (HSPA) and WLAN to deliver a fast Internet experience. Social networks, email and instant messaging are at the centre of the experience, easily accessible from the home screen. Entertainment and applications are also a core part of the Nokia Asha 303 offering. Angry Birds Lite comes preinstalled on the phone. The estimated retail price of the Nokia Asha 303 is R1799.

Nokia Asha 201

The Nokia Asha 201 is ideal for young consumers who wish to stay socially connected, are price conscious and like listening to music. The Nokia Asha 201 has great music features including a high performing loudspeaker, enhanced stereo FM radio and ringtone tuning. It supports up to 32 GB memory cards and provides a battery for 52 hours of music playback time. The Nokia Asha 201 also supports push email as well as the popular messaging app WhatsApp. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Asha 201 is R999.

Nokia Asha 302

The Nokia Asha 302 is Nokia’s first Series 40 phone to support Mail for Exchange, giving people access to their emails, contacts and calendar on an exchange server. That and a stylish QWERTY keyboard make it ideal for small business owners and professionals seeking a beautifully designed phone perfect for working on the move. Additionally, the Nokia Asha 302 connects to popular social networks and enables chatting through Whatsapp and other IM services. The Nokia Asha 302 is powered by a 1-GHz processor and supports 3.5G data speeds and WLAN. Great multimedia capabilities including a 3.2 MP camera, enhanced stereo FM radio, a music player as well as up to 32 GB memory card support. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Asha 302 is R1399.

Nokia Web Browser and Apps

Nokia Asha mobile phones make use of the new Nokia Web browser for Series 40 with up to 90% data compression. This means smaller downloads, lower data charges, pages that load fast, look great, and are easy to read on any mobile phone. It also provides personalized start pages with quick access to your favourite content, and the browser finds the most popular content for your specific region.

Another key element of the Nokia Asha consumer experience is the easy access to great global and local content and applications available for download from the Nokia Store. Applications such as Facebook Chat, Nimbuzz and Whatsapp ensure you can join the QWERTY movement and express yourself through multiple channels. We are also proud of the many locally relevant apps available with the Asha range of devices including MXit and Zoopy.

Estimated retail pricing including local taxes:

Nokia Asha 201: ZAR 999

Nokia Asha 302: ZAR 1399

Nokia Asha 303: ZAR 1799

The colourful, affordable Nokia Lumia 710 was designed to bring the Nokia Lumia experience to more people around the world and, at global launch, was widely praised as the best Windows Phone experience at this price point.  It combines the powerful social and Internet experience of Windows Phone with the ability to take pictures in almost any conditions and share with friends in seconds, as well as access to thousands of the most popular apps and exclusive Nokia services.

Based on the Windows Phone 7.5 release, the Nokia Lumia 710 smartphone is designed to appeal to people with active social lives, who want an easy way to enjoy all the benefits of Windows Phone and access to signature Nokia experiences:

• People Hub in Windows Phone displays all call, text, email and social network interactions with any individual contact in an integrated view, with the ability to group contacts and pin favourite groups and individuals to the start screen for live updates and easy access to the people who matter most.
• Faster, easier Web browsing experience with Internet Explorer 9 and one-touch Bing search.
• Nokia Drive delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface.
• Nokia Music introduces MixRadio, a free mobile music-streaming application that delivers 100s of channels of global and locally-relevant music. Also integrated in Nokia Music is Gigfinder, providing the ability to search for live local music events.
• With the 5MP camera, anyone can take pictures and share on social networks in seconds, even when the phone is locked.

The Nokia Lumia 710 can be personalised with a choice of white or black front finish and additional inter-changeable back coloured covers available to purchase separately.

Also available to purchase separately are a range of complementary audio accessories co-designed and co-developed with Monster. The in-ear Nokia Purity Stereo Headset by Monster, providing high-performance in-ear style and the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster for the best mobile audio experience.  Both products provide a fresh listening experience and are the first output of the exclusive long-term partnership between Nokia and Monster, intended to introduce a range of premium audio accessories to reflect the outstanding quality and bold style of the Lumia range.

“We are very excited to be bringing the next device in the Lumia range to South Africa. The Lumia 710 offers the same functionality as the Lumia 800 at a lower price point, and is perfect for consumers that thrive on being socially connected. This again highlights Nokia’s commitment to delivering the latest smartphones with localized services to the South African market,” says Colin Baumgart, General Manager, Nokia South Africa.  

Product Specifications:

Nokia Lumia 710: Designed to be personal and affordable

• Can be personalised with white or black body design, five vibrant exchangeable back covers (black, white, cyan, fuchsia, and yellow) and thousands of apps

• Best social networking experience provided by Windows Phone release 7.5
• Best Internet browsing experience with Internet Explorer 9
• 3.7” WVGA TFT, ClearBlack capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom, 800 x 480 pixels and 16 million colours
• 5 MP camera with auto focus, LED flash, high definition 720p video recording with 30FPS and one-touch image sharing
• Nokia signature hubs: Nokia Drive, Nokia Music
• 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB program memory, 8GB internal user memory, and up to 7.6 hours of 3G talktime

The Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster – The ultimate mobile audio experience

• Iconic on-ear headset from two trusted brands
• Sleek, lightweight, bold design
• Advanced Monster driver technologies deliver accurate reproduction of low bass without distortion, clear mids and crisp highs for a pure listening experience
• Ultra-soft ear cushions for hours of comfortable audio listening
• Tangle-free cables and Integrated volume and call handling controls
• Includes premium carrying pouch and two colour-matched audio cables for maximum compatibility with various mobile devices
• Available in cyan, fuchsia, black, and white

The Nokia Purity Stereo Headset by Monster – High performance in-ear style

• Premium in-ear headset from two trusted brands
• Stylish noise isolating in-ear design
• Advanced Monster driver technologies deliver accurate reproduction of low bass without distortion, clear mids and crisp highs for a pure listening experience
• Tangle-free cables and Integrated volume and call handling controls
• Includes premium carrying pouch, five pairs of variable sized ear buds, and colour matched cable adapter for maximum compatibility with various mobile devices
• Available in cyan, fuchsia, black, and white

“This is the day that something unique, bold and exciting arrived in the South African smartphone market,” says Gerard Brandjes, Vice-President for Nokia in South and East Africa. “I have been amazed with the strong operator partnerships, critical acclaim and consumer excitement the Lumia range has achieved across Europe, Asia and the US, and I expect exactly the same kind of enthusiasm for the devices locally. This is truly a new dawn for us.”

The Nokia Lumia 800 is expected to be available countrywide - together with Vodacom - on the 7^th February 2012 on a Vodacom Business Call contract, with 100MB data per month for 24 months, at R279 per month.

“This is an important launch for us because the Nokia Lumia 800 is in line with our strategic focus, to drive data by bringing all the latest options and technologies to our customers, which includes offering devices with all the major operating systems. We’re therefore excited to be the first operator to offer Nokia’s Lumia 800 with Windows Phone to the South African market,”says Romeo Kumalo, Vodacom’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We’re thrilled that Vodacom customers will be the first to get their hands on Nokia’s latest smartphone locally and we are pleased that it will be available at such an attractive price point.”

The second device in the range, the colourful, affordable Nokia Lumia 710, is a no-nonsense smartphone that can be personalized with interchangeable back covers and thousands of apps, and brings the same Nokia Lumia experience to more people around the world. The Nokia Lumia 710 is expected to arrive in South Africa in the second quarter.

Based on the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango release, the Nokia Lumia smartphones are designed to appeal to people with lively social lives, providing instant social and image sharing and new signature Nokia experiences:

• Nokia Drive delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface.
• Nokia Music introduces MixRadio, a free, global, mobile music-streaming application that delivers 100s of channels of locally-relevant music.  In an update delivered later this year, Nokia Lumia users will also gain the ability to create personalized channels from a global catalogue of millions of tracks. 

Completing the ultimate mobile audio offering, Nokia also introduced the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster, co-designed and co-developed by Monster Cable, a recognized leader in high performance audio. This is the first output of the exclusive long-term partnership between Nokia and Monster Cable, intended to introduce a range of premium audio accessories to reflect the outstanding quality and bold style of the Lumia range. The estimated retail price for the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster is approximately R1 799, and should be available in a similar timeframe to the Nokia Lumia 800.

Product Specifications:

Nokia Lumia 800: Stunningly social

• Head-turning unibody design with vivid colors: cyan, magenta, black
• Best social networking experience provided by Windows Phone release 7.5
• Best Internet browsing experience with Internet Explorer 9

• Vivid 3.7” AMOLED, ClearBlack display with WVGA 800x480 pixels, 16 million colours and 2.5D curved glass

• Leading imaging capabilities with Carl Zeiss optics, above the lock capture, 8MP camera with autofocus and touch focus capability, dual LED flash, high definition 720p video recording with 30FPS and one touch image sharing
• Nokia signature hubs: Nokia Drive, Nokia Music
• 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB program memory, 16GB internal user memory, and up to 9 hours of 3G talktime

Nokia Lumia 710: Designed to be personal and affordable

• Can be personalized with white or black body design, five vibrant exchangeable back covers (black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow) and thousands of apps

• Best social networking experience provided by Windows Phone release 7.5
• Best Internet browsing experience with Internet Explorer 9
• 3.7” WVGA TFT, ClearBlack capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom, 800 x 480 pixels and 16 million colours
• 5 MP camera with auto focus, LED flash, high definition 720p video recording with 30FPS and one-touch image sharing
• Nokia signature hubs: Nokia Drive, Nokia Music
• 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB program memory, 8GB internal user memory, and up to 7.6 hours of 3G talktime

The Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster – The ultimate mobile audio experience

• Iconic on-ear headset from two trusted brands
• Sleek, lightweight, bold design
• Advanced Monster driver technologies deliver accurate reproduction of low bass without distortion, clear mids and crisp highs for a pure listening experience
• Ultra-soft ear cushions for hours of comfortable audio listening
• Tangle-free cables and Integrated volume and call handling controls
• Includes premium carrying pouch and two colour-matched audio cables for maximum compatibility with various mobile devices
• Available initially in black and white. 

The industrial design of the Nokia N9 is an example of extreme product making and craft with a simple swipe from the edge of the device display returning users to their home screens from any application. The body is precision-engineered from a single piece of polycarbonate and flows seamlessly into beautiful curved glass. The laminated deep black display means that the user interface just floats on the surface of the product.

"When designing the Nokia N9, our goal was simple: to blend hardware and software together in order to produce a new and better way to use a phone. The result is an experience that sets the bar for how natural technology can feel," says Ahtisaari.

The Nokia N9 offers three home views designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone, namely download and use apps, stay up-to-date with notifications and social networks, and switch between activities. With no need for a home key, the 3.9-inch AMOLED screen on the Nokia N9 makes more room for apps to shine.

Additionally, the polycarbonate body of the device enables superior antenna performance resulting in better reception and voice quality.

The 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus sensor, wide-angle lens, HD-quality video capture and large lens aperture enable great camera performance even in low light conditions. Videos are easily viewed in true 16:9 widescreen format and as the world's first smartphone with Dolby Digital Plus decoding and Dolby Headphone post-processing technology, the device offers a surround sound experience with any set of headphones.

Fitted with the latest in wireless technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), the Nokia N9 allows easy sharing of images and videos between devices by merely touching them together. It also allows for the easiest pairing with the available range of Nokia NFC accessories.

Of course, as with all Nokia smartphones, the Nokia N9 features free turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance in Maps. With the new dedicated Drive app, you can get in your car and start navigating to your destination right away.

"This is just the beginning. The details that make the Nokia N9 unique - the industrial design, the all-screen user experience and the expressive Qt framework for developers - will evolve in future Nokia products,” concluded Ahtisaari.

The Nokia N9 will be available in South Africa in November 2011 at an estimated retail price of R5 999. To learn more about the Nokia N9 visit http://swipe.nokia.com

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the DST and Nokia, establishing a framework on which potential areas of collaboration can be developed, funded and implemented.

Addressing the media on this partnership, the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pando, acknowledged the role of ICT in stimulating economic growth.

“This is why the DST is leading the implementation of the national ICT research, development and innovation strategy. In this regard, we view public-private partnerships to be of importance for us in achieving this objective,” said the Minister.

One of the key expected outcomes of this plan is an innovative indigenous ICT industry that addresses South Africa’s ICT needs in the public and private sectors, and attracts investment by multinationals involved in innovation and manufacturing.

In addition to a significant increase in the number of postgraduate students at Masters and PhD levels, these R&D outputs are gradually evolving into near-market prototypes, large-scale technology demonstrators and packaged solutions that can readily address key priorities of government, such as education, health and enhanced citizen interaction with government. 

Vice President for Government Relations for Nokia Middle East and Africa, Jussi Hinkkanen, said South Africa has a thriving telecommunication industry with a lot of potential for disruptive innovation.

“Our objective is to support local talent in developing their skills, and then integrate them into both regional and global markets,” said Mr Hinkkanen.

In addition to stimulating entrepreneurial activity and high technological innovation, the collaboration intends to stimulate the interest of South African learners, cultivating the scientists and engineers of tomorrow.#

The General Manager for Nokia in South Africa, Gerard Brandjes, added: “As South Africa’s leading mobile company, it is our responsibility to identify areas where our technical skills can facilitate the development of society. We hope the educational focus under this collaboration will motivate thousands of South African learners to explore careers in technology.”

Some key focus areas to highlight that are covered in the MOU:

• Basic Sciences Education Support Programmes: In conjunction with the Department of Basic Education, the DST and the Meraka Institute of the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR), programmes aimed at improved delivery of educational services through the use of mobile devices are being implemented. These include the Mobile Learning for Maths and Nokia Education Delivery initiatives which were created to assist in the education of tens of thousands of South African learners.
• Mobile applications laboratory: This is a joint initiative between the DST, infoDev, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Finland) and Nokia that intends to train and build both the business and technical capabilities of the developer community. This will help them develop locally relevant content, solutions and services, and connect them to local, regional and international markets.
• Access to broadband networks for communities: Through Nokia Siemens Network and the CSIR, the parties will explore ways to enhance access to ICT for rural communities and support the wireless mesh network project.
• Support of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid: Through Nokia Siemens Network, the Africa SKA Project Office and the DST, the parties will continue to seek ways to enhance collaboration on large-scale computing, data transport and sensor networks in support of the African SKA bid; a project that is expected to revolutionise the ICT industry in terms of data processing and sensor networks.

“’Nokia Siemens Networks is using its global expertise in telecommunications and in-depth knowledge of the local South African market to advise the SKA bid teams, from both a technical and business perspective, about the best options to transport the huge volumes of generated data to the high-performance computer centre of the SKA. We have been involved in the project from the start, supporting and advising the project team on all technical requirements, capacity planning, provisioning and skills,” said Rufus Andrew, Managing Director of Nokia Siemens Networks South Africa.

With the commitment shown by all parties under this MOU – and the increased investment in R&D by both private and public sectors – the DST and Nokia believe that opportunities exist for bold interventions that will enable South Africa to secure a greater share of global markets, and help bridge digital divide.

The Nokia Maps traffic service receives high-quality information from digital traffic sensors, and commercial and government partners via Nokia’s subsidiary NAVTEQ, as well as crowd-sourced information from users. With crowd-sourcing, the more people that use the service, the more accurate it will get.

Traffic is just the latest feature available in the new Nokia Maps, with people already using the app for drive and walk navigation, weather, checking in to their favourite social network, or getting quality location information via services like Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor or Qype.

Nokia Maps has the most accurate road mapping in South Africa, including 100 percent coverage of the road network (554 239 km), with speed limits for major roads and lane guidance for all motorways. Walk navigation is available for Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In addition to the new features for mobile, Nokia Maps for desktop (http://maps.nokia.com) has also been updated and now includes incredible photo-realistic 3D imaging of Cape Town, amongst other major global cities. To capture these images, specialised camera equipment takes an image per second of the same object, up to 100 times, each at a different angle. Images are then joined together to form the 3D object using image processing software. Along with 3D, ‘heat mapping’ has been added to Nokia Maps, providing a way to track the highest density of particular points of interest in a city. This feature is particularly useful when discovering a new city for the first time.

Features of this latest Nokia smartphone include a bright 2.46-inch glass LCD capacitive touch display, boasting a resolution of 640x480, four times the pixels of its predecessor. Sporting 8GB of internal memory, with support for MicroSD cards up to 32GB, storing a variety of multimedia content on the compact device is easy. Battery life is rated for up to a month on standby and connectivity options abound with pentaband 2G/3G network support for world travellers, WiFi connectivity through 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 with support for stereo headphones.

The 8-megapixel full focus camera has a dual-LED flash, 2x digital zoom (3x in video mode) and offers HD 720p video recording at 25 frames per second.

Like other Nokia Symbian smartphones, the Nokia E6 comes with free global walk and drive navigation through the latest Maps, as well as push email and IM. Symbian Anna brings up to five home screens, an improved browser and redesigned interface and iconography. Bundled software includes QuickOffice, World Traveler, JoikuSpot Premium and F-Secure Mobile Security, with more available for download through Ovi Store.

The Nokia E6 is available in South Africa today through most major network operators and service providers on a variety of contract packages. Please check with your service provider for exact details and costs. 

One swipe and you're home
The Nokia N9 introduces an innovative new design where the home key is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe. Whenever you're in an application, swiping from the edge of the display takes you home.

The three home views of the user interface are designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone: using apps, staying up to date with notifications and social networks, and switching between activities.

The industrial design of the Nokia N9 is an example of extreme product making and craft. The body is precision-machined from a single piece of polycarbonate and flows seamlessly into beautiful curved glass. The laminated deep black display means that the user interface just floats on the surface of the product.

The Nokia N9 also packs the latest in camera, navigation and audio technology for a great all-round experience.

"With the Nokia N9, we wanted to design a better way to use a phone. To do this we innovated in the design of the hardware and software together. We reinvented the home key with a simple gesture: a swipe from the edge of the screen. The experience sets a new bar for how natural technology can feel," said Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's head of Design. "And this is just the beginning. The details that make the Nokia N9 unique - the industrial design, the all-screen user experience, and the expressive Qt framework for developers - will evolve in future Nokia products."

Innovative all-screen design
With no need for a home key, the all-screen Nokia N9 makes more room for apps to shine. The 3.9-inch AMOLED screen is made from scratch-resistant curved glass. The polycarbonate body enables superior antenna performance. This means better reception, better voice quality and fewer dropped calls.

Camera, maps and multimedia
The 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus sensor, wide-angle lens, HD-quality video capture and large lens aperture enable great camera performance even in lowlighting conditions. This makes the Nokia N9 one of the best camera-phones ever produced.

The Nokia N9 features free turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance in Maps. With the new dedicated Drive app, you can get in your car and start navigating to your destination right away.

You can watch videos in true 16:9 widescreen format. And because the Nokia N9 is also the world's first smartphone with Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and Dolby Headphone post-processing technology, you get a surround sound experience with any set of headphones.

Touch just got better
Fitted with the latest in wireless technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), the Nokia N9 allows you to easily share images and videos between devices by touching them together.  Pair it with Bluetooth accessories like the new NFC-enabled Nokia Play 360° wireless music speaker only once, and you get a great surround sound music experience with just a tap.

Colors and Memory
The Nokia N9 will be available in three colors - black, cyan, and magenta with storage options to accommodate plenty of content: 16GB and 64GB. The Nokia N9 is scheduled to be in stores later this year, with availability and local pricing to be announced closer to the sales start.

More information about the Nokia N9 can be found at: http://swipe.nokia.com.

“Millions of South Africans experience the web through their mobile or smart phones, and through the development of these apps South African bloggers can open up their content to a much wider audience on mobile instead of just via their computer,” says Nokia’s developer marketing manager Derrick Kotze. “With this competition we are aiming to show people how simple creating an app is, and also assist in showcasing local blogs on an international stage like the Ovi Store.”

With over five million downloads per day globally, the Ovi Store is expected to generate significant exposure for the blogs that choose to participate. As additional incentive, Nokia will reward the blog in each category with the most downloads between 1^st and 29^th July 2011 with a trip to SXSW as well as a six month Nokia advertising contract to the value of R25 000. The first runner up also wins a six month advertising contract to the same value.

The competition has two distinct categories, the business category includes those blogs that generate an income from advertising, and the private category refers to all other blogs that don’t currently sell banner space to generate an income.

“We are looking forward to seeing some creative submissions and enthusiastic downloading from the 1^st of July,” concludes Kotze.

For more information on this competition please visit http://ringaz.nokia.co.za/

Joint marketing and sales campaigns will be designed on a regional level and will bring consumers the latest Nokia mobile phones and smartphones, combined with value added services such as orientation and navigation tools, for seamless mobile communications while at work, home or on the go.

Building on previous success stories such as the joint launch of the Nokia C3 with MTN data and value add package in Nigeria, and the launch of the Nokia E7 and business tools for corporate clients in South Africa, the intention is to drive similar bundles, services and experiences in other MTN markets to add value to consumers.  

The two companies will also collaborate to create hyper-local applications, such as Ovi Life Tools, which will soon be officially launched in Nigeria, bringing value to consumers through the provision of locally relevant data for farming, education and entertainment.

Mr Christian De Faria, Senior Vice President Commercial and Innovation MTN group said, “Going to the market with a strategic partner like Nokia is of prime importance for our operations. We are convinced that our MTN customers will obtain immediate advantages for their cost effective and reliable communications thanks to a strong brand such as Nokia.”

Mr Chris Braam, Vice President for Nokia Middle East and Africa, added: “A strategic partnership agreement with MTN Group brings us an additional opportunity to strengthen our existing relationships and bring a strong consumer proposition to other markets. We are committed to delivering outstanding communications technologies to the growing community of 141 million MTN subscribers in the whole of Middle East and Africa.”     

In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.

"At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership,” said Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia Corporation. “It is the complementary nature of our assets, and the overall competitiveness of that combined offering, that is the foundation of our relationship.”

"Our agreement is good for the industry,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “Together, Nokia and Microsoft will innovate with greater speed, and provide enhanced opportunities for consumers and our partners to share in the success of our ecosystem.”

The relationship is structured around four broad areas:

1. A combination of complementary assets, which make the partnership truly unique, including:

- Nokia to deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing strength in productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and a variety of other services. The combination of navigation with advertising and search will enable better monetization of Nokia’s navigation assets and completely new forms of advertising revenue.

- Joint developer outreach and application sourcing, to support the creation of new local and global applications, including making Windows Phone developer registration free for all Nokia developers.

- Opening a new Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure. Developers will be able to publish and distribute applications through a single developer portal to hundreds of millions of consumers that use Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices.

- Contribution of Nokia’s expertise in operator billing to ensure participants in the Windows Phone ecosystem can take advantage of Nokia’s billing agreements with 112 operators in 36 markets.

2. Microsoft will receive a running royalty from Nokia for the Windows Phone platform, starting when the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone ship. The royalty payments are competitive and reflect the large volumes that Nokia expects to ship, as well as a variety of other considerations related to engineering work to which both companies are committed. Microsoft delivering the Windows Phone platform to Nokia will enable Nokia to significantly reduce operating expenses.

3. In recognition of the unique nature of Nokia’s agreement with Microsoft and the contributions that Nokia is providing, Nokia will receive payments measured in the billions of dollars. 

4. An agreement that recognizes the value of intellectual property and puts in place mechanisms for exchanging rights to intellectual property. Nokia will receive substantial payments under the agreement.

With the definitive agreement now signed, both companies will begin engaging with operators, developers and other partners to help the industry understand the benefits of joining the new ecosystem. At the same time, work will continue on developing Nokia products on the Windows Phone platform, with the aim of securing volume device shipments in 2012. The scale of the mutual commitment from both companies is significant and is in keeping with the intention to build a new ecosystem based on a long-term, strategic partnership.

“Following on from the success of our communicator devices, the Nokia E7 incorporates a touch screen and our most advanced QWERTY keyboard to date, which is a combination that ensures the business user is able to operate in or out of the office,” says Mark Strathmore, business to business manager at Nokia South Africa.

The Nokia E7 provides direct, secure and real-time access to email, calendar, contacts, tasks and the corporate directory through Microsoft Exchange servers, as well as Office Communicator Mobile, developed by Microsoft for Nokia smartphones, which brings presence and corporate instant messaging.

Additionally, a wide range of entertainment and social services available on the Nokia E7 make it the perfect off-duty companion, and the Ovi Store offers a wealth of apps such as FNB Connect, DeloitteSA, WhatsApp and Sports Tracker.

Key features of the Nokia E7
- Create, edit and share office documents and view PDF files with Adobe Reader
- Fast, secure intranet access with the built-in VPN
- High-resolution photos and HD video with the 8 megapixel camera and dual LED flash
- HDMI connectivity to project files, videos and images onto large screens
- 16 gigabytes of on-board flash memory
- USB-On-The-Go, enabling easy file sharing by connecting a USB stick to the smartphone

The new arrival offers drive or walk navigation in 80 countries, including South Africa. The latest commercial version of Ovi Maps, available immediately via Ovi Store or Ovi Suite, adds visibility to subways, trams and trains, safety alerts, visibility to parking and petrol stations, speed limit warnings, and improved search and location sharing capabilities.

“As a solutions provider, Nokia is always looking for ways to improve our offering, and I believe this device is the ultimate business smartphone,” concluded Strathmore.

The Nokia E7 is estimated to retail at a price of +- R5,999.00 in South Africa.

“More operators and corporate customers are choosing Nokia as their business mobility partner,” says Scott Smith, Head of Operator Channel for Nokia Middle East & Africa. “With our extensive range of business smartphones and software offerings through collaboration with leading brands, we believe this is the next step in providing unparalleled, all round customer service to our valued operators and corporate customers. “

The aim of M-support is to provide industry expert knowledge on business mobility and Nokia offerings, both pre and post purchase. This will assist operators in the initial solutions sale as well as drive better customer retention through a seamless, fast and convenient customer support process post purchase.

The service will be available through a dedicated help line and e-mail support. The service will operate 5 days a week from 08:00 – 17:30 Sunday to Thursday. Support requests received outside these times will be addressed on the next business day.

The type of assistance provided will include hardware support as well as support queries related to internet connectivity, software updates, viewing documents, browser settings for optimal download speeds and accessing business and productivity apps through Ovi Store.

The adage “you can tell a person by the contents of their handbag” may have been true once, but now all you really need to understand someone is to know how they use their smartphone. According to Professor Trevor Pinch of Cornell University, the secret to determining someone’s personality lies beneath the apps they’ve installed on their phone.

Based on recent research commissioned by Nokia, society’s relationship with their cell phones has changed significantly. We are now a country of “app dependants” with 65 per cent of smartphone users in South Africa relying on apps to significantly benefit their lives while at home (50 per cent), travelling (13 percent), or at work (20 percent). These figures suggest that apps are being used as important life tools - and as usage levels rise, so does our cell phones ability to learn more about us and become even more useful.

“With so many apps available, people can pick the ones most relevant to them, “Pinch said. “The intimacy we share with our phones stamps our personality onto them. They know our tastes, our needs and even our secrets. If you ever want to really know someone, take a look at their apps – you may be in for a surprise!”

What’s your appitype?

Nokia worked alongside Cornell University’s leading sociologist and professor of science and technology studies, Trevor Pinch, to analyse the study of more than 5,200 smartphone users in 10 countries, including South Africa. Analysis of data including app genre, variety and usage revealed personality categories linked to smartphone behaviour that Pinch summarised into six archetypes called “appitypes.”

Interestingly, appitypes not only revealed personal traits, but some of our national characteristics too. South Africans are the biggest “connectors” with 45 percent regularly using social networking apps, while the Germans and Indians were revealed as the hardworking and productive “appcentrics.” The Italians were the undisputed “live wires,” with the Brazilians the world’s biggest “creators” with their flair for music and style.

Eighty percent of South African’s sampled have up to 30 apps on their devices, with men more likely than women to download an app (87 per cent vs.79 per cent). The most downloaded and used apps are for social networking followed by music and games which highlights that the majority are used while at home rather than at work.

The research conducted highlighted different South African app trends based on regions. While those in East London and Bloemfontein are keen “socialisers” with the most downloads for social networking apps (55 per cent), Durbanites would rather download games (38 per cent). Those in Port Elizabeth look for assistance with directions with high downloads of travel/navigation apps.

Gauteng residents (69 per cent of them) downloaded apps if they felt they would benefit their lives, while those in Cape Town preferred the free apps (50 per cent).

“Apps are a great way to personalise your mobile. Like our old record or CD collections, apps reveal who we are – whether we look at the type of apps people have, how they organise them, or which ones they most use. It certainly makes for interesting reading,” said George Linardos, vice president of media, Nokia.

To determine your personal appitype, log on to http://blog.ovi.com/dailyapp/appitype/. To visit the Ovi Store and start downloading the apps that suit your life, visit http://www.ovi.store.com/.

Notes to Editor

Research conducted by ICM among 5,231 people in 10 countries in November 2010. Countries included: Brazil, China, Germany, India, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA.

The Appitypes:

APPTHUSIAST - Appthusiasts are energetic and passionate. They are social creatures who like to know about the latest trends. They are curious, spontaneous and enjoy being involved in diverse pursuits. Their likes/dislikes are illustrated through the content on their mobile; they download lots of apps and use them a lot. Appthusiasts are rarely without their smartphone, sometimes even taking it to sleep with them! 

APPCENTRIC - They are hard working, energetic and productive. They have a lot of contacts, are tech savvy, and know how to make their technology serve them best. They’re conventional and prefer data management, numerical and organizational pursuits. Appcentrics get the most out of the more functional apps on their mobile, which they often use as a pocket-sized computer. While they only download apps occasionally, they frequently use them.

LIVE WIRE - Live Wires are active, down-to-earth people who enjoy technical, outdoor and athletic pursuits.  Clever and investigative, they’re sociable, have lots of friends and often seek new experiences and adventures, relishing any challenge. They are reliable and productive and this is reflected in their downloads, which tend to be a mix of health/fitness, social and travel related apps.

CREATOR - These people are creative and imaginative. The creator may be a loner or a team player, but when they socialize they often find themselves the life of the party. As natural storytellers, they will not only rely on the creative capabilities of their mobile, but often use social networking sites. They are up on the latest trends and their creative spirit often drives them to brightly coloured phones, illustrating that they are fun and open minded.

CONNECTOR - The connector is personable, confident and curious. They have an uplifting and motivating personality with a knack for making friends and acquaintances in the online or real world. They have a collection of apps that they use again and again, often carrying fun apps on their phone and apps that may be useful to others. They occasionally download free apps and their app catalogue could do with a refresh.

APPRENTICE - The apprentice is sensitive, kind hearted and independent. They’re inquisitive and clever with a solid circle of friends and a select group of passionate pursuits. Apprentices are interested in downloading apps but don’t know where to start. Don’t be fooled by their shy appearance. There is a wild side just waiting to get out!

About Professor Trevor Pinch 

Trevor Pinch is professor of science and technology studies and professor of sociology at Cornell University in New York. He holds degrees in physics and sociology and is the founding editor of the book series “Inside Technology” with MIT Press. He has authored and co-authored 17 books and numerous articles on aspects of the sociology of science, technology and economics.

Having recently won an award for the Best Hip Hop Video for their song ‘Wild Life’ at the Sound In The City Awards in Lagos, Nigeria, Jozi is one of South Africa’s hottest exports and they have already performed alongside some of the biggest names in the world, including the Black Eyed Peas and opening up for Kanye West on ‘Touch the Sky’ tour.  “Releasing a new single is a big thing in the music world and offering the song for free via an on-line music store is a huge step forward for digital music,” says Dominque Silva, Ovi Music Manager for Nokia South Africa. “The song will be available for download for free from the 29 November until the 12 December.”

 As well as releasing their latest hit next week, the name of which is Diva, the group will feature in the first in a series of documentaries entitled ‘The Making Of’.  Each episode will feature a 48 minute documentary of a South African celebrity and detail their road to success.  The new documentary series will focus on South African celebrities from actors to musicians to business personalities. The program aims to portray the life stories of these celebrities and will include testimonies from the celebrities themselves as well as people closest to them. “We are excited about the documentary which will be aired soon as it will show the real story of the band covering everything from their birth and upbringing to their success and failures. Fans enjoy knowing more about their favourite bands so I believe the series will do very well,” says Silva.

Apart from their recent award at the Sound In the City Awards, Jozi have been nominated for numerous MTV Awards, both as solo artists and as a group and in 2008 won Best Live Group at the MTV Awards.  As a group, Jozi has not only toured South Africa, but in 2009 they were invited to launch their music at the Panama City, Florida Spring Break gathering hosted by Nickelodeon, an event owned by MTV.

The free song will be available via Ovi Music in the following countries and territories, South Africa, Italy, Middle East, Finland, Singapore, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, France and Brazil.

Riitta Vanska, project manager for the initiative and senior manager  mobile and learning solutions in Sustainability operations at Nokia says, “This initiative gives Grade 10 learners the opportunity to study mathematics anywhere and anytime which in turn gives them the chance to empower themselves.”

In 2009, 260 learners in Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape provinces, who formed part of a test project, were encouraged to use their own handsets to access the collaborative learning service for mathemathics via Mxit. During 2010, a total of 4000 learners from 30 schools in the three provinces had access to the service to practice mathematics, to test their skills by competing with other learners in mathematics and collaborate in maths related problems with their friends. Since its activation, the Mobile Maths initiative has shown that 82% of the usage happened outside of school hours and in 24 weeks, 62 849 mathematics exercises were attempted by these learners.  The case study sample of 513 learners saw a 14% increase in competency at the end of the test period.

“MXit became involved in this project as every day we reach millions of young people communicating on MXit, and partnering with the MoMaths project affords us the ability to offer access to Math educational tools for all. It made perfect sense for us to offer this service as we believe the youth require all the tools we can give them to ensure a great future for this county - and through our platform learners are able to empower themselves with learning,” says Laura Hallam from MXit. “Going forward MXit will continue to provide the Mobile Maths service in order to give more learners the chance to improve their Math skills.”

Each of the partners involved in the initiative have committed to ensure that this project will continue in South Africa.  Nokia’s role will be to further develop the service, integrate this service into the South African learning environment and guarantee the sustainable implementation model for South Africa.

 “Cell C has always chosen projects that invest in the youth of South Africa. We believe that mobile technology can play a significant role as a tool for teaching and learning, as well as closing the digital divide. The mobile maths learning pilot programme is an innovative solution and Cell C is proud to be part of a project that contributes towards positive change in the country,” said Mercia Maserumule, Corporate Social Investment Manager for Cell C.

Nokia today announced that its Ovi Store has reached 3 million downloads per day, a milestone spurred by overall global demand and a recent update that gives users of Nokia’s new Symbian smartphone family a friendlier look and feel as well as more popular apps and games. The company is also gaining significant software developer momentum with more than 400,000 new developers joining Forum Nokia in the past 12 months, and 92 surpassing the million download milestone for their apps.

“Ovi Store is on a strong trajectory fueled by new apps and games from a growing number of partners and more than 200,000 new consumers signing up for Ovi every day,” said Gerard Brandjies, general manager, Nokia South Africa.  “The number of daily downloads has increased from 2 million to 3 million since September globally.  We anticipate our progress will continue as we have just begun shipping our new Symbian smartphones.”

In related news, the Nokia Qt Software Development Toolkit (SDK) and the Qt SDK combined have been downloaded 1.5 million times as developers discover this approach can improve the speed and efficiency of creating apps for mobile devices, including smartphones such as the new Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01, which are shipping, and the recently announced Nokia E7.  In a strategic move last month, Nokia announced unified application development around the Qt framework to simplify creating apps for Symbian-based devices and products that will be powered by the new MeeGo operating system. Developer video testimonials for the Qt framework are available at Forum.Nokia.com.

“From a South African perspective, we are seeing more local developers developing apps for Ovi and with operator billing available, we are also seeing more downloads of paid for apps as it is easy for consumers to make a purchase,” says Brandjies.

The most downloaded apps and games in South Africa developed for the Nokia N8 include, DSTV Mobile, Opera Mobile Browser, Accuweather, Whatsapp, Snaptu, News24, Marble Maze, Need for Speed Shift HD, Cube Touch XXL, AngryBirds Lite and AngryBirds.

The most downloaded apps and games in South Africa developed for all Nokia devices are Snaptu, Skype

Locago, Shazam, eBuddy and in terms of games are High Speed 3d, Zum Zum, The Train Defender, Farm Frenzy and Gems XXL

Examples of popular and creative new Symbian smartphone content on Ovi Store include:

• Swype: With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the keyboard, Swype ’s technology enables users to input words faster and easier.
• NHL GameCenter™ Premium: Keep up with your favorite hockey team by listening to live radio, checking stats and scores, or by watching highlights and condensed games.
• WhatsApp Messenger: A smartphone messaging app that uses 3G or WiFi to connect with friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages at no cost.

Since Nokia began shipments of its new Symbian smartphones, starting with the Nokia N8 on Sept. 30 of this year, the top downloaded free app globally was Q Torch, a utility app that turns your device into a flashlight, by CellApp Technology of India (also among top three in Europe, India and Southeast Asia/Pacific); the top downloaded paid app was Angry Birds, the smash hit game, by Rovio Mobile of Finland (also among top three in North America, Southeast Asia/Pacific and Europe) and the third most popular item downloaded globally was Need for Speed Shift HD, a game that delivers the thrill of high-performance racing by EA Mobile of the U.S. (also among top three in Central and South America, and Southeast Asia/Pacific).

Break-out information on the most popular regional apps and their developers is available at Forum.Nokia.com. 

During both festivals, Nokia ran a recycling campaign to collect old and unused devices and accessories, of any make or model, for safe recycling.  As part of the initiative, Nokia committed to plant one tree for every 20 devices collected during the campaign. “During the festivals, we had a good response and a number of people donated their old devices and accessories for recycling,” says Tania Steenkamp, communications manager for Nokia South Africa. “In keeping with our commitment made prior to the festivals we will be purchasing and planting trees in both regions to assist in reducing the carbon footprint created by such an event.”

According to Nokia over 250 devices and accessories, of various makes and models, were donated between the two festivals resulting in Nokia committing to planting 20 trees between the two regions. “The trees which will be planted will also have GEOtags and those people who donated their devices and accessories will each receive a certificate with their trees’ location as a reminder of their contribution to our environment,” says Steenkamp.

Over the past eight months Nokia has collected and safely recycled over 500 devices and accessories through such campaigns. “Recycling is something that we are passionate about and we have set up collection points throughout the country where people can take their old and unused devices of any make or model for safe recycling,” says Steenkamp.

“We have taken a decision to more than double the number of trees, so we won’t just be planting 20 trees in Gauteng and 5 in the Western Cape but rather 250 and 100 respectively.  The Rocking the Gardens attendees collected four times the amount of devices as the Rocking the Daisies attendees which is why Gauteng is getting more trees,” says Steenkamp.

Nokia will be planting the trees in various locations in the two provinces in conjunction with Food & Trees for Africa.  In Johannesburg, Ebomini Primary School and Forte High School will be getting 60 trees each; Progress Day Care Centre and Setjhaba Day Care Centre both in Soweto will get 50 trees each and the remaining 30 trees will be planted at Naledi Ya Meso. In the Western Cape, Sizamile Educational Centre will receive 50 trees and the John Pama Primary School in Guguletho will receive 40 trees.

For a full list of collection points and to join the conversation visit NokiaConnect   

For more information on Nokia’s worldwide recycling initiatives visit Nokia’s WeRecycle page

Visit our YouTube Channel for all the videos which formed a part of this drive

For more information on Food and Trees for Africa visit http://www.trees.co.za/

Lady Gaga, the self-styled Princess of Pop, is the world’s most popular female artist, according to music downloads from Ovi Music across 38 countries*. She is going head-to-head with pop rival Katy Perry who is also up for five awards, and the two will lock horns in Best Pop, Best Female, Best Song and Best Video categories.

According to the research, if downloads via Nokia’s Ovi Music service determined the winner, Lady Gaga would wipe the floor with Katy Perry.  She tops the charts in 38 countries and claims two out of the world’s five most downloaded tracks – Bad Romance and The Fame.

In terms of female artists Lady Gaga has a 40 percent share of downloads compared with rival nominees Shakira, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Alexandra Burke and Miley Cyrus and the most popular song of Lady Gaga is Bad Romance, followed by The Fame and Alejandro

“As we approach the MTV Europe Music Awards, it seems Lady Gaga is firmly on track to win the battle for girl power – she’s incredibly popular amongst Ovi Music downloaders around the world. It's great to see so many female artists nominated for awards and, despite being the underdog, Katy Perry’s hit California Gurls saw downloads rocketing earlier this year,” said Jake Larsen, head of music for Nokia Middle East and Africa.

To listen to the latest hits by the hottest female artists in the charts, check out Ovi Music. Available in 38 markets and 22 languages, Ovi Music is the place to download the very best tracks from 2010.

With the new Nokia N8 smartphone you can watch all the latest celebrity interviews via web TV with E! Take a look at music content by other nominees on the Ovi Store such as the Muse app, which will keep you up to date on their latest news, photos, tour info and music. Or why not check out Warner’s other exclusive artist apps on Ovi, including Biffy Clyro, Marina & The Diamonds and Plan B.

Not only this, but you can keep up to date with the latest music and celebrity news with apps like  EntertainmentAfrica’s Music News and follow A-list celebrities on Twitter with Celebrity Tweets.

Additional Reginal Statistics for markets

-       Lady Gaga beats Katy Perry for the most downloads in South Africa as well as the other countries where Ovi Music is available

-       Lady Gaga is more popular than Rihanna and Katy Perry in the majority of European regions, including: UK, Finland, Germany, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands

-       Popularity of this year’s female nominees in European regions based on actual downloads from the Ovi Music Store

“OnlineStuff have opened up online orders for cash customers via NokiaStuff so that South Africans have the chance to secure one of the most revolutionary devices to be launched by Nokia in recent months,” says Gerard Brandjes, general manager, Nokia South Africa. “The N8 is the first Nokia device to be running Symbian^3 software which ultimately delivers greater memory to allow more applications to run in parallel on the device.”

The first 1 000 customers that order online will receive a free, one hour consultation with a Nokia Butler who will deliver the phone and go through all the ins and outs of the device.  As well as this all online order customers will get a free silicone cover to go with their device.  

In order to ensure that consumers wanting to order and pay for their Nokia N8 immediately can do so, Nokia has partnered with OnlineStuff, a company which provides secure payment and order facilities.  All orders and payments can be made via the OnlineStuff secure website and orders will be handled through Nokia’s existing logistics partners.

MTN customers will need to contact the MTN call centre and ask for upgrades on 808 from their MTN phone or 083 1 808 from any other phone.

The latest offering from Nokia’s smartphone stable has several major advancements including enhancements across the user interface, single tap, touch and support for gestures such as ‘pinch-and-zoom’, three personalised homescreens and 2D and 3D graphics architecture. The N8 comes standard with 16 GB of memory, a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash, HD-quality video recording, film editing software, Dolby surround sound and free life-time Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation for over 70-countries, Nokia Messaging and a 6-month subscription to Ovi Music Unlimited (previously known as Comes with Music) Services.                                         

To place your pre-order simply visit Nokia Stuff

For information about contract upgrades and phone details visit Nokia Ringaz

Earlier this year Nokia South Africa announced the availability of operator billing for consumers purchasing applications from Ovi Store in South Africa making it possible for more consumers to purchase their favorite apps without having to use a credit card. Since the implementation of operator billing, there has been an increase in the purchasing of apps from Ovi Store which is encouraging for local developers.

The growing popularity of the Ovi experience on a global scale has also led to 70 developers and publishers surpassing the million download mark for their content in the Ovi Store. Developers and publishers reaching and moving past this milestone include Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, PepsiCo, Qik, Shazam, HeroCraft and Offscreen Technologies. HeroCraft, a publisher of content that includes the game Farm Frenzy, has received more than 10 million downloads, and Offscreen, a developer of a variety of touchscreen apps, has more than 45 million. The complete list by geography is available at forum.nokia.com. It includes 39 content creators from Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 14 from the United States; ten from Asia Pacific; and seven from China.

“At Nokia, we believe that connecting people with great mobile experiences is at the heart of what Ovi is all about,” said Gerard Brandjies, general manager, Nokia South Africa.  “Today people discover Ovi through Maps, Music, Messaging and Ovi Store. With a new generation of amazing devices, like the Nokia N8, developers are looking at Ovi as a good business decision and a chance to innovate and create next-generation mobile experiences for our family of new Symbian devices.”

 Other Ovi milestones include:

• More than 7 million tracks are now available on Ovi Music South Africa which includes a mix of local and international artists. In total, 11 million Ovi Music tracks are available in 38 markets and complemented by the popular interconnected GigFinder app that uses personal music preferences to find relevant entertainment venues. Nokia is the largest single source of music revenue in South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, India and Finland.

• An updated Ovi Store experience – debuting on the newly available Nokia N8 but coming to the full range of new Symbian smartphones – giving a friendlier look and feel, faster content discovery and more popular content choices such as foursquare and the smash game hit Angry Birds.

• Improvements for developers including new development tools and benefits such as free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase and beta in-app advertising programs, improved revenue share and advanced developer analytics.  This is evident in the recent announcement at Nokia World 2010 that AppCRAFT, a South African developer, won first place in the global Calling All Innovators competition in the Life Improvement category for the app eLiteracy.

• Significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK) have resulted in a 70 percent reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the company's family of Symbian smartphones.

• Continued expansion of Ovi Maps around the world and the integration of more new features. Walk and drive navigation is available in 78 countries and 46 languages and includes public transit details in more than 80 cities, and features such as check-in that supports location as the new social connector. Every day, maps usage is the equivalent of driving around the world 80 times.

• Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat have surpassed 17 million accounts, Nokia Messaging currently delivers push email and instant messaging to 4 million people, and new social networking features on the Nokia N8 and other new Symbian-powered devices that enhance Facebook and Twitter with a more seamless experience.

Ovi is designed to be the perfect complement to a Nokia device. It connects the real world with what is relevant in the digital world – resulting in an enriched mobile lifestyle marked by easy access to popular apps and games, the world’s best maps, millions of locally relevant music choices, great messaging capabilities, and information tools for everyday life in emerging markets.

If you are attending Rocking the Daisies in Darling or Rocking the Gardens in Emmerentia, why don’t you join Nokia and be part of their ‘take back’ campaign.  All you need to do is to bring your old devices or accessories, of any make or model, to the collection points at either of the two festivals and donate them for safe recycling and you could win a brand new Nokia N8.

Every person that donates an old or unused device or accessory of any make or model will be given a leaf, made out of recycled billboard, to add to the Nokia ‘We Recycle’ tree and get an entry into the lucky draw for the Nokia N8.  The goal of the campaign is for the tree to be completely covered in leaves by the end of the weekend and of course to then safely recycle all the items collected.  Up to 80 percent of Nokia mobile phones can be recycled and the remaining 20 percent is used to refuel the recycling process.

Nokia has committed to plant a tree for every 20 phones or accessories collected and if you do participate in this campaign by donating an old phone or accessory, of any make or model, you will also be sent a certificate after the festival with the GEOTag of exactly where your tree has been planted.

So, instead of keeping all your old or unused phones and accessories why not bring them with you to the festival and together we can make a difference!

For more information on Nokia’s recycling initiatives please visit www.nokia.com/werecycle  

For other updates visit http://ringaz.nokia.co.za   

People from all over the world gathered in London at the Docklands for Nokia World 2010. This year we saw operators, developers, media, retailers, service providers, music and content houses, games publishers, technology companies, analysts and bloggers talk about how innovation and openness can make great things happen in conjunction with the Nokia Developer Summit.

Announcements from Nokia World Day 1:

Nokia announces powerful family of smartphones and Ovi services at Nokia World showcase; vision of location-based future brought to life

At Nokia World, the destination for people passionate about mobility, Nokia announced a family of smartphones powered by the all new Symbian platform which brings significant enhancements in speed and ease of use. The new devices, which are tightly integrated with enhanced Ovi services and apps, reinforce Nokia's vision of a mobile industry that is increasingly being defined by socially connected, location-based devices and experiences.  

"Today our fight back to smartphone leadership shifts into high gear," said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. "Despite new competition, Symbian remains the most widely used smartphone platform in the world.  Our new family of smartphones introduced today feature the all-new Symbian OS, rewritten to be faster, easier to use, more efficient and more developer friendly."

Three new smartphones, Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6, which join the previously announced Nokia N8 to form a family of Symbian^3 products. The latest version of the Symbian platform brings more than 250 new features and improvements and retains the familiarity enjoyed by millions of smartphone users worldwide. The new family of Symbian smartphones will include a completely updated Ovi Store experience. The new store experience is driven by a friendlier user interface and a new collections feature to quickly access popular apps and games available now, or soon, such as foursquare, Angry Birds and Need for Speed Shift

For the full article please go to: http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444285

As you already know this year’s Nokia World conference was in conjunction with Nokia Developer Summit. The second announcement from Nokia emphasised Nokia’s commitment to developers and developer ecosystems.

Nokia makes it easier, more lucrative for developers to reach the world's largest smartphone family

Nokia unveiled a number of major improvements in developer tools making it simpler, easier and more lucrative for people to build fantastic apps that can reach the world's largest audience of mobile users.

"Our announcements will certainly bring more great apps to Nokia products, especially our new family of Symbian smartphones announced today," said Purnima Kochikar, Vice President for Forum Nokia. "We have made it much simpler, removed obstacles and made it more lucrative for people to build apps for our phones. We believe that this will convince more developers to build apps for the millions of people, in more than 190 countries, that are using the Ovi Store on their Nokia devices."

There are significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK) resulting in a 70 percent reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the company's family of Symbian smartphones. There are a number of improvements in the Ovi Store user experience including a new look and feel, making it faster and making apps easier to find. The lower barrier of entry and increased monetization opportunities for developers, including free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase, improved revenue share, and advanced developer analytics.

For the full article please go to: http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444289

Please watch the web cast of Nokia World 2010 Day 1 for further information: http://bit.ly/bzqu7J 

Day 2 of Nokia World started with a buzz of announcements. The first linking in with Nokia’s vision is to bring the Internet to every pocket in the world. Continuing with this vision Nokia announced the plan to bridge the digital divide.

Nokia sharpens focus to connect next billion to the Internet

Nokia unveiled a strategy to connect the "next billion" people to the Internet by leveraging its unique capability to provide emerging markets with powerful yet affordable mobile phones and locally relevant Ovi services. Nokia's vision of "Connecting People" beyond telephony was a highlight at the final day of the annual Nokia World event, and complemented yesterday's rollout of a powerful new family of smartphones and updated Ovi services. To demonstrate its commitment to emerging markets, Nokia also updated a portfolio of feature-rich mobile phones and underscored Internet services that cater to a world in which four out of five people are within reach of a cellular signal.

"More people will join the information age using a mobile phone than a PC," said Mary McDowell the Executive Vice President Mobile Phones Unit at Nokia. "With approximately 80 percent of the world's population in reach of a cell tower, it is the mobile phone that will offer the first PC-like experience for many of the next billion people who will come online." McDowell also emphasised that in addition to well-made, well-priced devices, consumers everywhere crave apps that deliver globally and locally relevant content. And they want it quickly, easily and affordably.   

Nokia is responding to higher demand on a number of fronts delivering to the needs of people in growth markets, including the integration of Ovi services.  In addition, Nokia provides wide-scale business opportunities for third-party Series 40 developers. With this announcement Nokia unveiled its second touch and type phone: the Nokia C3 Touch and Type, which combines of a touch screen and traditional phone keypad. The Nokia C3 Touch and Type is an affordable design classic with fast access to messaging and email plus applications and games from the Ovi Store.

For the full article please go to: http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444524

Mobile Marketing has become an increasing useful tool for business in the last couple years. With this in mind Nokia announced its plans to bring a mobile marketing service for small businesses in the near future.

Nokia and Intuit form global alliance to create mobile marketing services for small businesses

Intuit and Nokia announced an alliance to develop and deliver an innovative new mobile and web based marketing service for small businesses around the world.

"Small businesses need every advantage to stay ahead of the pack in today's competitive environment," said Alex Lintner, President, Intuit Global Business Division. "We plan to offer them a way to strengthen customer relationships, through targeted communications that increase sales by delivering more customer visits. We're applying the same proven formula we've used with QuickBooks to help small businesses succeed by better serving their customers. We are thrilled to partner with Nokia to bring our respective areas of expertise to bear in developing this revolutionary service."

Addressing one of the leading concerns for the world's estimated 500 million small businesses, the new service will be designed to help them get more business through personalised, relevant offers and marketing messages, in a way unmatched by traditional methods. The first market launch of the service is expected in the fourth quarter of 2010, further details will be made available at that time.

For the full article please go to: http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444530

Last year Africa hosted its first Calling All Innovators developer challenge. Aligning with Nokia’s Developer Summit, Nokia announced the winners of the global Calling All Innovators and finalists for the Growth Economy Venture Challenge competitions.

Nokia reveals winners of the global Calling All Innovators and finalists for the Growth Economy Venture Challenge competitions

The winners and finalists chosen from thousands of entries responding to both challenges attended the final conference at Nokia World, At the Nokia Developer Summit. Nokia announced the winners of the global Calling All Innovators contest and the finalists in the Growth Economy Venture Challenge - both with the common goal to create mobile applications, services or solutions intended to save the environment, lift spirits, improve productivity, raise the standard of living within growth economies, and educate and contribute to a healthy lifestyle.  

For its third consecutive year, Nokia challenged developers to demonstrate their creative and innovative side and design mobile applications, widgets, products, or services that make a difference in people's everyday lives and contribute to the economies of developing countries.  In all, 1,500 developers worldwide responded to Nokia's challenges.

The winners of the global Calling All Innovators contest were announced on 15 September 2010 at the 2010 Nokia Developer Summit in London. The winners are as follows:

Eco/Being Green category

• Winner: TripSketch Green Traveler by TripSketch Corp. (United States)
• First Runner-up: RecycleME by John Paul Lozano (Singapore)
• Second Runner-up: Green Plaza by Webdunia.com Pvt. Ltd. (India)

Entertainment category

• Winner:Comics Creator by Nextwave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. (India)
• First Runner-up: Morpho QuickPanorama by Morpho, Inc. (Japan/United States)
• Second Runner-up: Tudou Mobile by Tudou.com (China)
• Third Runner-up: Angry Birds by Rovio, Ltd. (Finland)

Productivity category

• Winner: BlogRadio by BlogRadio (United States)
  First Runner-up: Ansel-A by Kristopher Kantor (United States)
• Second Runner-up: PlanEasy2D by InfiMatra Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (India)
• Third Runner-up: WakeUp by Roland Michelberger (Hungary)

Life Improvement category

• Winner: eLiteracy by AppCRAFT (South Africa)
• First Runner-up: Car Black Box by Neusoft Mobile Solutions S.R.L. (Romania)
• Second Runner-up: Mobile Babycare by Shenzhen LEG (China)
• Third Runner-up: Medica by IRWAA, LLC (Egypt)

For the full article please go to: http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444659

The closing of ceremony of Nokia World resulted in one of the biggest announcements of the conference - the appointment of Stephen Elop as the new CEO for the Nokia Corporation.

Newly appointed Nokia CEO Stephen Elop closes Nokia World 2010

Stephen Elop, Nokia's incoming CEO, closes Nokia World 2010, where the world's leading mobile phone company introduced a new family of Symbian smartphones and improved developer tools. Over the two days, more than 5,000 people including operators, developers, business partners and media from around the world visited Nokia World 2010.

For more information on Nokia World 2010, please visit: http://events.nokia.com/nokiaworld

Nokia today announced that the new Ovi Music platform is live in South Africa. Simultaneously, subscriptions enabling music fans to enjoy unlimited track downloads from Ovi Music are now available by purchasing one of four great Nokia music devices, or through credit card renewals for existing subscribers.  Aligning Ovi Music into the Ovi family of services, fans can access all the Ovi Services at www.ovi.com.

Ovi Music - Nokia’s al-la-carte online music store formerly known as the Nokia Music Store - offers South African music fans a catalogue of more than 6 million tracks from local and international artists,  and all tracks purchased are presented in DRM-free MP3 format.  “This exciting move means that consumers can download their favourite tracks and play them on Nokia music devices, or any MP3 player. Furthermore, tracks can be downloaded from Ovi Music using any browser, which support MP3 downloads, including Safari and Firefox,” Says Jake Larsen, head of music, Nokia Middle East and Africa.

Ovi Music Unlimited - formerly known as Comes With Music - allows users to enjoy unlimited track downloads from the rich Ovi Music catalogue for a specified subscription period, and all tracks downloaded can be kept and enjoyed. 

Users who currently own a Nokia Comes With Music device – which in South Africa includes the Nokia 5130, Nokia 5530, Nokia 5630 and the Nokia X6 -  will now be able to renew their access to the service for three, six or twelve months at the end of their current subscription term. Costs range from R149.00 for a three month subscription to R499.00 for 12 months, and renewals can be purchased directly from Ovi Music using a credit card.  In addition users will enjoy 1-click service activation, faster music transfer speeds and great music discovery features.

The new Ovi Music  platform offers users a range of great new features including ‘Inspire Me’ track suggestions based on what other music fans using the service are downloading, access to music specials including B-sides, remixes and compilations, and the ability for fans to sort their personal music catalogues alphabetically, by release date or by popularity.

To visit Ovi Music go to http://music.nokia.co.za         

Simultaneously, Nokia’s unlimited music download service – Comes With Music – will become known locally as ‘Ovi Music Unlimited’. Ovi Music Unlimited will offer new and existing users great new features including ‘Inspire me’ track suggestions based on what other music fans using the service are downloading, and access to music specials including B-sides, remixes and compilation cuts. Users enjoy unlimited track downloads for the specified period from Ovi Music’s rich catalogue which features more than 6 million tracks from local and global artists. Tracks downloaded from Ovi Music Unlimited will not be DRM-free.

The name transition to Ovi Music and Ovi Music Unlimited in South Africa will see both services join Nokia’s Ovi family of services, which connect people to the things they love through their Nokia device. Whether it’s social networks, location and navigation, chat, messaging or endless entertainment, Ovi offers a personalized and intuitive experience on Nokia mobile devices

“Ovi is evolving as a branded and integrated service that is the “go-to-place” for discovering, sharing and enjoying the best and most exciting, location-based, lifestyle content and entertainment in every market around the world,” says Gerard Brandjes, general manager of Nokia South Africa. “It makes perfect sense that Ovi Music, fall under this umbrella too whilst delivering great experiences for music fans.” 

To visit Ovi Music go to http://music.ovi.com         

“Until now, the only way to purchase from the Ovi Store has been via credit card,” says Yusuf Patel, solutions sales manager at Nokia South Africa. “This has prevented some consumers from purchasing content as they did not have access to a credit card.  The new service allows consumers to purchase content more easily and quickly as it can be done via an SMS system, something that most people have access to.”

This service is available from three of South Africa’s network operators, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. The SMS service will be billed according to the cost of the application or content being downloaded which ranges from R9-00 to R150-00.  The simple process requires the consumer to select the content they want to purchase on the Ovi Store via operator billing, the purchase is confirmed automatically via email and SMS, including the costs.  Download commences as soon as SMS confirmation has been received.  Purchase verification is done in the process by the service provider.

According to Patel being able to purchase content from the Ovi Store this way is not only an advantage for the consumer due to the ease of the process, but it also means that more applications and content will be downloaded creating an even bigger market for developers in South Africa.

“Nokia have clearly been listening to the needs of local developers,” says Ron Bach, product manager, News24 Mobile. “Through the introduction of operator billing more users will now visit the Ovi Store, further increasing the opportunity for local developers to earn revenue by producing and selling relevant, high-quality, useful apps and mobile content.”

Patrick Kuwana, co-founder and CEO of Livemobile who already have premium applications available on the Ovi Store says that Nokia’s move to make apps on the Ovi Store available through operator billing is a major move in the right direction as this now gives Livemobile access to the majority of the mobile consumer market that either doesn’t have credit cards or are uncomfortable making micro credit card payments on their phones. “We expect to see exponential growth in the download of our apps because of this and this strategic move by Nokia will certainly spur us on to further development on the Nokia platform as we see Nokia as a partner who is serious about creating revenue channels to market for app providers like us,” says Kuwana.

Follow the easy step by step process: http://www.nokiaconnect.co.za/cms/resource/process.pdf

The Ovi Store has a range of applications which have been developed specifically for Africa across platforms for S40 and S60 devices, for example AfriDoctor (http://store.ovi.com/content/21563?clickSource=search) as well as a range of other applications, games and content including Vuvuzela ring tones (http://store.ovi.com/content/43771) and Zakumi wallpapers (http://store.ovi.com/content/43147?clickSource=search) amongst other applications from around the world.

Visit Nokia’s Ovi Store at http://www.ovi.com/services/

Join the conversation at http://ringaz.nokia.co.za

“In South Africa, Nokia has come a long way since we first started testing the waters with social media and the rapidly progressing online world,” says Tania Steenkamp, Communications Manager at Nokia South Africa. “It has been an incredible learning process, and I am so excited to watch Ringaz grow into the online dialogue we are hoping for.”

Nokia began its social media initiatives in early 2009 with a social media audit to gain insight into what conversations were taking place online in South Africa. With the addition of online reputation management (ORM) service, BrandsEye, Nokia established an understanding of the landscape, and an appropriate entrance strategy. From the initial research, the progress has been swift with Nokia engaging with many of South Africa’s top bloggers through various launch activities, the “Search for N” competition, on-going story ideas, competitions and an extensive device review programme. In addition, with the launch of the Nokia Music Store in April 2009, a NMS_ZA Twitter feed was opened to update South African music fans on free tracks, new artists available on the store and Nokia music news. This community will now become a broader Nokia South Africa channel where all news including Music updates will be shared with all the members, building on the conversations already started.

“The next major step for Nokia was the launch of our social media press office in South Africa in November 2009,” continues Steenkamp. “At the time, we were constantly trying to find ways to offer our content to bloggers in a format that suited their blogs or websites, and that was available at any time, night or day. NokiaConnect is a critical tool in helping us to scale to the demands of dealing with bloggers and media alike.”

Nokia Ringaz, which is loosely based on the official Nokia international blog, Nokia Conversations, is live from today, the 22^nd of June 2010. To get the conversation started, Ringaz launches with a month-long promotion, searching for a South African mobile technology enthusiast who will join the Ringaz team as one of the 4 bloggers, contributing on a weekly basis to the blog. Motivations for the position should be sent to Ringaz@ovi.com before the end of July 2010.

Visit Nokia Ringaz on http://ringaz.nokia.co.za/

Connect with Nokia on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/NokiaRSA

In May this year, thirty students from schools in and around Pietermaritzburg attended a Digital Arts Residency, an intensive classroom based workshop, designed to deliver engaging, personalised learning.  During the workshop students were asked to write, shoot and edit films based on an established curriculum around social issues that matter to them for example, HIV/AIDS and race relations. “As part of the programme, the participants have to write the script, make use of Nokia devices to film the content and then edit the footage on a laptop computer,” says Kulsoom Ally, head of corporate social investment, Nokia Middle East and Africa. “The completed films are then used in classrooms across KwaZulu Natal to shed light on important issues that affect the youth of South Africa.”

Once the students have completed the workshop they will become student mentors at Caversham’s CreACTive Centres in KZN. “Working in groups of three, they will use the centre’s mobile lab to teach other students in under-served communities how to create films that are both personal and also tied to local curriculum,” says Malcolm Christian from Caversham CreACTive Centres.  “Additionally teachers from a wide spectrum of schools will learn how to incorporate digital arts into their existing lesson plans to bring 21^st century life skills to their students.”

Caversham CreACTive Centres began in South Africa in 2002 at Jabula Combined School in the rural community of Lidgetton and is the venue for art-based creative interaction where individual potential is nurtured through personal development and life-skill training.

“By sharing the latest mobile technologies in classrooms, these programmes help teachers and students to develop the necessary skills they need to design, develop and complete the collaborative digital arts projects that will shape their future,” says Malcolm Christian of the Caversham Centre..

“Our alliance with Nokia aims to bring the Office productivity experience to the millions of people using Nokia smartphones around the world,” says Kirt Debique, General Manager at Microsoft. “With the arrival of Communicator Mobile for Nokia today, we have a great start to fulfilling our joint vision.” 

Communicator Mobile enables people to see their colleagues’ availability, and click to communicate with them using the best method, from IM to email, text to phone call. The names and status of colleagues are embedded directly into the devices’ contacts application, enabling people to update their own presence, start and join instant messaging sessions, and begin calls directly from the contact card.

“This application really provides a much more efficient way to work with others as you can see if someone is busy or available, and the best way to start a conversation with them,” says Ukko Lappalainen, Vice President at Nokia. “It also meets all of the requirements for enterprise: cost effective to implement, secure, familiar and reliable.”

The launch is the first product from the alliance - announced last August – which was the first time either company had embarked on an agreement of this scope and nature. Since then, the two companies have been collaborating on the design and development of new solutions, as well as embarking on joint marketing efforts around others they already share.

"As part of our push to constantly enhance our unified communications proposition, we are keen to extend the collaborative benefits of Microsoft Communicator Mobile to Nokia devices,” says Scott Petty, Director at Vodafone Group Business Services. “Communicator Mobile offers great potential for our large corporate customer base who have already deployed Communicator for desktop and now are looking to extend that existing infrastructure to mobile.”

“We trial all potential offerings ourselves and have been very happy with the internal response and productivity increase we have experienced using Microsoft Communicator Mobile,” says Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Executive Vice President at Swisscom / Webcall. “Having these two companies work together is really helping us serve the needs of our customers.”

This new application, available initially for Nokia E72 and Nokia E52, adds to the work Nokia is already doing in optimizing direct access to email and other personal information with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. The companies plan to deliver Communicator Mobile for Nokia pre-installed on select Nokia smartphones in the future and plan to support additional devices, including the recently announced Nokia E5.

Sport is used globally as a vehicle to empower communities and individual’s lives as it is able to unite people around one common goal.  Nokia, in a drive to empower communities, has partnered with Freeway Football, an organisation telling stories of an informal football league through visuals and photography.

Just under a year ago, Colin Habberton, founder of Freeway Football, noticed a group of children playing soccer right next to the N2 highway in Cape Town.  ‘At first I thought it was a bunch of kids kicking a ball around,’ says Habberton. ‘However, after taking the time to watch the games they were playing, I realised that this was in fact a football league, with coaches, teams, equipment and training,’ he explains.  This casual observation led Habberton to develop stories through photography about these informal leagues.

The cornerstone of Freeway Football’s business concept is the development of community-based photographers and videographers, providing mentoring and training whilst they capture photography of similar stories in their own areas. The aim for all involved with the concept is to tell the true story of townships which is not one of misery but rather of hope and aspiration.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the project, Habberton approached a few like-minded people and within a few months a team of professional photographers, footballers and business mentors sharing the same vision was established.  ‘The vision of Freeway Football is to create a project based on enterprise principles where technical, business and life skills can be transferred to budding photographers and footballers.  At the same time we are providing an agency through which these talents can be promoted and ultimately assist these individuals in generating an income stream through the use of their talent,” says Habberton. “This is about more than simply donating money.  The individuals we are working with will be able to run viable businesses within their communities and ultimately branch out into other communities to build themselves a sustainable future.”

Nokia has been involved with both elements of the project.  On the photographic side, Nokia hired Freeway Football photographers and videographers to document the Nokia All Stars Cape Minstrel Band and the Nokia Tulips, a choir from the Cape Flats.  In terms of football, Nokia has sponsored the All Stars U-15 team.  The Nokia All-Stars is a team made up of the top young players from all the teams that participated in the Khayelitsha Cup tournament which was held on the 16^th and 17^th January 2010.  These 15 players form the base of the Freeway Football Academy and the players will receive football and life skills training as well as stand the chance of being drafted into the premier youth team in Khayelistha.

For information on Freeway Football please visit http://www.freewayfootball.org/

“The Nokia CK-200 is easy to install and is designed to make communicating whilst driving easy,” says Stuart Bruce, Head of Global Sales, Nokia Car Business Area. “One of the main benefits of the CK-200 car kit is that consumers are able to connect simultaneously to both their personal and business phones in the car. The switch between the two phones is easy and safe with the click of a single button, and the detachable 2.5” display is clear and easy to read,” says Bruce.

The CK-200 can be installed via direct input, ISO cable or external speaker and offers consumers an adjustable RGB display backlight colour with can be set to match the colour of the car in which it is mounted. A wireless remote, which allows consumers to take calls and keep their hands on the wheel, can be mounted either to the steering wheel, the dashboard or on the gear shift.

“One of Nokia’s priorities is to give consumers the best phone experience possible and original accessories form a part of this,” says Bruce. “With the new Traffic Control Act now in effect, and safety concerns around the use of mobile phones while driving, it is vital that consumers use a reliable hands-free talking device.  Nokia has a variety of different accessories offering clear voice transmission and reception while driving,” says Bruce.

A list of the latest Nokia Original Accessories:

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-505

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo headset BH-214

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-216

Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-607 with My own key

Nokia Speakerphone HF-310

Nokia Speakerphone HF-510

Nokia Extra Power DC-11 Mobile device charger

For more information on Nokia Original Accessories please go http://mea.nokia.com/find-products-en/accessories/latest-accessories

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

Social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Symbian^3 in action
Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian ^3, the latest edition of the world's most used smartphone software, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8's hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface.  Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.

Getting Qt for Developers
The Nokia N8 is Nokia's first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms.  Nokia has also made the powerful and simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.

More press materials are available at www.nokia.com/press
Broadcast materials are available at http://digitalnewsroom.nokia.com

Launching today, Nokia's Ovi Store football channel is the ultimate football fan destination featuring highly popular apps, games, and the ability to quickly personalize and refresh your Nokia.

As part of Ovi's football offering, Pepsi's charity football anthem 'Oh Africa' will be featured for sale on Ovi Music Store. The charity single performed by six-time Grammy nominee, Akon, featuring Keri Hilson, the Soweto Gospel choir and sixteen youth from around the world is the soundtrack to Pepsi's 2010 football campaign. In addition, Pepsi's football athlete themes and wallpapers will be available for free on the Pepsi home page at www.ovi.com

"Pepsi's unique content combined with Nokia's unparalleled global reach offers football fans around the world the chance to get involved with this year's great Football summer no matter where they are," said Marco Argenti, VP and Global Head of Media, Nokia. "The Ovi Store football promotion offers passionate football fans instant access to news, apps, games and a growing selection of personalization content from some of the world's top teams."

Claudia Lagunas, Digital and New Media Director at PepsiCo International commented: "Working with Nokia allows us to connect and communicate with the worldwide mobile community. Nokia's Ovi Store offers an exciting new channel through which to share our football content with millions of football fans around the globe."

Also launching today is the Nokia Skill Dribbler competition giving mobile gamers the opportunity to win a Football trip of a lifetime for two to see 'El Clasico' in Barcelona. To win, skill dribblers have to show off their silky football game skills, avoiding tackles and keeping control of the ball for as long as they can to accumulate points. The highest weekly scorers will receive a shirt signed by a one of the worlds' top footballers and Nokia N97 mini. The top scorer of the competition will be on their way to Barcelona. To enter and play Skill Dribbler visit www.ovi.com.

In addition to PepsiCo's content Nokia's Ovi Store football channel will also host a long list of further content dedicated to 2010's summer of football. From competitions and tournament updates to personalizing your device, football is a lot more fun when you are part of the action. Some of the key content and features to get you involved include:

Great goals
If you are supporting Brazil, England, or just great football, Great Goals will whet your appetite for what's to come with a series of free audio and video downloads dedicated to great goals scored by great players.

Football updates and news
No matter where you are in the world, you can't catch every game of the tournament but you can still get live updates. 2010's summer of football news and update applications are available from the largest football websites in the world. Livemobile Football, ESPN Soccernet, and Goal.com are all available as free applications to keep you up to date with breaking news from around the world, previews and recaps of games for all major leagues in the world and more. 

Games
Experience the latest in mobile football gaming and battle to win the cup for your country. Games available include Gameloft's Real Football 2010 and Real Football Manager 2010, and beat the rest in the next generation of sports radar built for speed shooting, Speedhero Multisport, and the latest football games from EA SPORTS.

Touchnote
A picture is worth a thousand words, but reminding everyone your country beat their country with a postcard is priceless. This app takes digital pictures and makes them into physical postcards in a matter of clicks.

Social networking
Whether heading to South Africa or just down the street to your local bar, stay in touch with your friends and family to let them know where you are watching the game. Share your football experience with fans back home, comment on games, post media, and find out where the nearby parties are.  Social networks like Nimbuzz and Buddycloud make sharing easy from your Nokia device.

Ovi Maps
Don't miss the Game because you got lost, Use new Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation available on Nokia smartphones to find your way to stadium, bar, park, or wherever you choose to watch the game. After the game, find the best sights, restaurants, hotels and events wherever you are through the Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides that come free with the new Ovi Maps. To download Ovi Maps, visit www.store.ovi.com.

Nokia Messaging is an easy to set-up and easy to use push e-mail service which allows Nokia users to mobilise up to ten personal e-mail accounts on one device.  Nokia Messaging supports all leading consumer e-mail solutions including Gmail, Windows Live, Hotmail and Yahoo! mail as well as local e-mail service providers such as M-Web, MTN Play and Webmail.  This incorporates an estimated 90% of current consumer e-mail accounts locally and users are able to read, send, forward and reply to e-mails, as well as download and attach files directly on their mobile phone.

“The Nokia Messaging Service is the consumer pillar in Nokia’s overall messaging strategy,” explains Sarah Crowe, head of marketing at Nokia South Africa. “The strategy also includes Ovi Mail for free emerging e-mail services and Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Traveler for corporate e-mail mobilisation. This three-pronged approach positions Nokia well to provide quality messaging solutions to all of our consumers”.

“During its Beta testing phase over the last year, the Nokia Messaging Service has had enormous uptake in South Africa, largely through self discovery,” continues Crowe. “This shows a clear demand for the service locally and brings us to today’s exciting announcement on our first local operator deal”.

As part of an agreement with MTN, Nokia Messaging Service will be available as a bundle on the Nokia E63 combined with 10MB data plan as a complete consumer offering.

"In today’s busy world, email has become a standard means of business communication and is fast becoming an extension of our personal lives. So to meet this growing customer need, MTN is making consumer email messaging as easy and affordable to use as SMS," says Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Officer of MTN South Africa.  “To this end, MTN has partnered with Nokia to offer our customers cost-effective mobile email through the Nokia Messaging service. On top of this, there has been a high demand for smartphones with business communication and social networking applications and we believe that the powerful Nokia E63 is an ideal device to bundle with the Nokia Messaging service.”

The Nokia E63 Messaging bundle will be available at participating MTN stores from the end of April 2010 at an approximate retail price of R119 per month on MTN AnyTime 100.

“The Nokia N97 Mini carries substantial developments in smart phone functionality as well as enhanced sharing capabilities, all in a sleek package,” says Patrick Henchie, product manager for Nokia South Africa.  “It’s important to note too that the device works seamlessly with Nokia’s Ovi Store allowing users to personalise their device with ringtones, applications, widgets and other content,” he says.

The Nokia N97 Mini is powered by a new Ovi Maps experience which makes searching and navigating even easier. In addition to global pedestrian navigation, users can access premium content from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities, turning the Nokia N97 Mini into the world's smallest travel companion.

Nokia is constantly updating and enhancing its devices with new features and functionality so users can get even more out of their Nokia even years after purchase. Nokia announced earlier this year that its navigation service, Ovi Maps is now available for free for use on Nokia smartphones, including the Nokia N97 Mini.

“We want to make using your mobile for navigation as familiar as using it to send a text message or take a picture,” continues Henchie. “With the advancements in Ovi Maps, you no longer have to carry multiple devices when you travel. We have packaged the device with a powerful mapping and navigation solution to make users lives easier while on the go by car or on foot.”

 Over 1 million downloads of Ovi Maps have already taken place in 2010 proving the success of the free Nokia Ovi Maps and exposing Nokia’s strategy to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services.  By leveraging the investment in NAVTEQ, Nokia has been able to remove the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians.

Through this relationship, over 77 3D South African landmarks and historical sites appear on Ovi Maps, with a further 40 more to appear in April, when NAVTEQ will offer an updated version. The updated landmarks will include all World Cup Soccer Stadiums such as Greenpoint and The Moses Mabhida Stadium. These new features will also enable worldwide users of Ovi Maps to have access to 3D city models of South Africa and real-time updates through advanced routing and intuitive guidance.

Ovi Maps covers more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries. There are more than 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world. 

For more information and related materials visit www.nokiaconnect.co.za

Visit Nokia’s Ovi Store at http://www.ovi.com/services/

Nokia announced today the opening of its new flagship Nokia Care Centre in Woodmead Retail Park, in northern Johannesburg. The new Care Centre offers a holistic solution to consumers providing not only repair assistance, but also support for Nokia services including the Nokia Ovi Store, Nokia Music Store and, Nokia Mail for Exchange as well as Nokia Messaging. The Care Centre joins a growing list of 21 Nokia Care branded touch points around South Africa.

In addition to the repair facilities for mobile devices, Nokia will also offer onsite support and guidance for synchronisation of Nokia devices pertaining to laptop computers or notebooks, backups and other technical support that may be required.

Nokia currently operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile device recycling scheme with drop-off points in over 5000 Nokia Care Points around the world. The Woodmead store is the most recent addition to this list, with a fixed recycle bin. Any brand of mobile device can be dropped in this bin for safe recycling. Up to 80% of any Nokia device can be recycled and the plastics are used to fuel the recycling process, thus minimising e-waste.

Nokia has partnered with Reconnect Mobile to launch the new Care Centre in Woodmead, drawing on the expertise and guidance of an experienced partner to ensure best practice in customer care. The store will open on Wednesday 24^th March and operate 7 days a week from 9am until 6pm Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm on Saturdays and 9am-2pm on Sundays.

The Care Center is situated at Woodmead Retail Centre, Shop 2, Waterval Crescent Dr, Woodmead.

For more information and related materials visit www.nokiaconnect.co.za

For a complete list of all Nokia Care Points, please visit: http://www.nokiaconnect.co.za/cms/resource/nokia_care_centre_directory_sa.xls

About Nokia

At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more.  Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

Grier started this epic journey in Mozambique and paddled some 500km on his kayak to Madagascar. There, he swopped his paddle for running shoes and set out on an estimated 2500 km run of the island from south to north. In order to assist Grier in navigating the rough terrain, Nokia sponsored two Nokia 6710 Navigator phones for his gruelling journey to provide him with not only a reliable ‘second’ but his tool to navigate, document and communicate throughout the extreme expedition.

During his journey, Grier has been streaming his adventure across a number of social media.  The Nokia 6710 Navigator has enabled him to share his journey with people across the world through social media which in turn has kept him motivated. Grier has been using the phone as a map, a camera and more importantly as a way of staying connected with the world and people at home. This is the first time an event of this nature is being streamed on a number of social media platforms where Grier’s progress can be monitored by followers globally. Grier currently has over 10 000 people following his journey via YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

This is not the first challenge David Grier has undertaken in an aim to help raise funds for Operation Smile. In 2006, Grier and fellow athlete Braam Malherbe (52) became the first people in history to run the length of the Great Wall of China in one attempt, a journey covering 4,200km. In 2008 the pair ran the length of the Southern African coastline from Namibia to Mozambique a distance spanning over 3,000km. In the process, they’ve raised R3 million for Operation Smile.

Once this journey is complete, Grier will once again have made history as he will be the first person to have completed this particular distance across the Indian Ocean and through the Madagascan Island. To date, Grier has completed over 2,000km and the journey has been extremely tough.  According to the most recent reports, Grier has already lost about 15 kilograms, has battled recurrent bouts of swamp fever, food poisoning, infected leech bites and now bilharzias, and he still has another 500km to go before completing the challenge this weekend.

From sweltering rugged savannahs to humid leech infested swamps and forests and uninhabited wild lands Grier has been challenged both physically and mentally over the past 3 months. In completing this challenge it will not only be a personal achievement comprising two world firsts but a fulfilling journey as the money he raises will go towards providing free treatment to children and adults suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates and thanks to his Nokia 6710 Navigator phone he is able to share this journey with the world.  Visit www.milesforsmiles.co.za to view just what David has experienced and achieved, and uploaded through these remarkable phones.

About Operation Smile South Africa

Operation Smile South Africa medical volunteers repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate sustainable healthcare systems for children and families in South Africa, Southern Africa and around the world. Operation Smile South Africa is part of a global alliance of Operation Smile foundations and chapters dedicated to providing free treatment to children and adults suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates. Together, they create smiles, change lives, and heal humanity. Operation Smile mobilizes a world of generous hearts to heal children's smiles and transform lives across the globe.

Nokia today announced its sponsorship of the 16^th MTN South African Music Awards to be held at Sun City on the 16th & 17th April 2010. This is the second year that Nokia is one of the sponsors of these prestigious awards.

“The SAMA’s recognise the top South African artists and we are proud to be a sponsor of this event for the second year,” says Jake Larsen, Nokia’s head of music for Middle East and Africa. “Through our sponsorship of the SAMA’s we are demonstrating how important local South African talent is to Nokia.  In fact, supporting local talent is not only one of our objectives, but also the key to our success since launching in 2009,” Larsen says.

Nokia’s recent move into digital music led by the launch of the Nokia Music Store last year as well as their Comes with Music offering has provided a channel for South Africans to digitally access a variety of South African, African and International artists ranging from Zebra & Giraffe to Kurt Darren and many others.

The sponsorship of the prestigious music awards includes the ‘all-you-can-eat’ music powerhouse Nokia X6 32GB Comes with Music phones for all 2010 nominees.   Nokia will also have a presence at related events to be held at Sun City during the SAMA weekend, which will include product demonstrations and interactive zones.

“There is a wealth of talent in South Africa and we are committed to supporting local acts by continuing to make their tracks available legally and at affordable rates for all fans via the Nokia Music Store and services such as Comes with Music,” Larsen concludes. 

Congratulations to all the 2010 nominees! http://www.samusicawards.co.za/#/press

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks. www.nokia.com  

About Nokia Music Store

Nokia Music Store is a service where you can browse and buy music in order to download on your PC and compatible Nokia mobile device. Music downloaded from Nokia Music Store can be conveniently moved between your PC and compatible Nokia device, as well as copied to CD and moved on to compatible digital music players. http://music.nokia.co.za

For further local releases, images and videos please visit www.nokiaconnect.co.za

Nokia contact:

Tania Steenkamp

Nokia Communications

E-mail: tania.steenkamp@nokia.com

Media queries:

Sarah Dowding

Fleishman-Hillard

011 548 2000

Sarah.dowding@fleishman.co.za

Twilight didn’t receive a single nomination for last year’s Oscars ceremony, yet appears three times on the list of the world’s most downloaded movie soundtracks for the last 12 months. Recent release AVATAR, up for nine Oscars in 2010, is in second place.

Slumdog Millionaire swept up a staggering eight golden statuettes at last year’s ceremony – including best original song, original score and sound mixing. If listeners’ current favourites could predict this year’s winners, Avatar, Transformers and Inglorious Basterds look set for a night of victory.

Twilight’s global popularity highlights Comes With Music’s international presence, bringing movie lovers in touch with music across the world.

From James Horner’s mysterious AVATAR score to the thrilling melodies of Sherlock Holmes or the eclectic mix of Nine, check out Nokia’s movie soundtrack selection: http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=genre&id=7

If you’re a fan of the music behind the latest movie releases Nokia Comes With Music is the place to download all the music you’ve ever wanted, for free, and to keep forever.

TOP 10 GLOBALLY DOWNLOADED MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS (2009-10*)

1. Twilight (Original motion picture soundtrack: International Version)

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6828420

2.   AVATAR

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6883825

3. Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6758629

4. Mamma Mia!

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6384975

5. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Mexican version)**

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6828420

6. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6708593

7. Alvin And The Chipmunks 2

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6870932

8. Slumdog Millionaire

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6550550

9. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Original motion picture soundtrack)

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6828420

10. Watchmen

http://music.nokia.co.za/?redirect=product&id=OD2DI6614010

Notes to Editors

* The research was conducted by Nokia Comes With Music based on the number of downloaded songs across 15 countries from December 2008 - January 2010

** Nokia Comes With Music provides a separate Mexican edition in line with distribution rights

More than 200 million smartphone users worldwide now have Skype at their fingertips

Skype and Nokia today jointly announced the release of Skype for Symbian, a Skype client for Nokia smartphones based on the Symbian platform, the world’s most popular smartphone platform. Skype for Symbian will allow Nokia smartphone users worldwide to use Skype on the move, over either a WiFi or mobile data connection (GPRS, EDGE, 3G). It is now downloadable for free from the Ovi Store, Nokia’s one-stop shop for mobile content. http://www.ovi.com/services/

 Skype for Symbian enables Nokia smartphone users to:

• Make free Skype-to-Skype calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world*
• Save money on calls and texts (SMS) to phones abroad.
• Send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups
• Share pictures, videos and other files.
• Receive calls to their existing online number
• See when Skype contacts are online and available to call or IM
• Easily import names and numbers from the phone’s address book

Skype for Symbian will run on any Nokia smartphone using Symbian ^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype will soon introduce this client to Symbian mobile devices from other manufacturers, including Sony Ericsson.

“Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype. We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users," said Patrick Henchie, product manager, Nokia South Africa.

“Skype, the king of Internet communications, running on Symbian, the world’s dominant smartphone platform, makes for an explosive combination,” said Larry Berkin, Head of Global Alliances and GM USA, Symbian Foundation. “With Symbian’s global reach, Skype is that much closer to becoming the ubiquitous real-time communications platform for hundreds of millions of Symbian-based mobile users.”

Russ Shaw, General Manager, Mobile at Skype said, “With Skype for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide** will be able to take the Skype features they love with them on the move. Alongside Skype’s relationships with operators and handset manufacturers worldwide, making Skype available direct to consumers will help millions of users keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance or whether they are away from a computer.”

The initial Skype for Symbian application is compatible with the following Nokia touchscreen models: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.  

For more information on Skype for Symbian, including the latest supported handset list, at http://www.skype.com/go/symbian.

* Skype recommends use of an unlimited data plan to avoid incurring additional charges from operators. Users should also be aware that extra charges may apply if they use Skype over a mobile data connection when abroad.

** According to Informa Telecoms and Media

Nokia and the product names referenced in the release are trademarks of the Nokia Corporation. 

About Skype

Skype is software that enables the world's conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users.  Everyday, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles. Download Skype to your computer or mobile phone at www.skype.com.

About Nokia

Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world's leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different ways - fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks. www.nokia.com

“Some of the biggest names in UK and American music have joined forces to record an emotive cover of the REM classic ‘Everybody Hurts’,” says Jake Larsen, head of music for Nokia South Africa. “The track has been priority listed in all of Nokia’s online music stores, including South Africa.”

With a presence in 33 markets, including South Africa, which now has 6 million tracks available for download, Russia, Brazil, UAE, India, Mexico, South America and the UK, Nokia is encouraging music lovers to raise money by downloading the single.  A newsletter is being sent to all Nokia Music customers and banner advertising across Nokia’s owned online will drive customers to their local Nokia Music Store.

“The track costs R10 to download and all proceeds will go towards the relief efforts in Haiti,” says Larsen.  “The track features some of the music industry’s most popular artists including

Mariah Carey, Jon Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Kylie, Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, Miley Cyrus, Take That, Joe McElderry, Cheryl Cole, JLS, Mika, Michael Bublé, James Blunt, James Morrison, Susan Boyle, and Westlife,” he says.

To download the single, head to

http://music.nokia.co.za/IE/Product.aspx?id=OD2DI6947904 or http://music.nokia.co.za

Notes to Editors:

‘Everybody Hurts’ is a priority single in the following Nokia Music Stores:

Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, India, UAE, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, Russia

Intel and Nokia Merge Software Platforms for Future Computing Devices: MeeGo* enables an open ecosystem for rapid development of exciting new user experiences

In a significant development in the convergence of communications and computing, Intel Corporation and Nokia are merging their popular Moblin and Maemo software platforms. This will create a unified Linux-based platform that will run on multiple hardware platforms across a wide range of computing devices, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Called MeeGo, the open software platform will accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new Internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.

To read the full article go to /cms/resource/150210_2_intel_nokia_merge_moblin_maemo.pdf

Nokia passes key milestones as services business continues strong momentum

 With a great user experience, an aggressive global rollout plan and a focus on local relevance, Nokia truly put its services on the map – and the strong momentum continues.

"Our recipe for success has some pretty simple ingredients: delighting consumers. Yes, we are in more places, serving more people, with more great content and services. True, more than a million apps are being downloaded a day from our store; Comes with Music is now available in over 25 markets; and every second of the day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, another person downloads our new Ovi Maps app. These are great achievements, but our goal is to delight hundreds of millions of consumers around the world – and we are well on our way," says Niklas Savander, head of Nokia’s services business.

To read the full article go to /cms/resource/150210_nokia_passes_key_milestones_as_services_business_continues_strong_momentum.pdf

Other information from Mobile World Congress 2010

Nokia Software Strategy White Paper /cms/resource/nokia_software_strategy_white_paper.pdf

Ovi Maps Datasheet /cms/resource/ovi_maps_data_sheet.pdf

Lifecasting Datasheet /cms/resource/lifecasting_with_ovi_data_sheet.pdf

MeeGo Logo /cms/resource/meego_logo_gm.png

According to Patrick Henchie, product manager at Nokia South Africa, recent research has shown that people are spending an average of five full days per year, equivalent to a full work week, responding to emails.  “Half of us (46 percent) choose email over voice or text to send and receive important information,” says Henchie, “The Nokia E72 was designed exactly with this kind of person in mind as it allows the owner to be more responsive and communicate how they want, whenever they want and wherever they are.”

The Nokia E72 builds on the formula from Nokia’s most successful full QWERTY keyboard device, the Nokia E71, and adds important new functionality such as desktop-like email and chat experiences. Morevoer, the latest version of Ovi Maps with A-GPS navigation and compass, an optical navi key and 5 megapixel camera are all packed into the sleek, beautifully-designed handset.

The Nokia E72 also comes with Nokia’s push consumer email service, Nokia Messaging, and now for the first time people can set up instant messaging (IM) directly from the homescreen, accessing communities such as Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi Chat. Just like chatting via the desktop, people can respond to friends and colleagues across multiple communities in real-time.

The Nokia E72 can also accommodate multiple work and personal email accounts and with separate profiles for work and play, allows people to be flexible when it comes to choosing how, when, where and who to respond to. While work emails rank as the most important messages to receive, they are not necessarily the most urgent messages to respond to. According to Nokia’s research, half of respondents (49 percent) prioritise their partners ahead of their bosses or managers (29 percent), colleagues (23 percent) and even customers (31 percent).

The Nokia responsiveness research was commissioned to examine the various factors that influence how people respond to various issues and situations. In addition to the research, an online campaign at http://www.nokia.com/responsiveness invites people around the world to respond to various issues and comments from TED fellows.

See the results of the Nokia responsiveness research in the Nokia E72 press kit http://www.nokia.com/A4664066?kit=112  

 Notes to editors:

A full list of Nokia E72 features is available at http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-e72

 Compatibility with the aforementioned services may be limited to certain countries.

 * Research conducted by ICM among 7,826 people in seven countries in July 2009. Countries where research was conducted: UK, Russia, Spain, South Africa, UAE, Singapore and Italy.

“We’re averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia. “When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer. The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted.”

The success of the new version Ovi Maps is a key part of Nokia’s strategy to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services.  By leveraging its investment in NAVTEQ, Nokia has been able to remove the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians and is quickly activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services.

“This is great news for our 3^rd party application developers.  Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps,” continued Anssi Vanjoki.  “For the operators too there is a growing opportunity to sell more data-plans and a complete navigation package to existing and new customers.”

As of 31 January 2010 the top five countries downloading the new version of Ovi Maps were: China, Italy, UK, Germany and Spain. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download were: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E72.

“There is a huge appetite for GPS navigation on mobile phones. We estimate there were already 25.9 million people actively using GPS navigation on their mobile phones at the end of 2009,” said Chris Jones, VP & Principal Analyst at research firm Canalys.  

From next month, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost. 

Ovi Maps covers more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries. There are more than 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world.  Lonely Planet and Michelin guides have information on more than 1,000 destinations globally.

Notes to editors:

Current list of compatible Nokia devices: Nokia 97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6. For the latest device list, please go to http://www.nokia.com/maps.

Data transmission charges may apply. Please contact network operator for information about the data transmission charges.

 “We want to make using your mobile for navigation as familiar as using it to send a text or take a picture. We believe that making the best maps with voice guided navigation available for free will be the catalyst to do this,” explained Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia. “Why have multiple devices that work in only one country or region?  Put it all together, make it free, make it global and you have something that is truly useful and can help you get round almost any city in the world whether you’re on foot or driving.”

 Five key features that sets Ovi Maps apart: 

No hidden costs
The new version of Ovi Maps comes with all the maps and high-end, car grade navigation features you need for free and is yours to keep for the life of the smartphone. No additional licenses needed for extra countries, regions or services like traffic information or city guides.  Data charges from network operators may apply.

Best global coverage
You take your mobile with you wherever you go in the world so, as standard, voice guided navigation for both pedestrians and drivers is available for 74 countries in 46 different languages and there are maps for over 180 countries. This gives you the best maps with the largest global coverage for free.

No network connection required when navigating
Avoid expensive, battery-draining network connections with Nokia’s unique hybrid technology. Maps can be pre-loaded on to your Nokia smartphone so you can set Ovi Maps to offline mode, saving battery power, and the navigation system will still work. This is particularly useful for those worried about data connection costs when travelling abroad or when you are travelling through areas with little or no network coverage.   

Unique hybrid technology
Ovi Maps is built on an advanced technology called hybrid vector maps. Vector maps are high quality but less data intensive and allow you to continue to navigate even if you lose your network connection. This means that maps downloaded or updated across a network connection are about half the size of bulky bitmaps used by other mobile map providers. The hybrid technology ensures that, unlike other providers, any downloaded map data is stored on the device for future use. 

Voice guidance & traffic information
Turn-by-turn, voice guided navigation comes free for both drivers and pedestrians. For drivers this includes lane assistance, traffic information, safety camera and speed warnings. For pedestrians this includes shortcuts through parks and pedestrian-only zones for over 100 cities around the world as well as 6000 3D landmarks in over 200 cities to help you find exactly where you are.

Ovi Maps is immediately available for download for 10 Nokia handsets, including the popular Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia E72, with more Nokia smartphones expected to be added in the coming weeks. In the meantime, current owners of Nokia smartphones that are compatible with the new Ovi Maps can download it free of charge from www.nokia.com/maps.

From March 2010, new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

More press materials are available at www.nokia.com/press as well as at http://events.nokia.com.

Broadcast materials are available at http://digitalnewsroom.nokia.com.

 Notes to editors:

Current list of compatible Nokia devices: Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6. For the latest device list, please go to http://www.nokia.com/maps.

Data transmission charges may apply. Please contact network operator for information about the data transmission charges.

Calling All Innovators 2010 features four categories for submissions that enhance the use of Nokia mobile devices in real-world scenarios:

- Eco/Being Green:  applications that help to save the planet with innovative, eco-friendly uses.

- Productivity:  applications that make your life easier, and help you to be more efficient, such as utilities, business, or personal finance applications.

- Life Improvement:  applications that positively affect the daily lives of people living in developing countries by using the prevalence of mobile devices to teach children and illiterate adults critical skills, and agriculture health.

- Entertainment:  applications that bring out your inner rock star, and show off the coolest multimedia features, including music, multimedia and games - because mobile also has to be about having fun!

Forum Nokia has therefore teamed up with Sesame Workshop, the producers behind Sesame Street, for the education subcategory of the life improvement category to encourage developers to create and offer applications to teach early literacy on Nokia devices to communities around the world.  Sesame Workshop will offer guidance during the judging process and work with select developers to further enhance relevant projects.

"With Forum Nokia's community - over four and a half million developers strong - we're challenging those particularly in emerging markets to create educational tools that make a positive impact," said Jeffrey Fleishman, assistant vice president for Media Distribution Business Development, Sesame Workshop. "Our goal is to find some partners with which we can work to extend the power of Sesame Street to new platforms and places."

The collaboration will encourage developers to create educational applications, and possibly utilise the Sesame Street characters, for consumers around the world.  As Sesame Street celebrates its 40th anniversary, this partnership helps to extend its "longest street in the world" into the digital one.  With an expertise in using media to reach children, the non-profit is looking to mobile as the newest distribution channel of literacy-based content through accessible mass media.

One example was the regional Calling All Innovators Africa contest which took place from July 2009 and the winners were announced in early December 2009. The Calling All Innovators Africa competition called for South African and African developers  to create locally relevant applications and solutions for the Ovi Store https://store.ovi.com. For more information on the Calling All Innovators Africa contest winner’s announcement please visit this link http://www.nokiaconnect.co.za/news-release/11/nokia-calling-all-innovators-winners-announced

More details about all the categories for Calling All Innovators, special prizes and judges can be found on the contest web site at www.callingallinnovators.com.

Submissions from developers for the 2010 Calling All Innovators contest will be accepted starting on the 1^st of February 2010. The submission deadline is the 18^th of May 2010.

About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the non-profit educational organization that revolutionized children's television programming with the landmark Sesame Street. The Workshop produces local Sesame Street programs, seen in over 140 countries, and other acclaimed shows to help bridge the literacy gap including The Electric Company and Pinky Dinky Doo. Beyond television, the Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment. Initiatives meet specific needs to help young children and families develop critical skills, acquire healthy habits and build emotional strength to prepare them for lifelong learning. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org

About Forum Nokia

Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com

The Nokia X6 is a powerful entertainment device capable of playing up to 35 hours of music, offering 32GB of on-board memory and supporting all main digital music formats, with a slick 3.2" finger touch interface and a 5 megapixel camera equipped with a Carl Zeiss lens.

The Nokia X6 is the ultimate device for social butterflies, bringing friends and virtual communities, like Facebook, to the homescreen thus making it easy to socialise with friends and follow all the favourite blogs and celeb gossip. The device has a 16,9 widescreen which is optimised for photo and imaging display, web browsing, video recording and gaming.

The entertainment experience is completed by three embedded games, Spore by EA, Asphalt4 and DJ Mix Tour by Gameloft, as well as direct access from the homescreen to download more games and applications through the Ovi Store at http://store.ovi.com.

The Nokia X6 music powerhouse is expected to retail for approximately R6999.99 and will be available from early January 2010.

Photos and a detailed datasheet of the Nokia X6 are available at

www.nokiaconnect.co.za 

http://www.nokia.com/press/media_resources/photos/devices/showphotos?category=x6

http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/Press/Materials/White_Papers/pdf_files/data_sheets_2009/Nokia_X6_data_sheet.pdf

Background into the Comes With Music package

Comes with Music, is a round-breaking digital entertainment service, which offers consumers unlimited downloads to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue, which currently has over 6-million digital tracks, this offering is valid for a one year period. Fans will have access to bonus tracks, remixes and other additional content, free of charge as part of the Comes With Music subscription. In addition, the consumer is able to keep all their downloaded music from the diverse catalogue of international superstars and favourite local artists - even when the service period of one year is over – on both their Comes With Music device and dedicated PC.

Comes with Music is currently available across a range of Nokia devices through MTN, Cell C, Nashua Mobile and Autopage cellular. Devices include the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic Comes with Music edition – exclusive to MTN, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic available across all four channels and now the Nokia X6 available at MTN, AutoPage and Nashua Mobile outlets. The Nokia X6 and 5530 Comes with Music phones will be available soon at Vodacom.

Find out more on Comes With Music visit http://music.nokia.co.za/comeswithmusic

Press photos of devices are available at http://www.nokia.com/A4632380?category=nokia_comes_with_music

Follow Nokia Music Store South Africa on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NMS_ZA

The Nokia Comes with Music Party bus, which will be making stops at beaches and shopping malls throughout the season, will showcase live performances from some of South Africa’s top bands which include Ashtray Electric, Taxi Violence, Mix n Blend, Straatligkinders, aKing and Loyiso.

Sarah Crowe, head of marketing for Nokia South Africa says that the bus is just another way in which Nokia is showing its support of local talent.   “Nokia has exercised support for the local industry throughout 2009 with the launch of the Nokia Music Store and then the Comes with Music service. The Comes with Music party bus is a great way to end off the year and we look forward to giving fans a chance to see their favourite artists perform live over the festive season.”

As part of the tour, Nokia will be handing out free Nokia Music Store vouchers giving fans access to tracks from their favourite performers. Tracks to be included are ‘The Dance’ by aKing, ‘Quite Overstared’ by Ashtray Electric and ‘Shall We Swing (feat, Fletcher)’ by Mix n Blend. The tracks will be given away at each performance of specific bands per day. You can hear previews of these tracks from Nokia Music Store’s latest Podcast Episode at http://www.zoopy.com/audio/2fiy/nokia-music-store-podcast-episode-3?browse=3ur7

The Nokia Comes with Music Party Bus starts its tour in Durban following which it will travel to Margate, Port Elizabeth, Plettenberg Bay and Cape Town. To follow the bus during the tour, visit http://moralfibre.co.za/nokia/  

Tour route:

9^th December – Umdloti, Durban: 11h00 Ashtray Electric and 15h00 Taxi Violence

10^th December – Westbrook Beach, Durban: 11h00 Taxi Violence and 15h00 Ashtray Electric

11^th December – Anstey Beach, Durban: 11h00 Ashtray Electric and 15h00 Taxi Violence

12^th December – Amanzimtoti, Durban: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 Straatligkinders

13^th December – Amanzimtoti, Durban: 11h00 Straatligkinders and 15h00 Mix n Blend:DJ

14^th December – Margate Beach, Margate: 11h00 Ashtray Electric and 15h00 Taxi Violence

15^th December – Margate Beach, Margate: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 Straatligkinders

17^th December – Hobie Beach, Port Elizabeth: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 Straatligkinders

18^th December – Hobie Beach, Port Elizabeth: 11h00 Straatligkinders and 15h00 Mix n Blend:DJ

19^th December – King’s Beach, Port Elizabeth: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 Straatligkinders

21^st December – Beacon Isle Beach, Plettenberg Bay: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 AKing

23^rd December – Ratanga Junction, Cape Town: 11h00 Mix n Blend:DJ and 15h00 Straatligkinders

24^th December – Cape Gate Centre, Cape Town: 11h00 Taxi Violence and 15h00 Mix n Blend:Band

26^th December – Ratanga Junction, Cape Town: 11h00 Mix n Blend:Band and  15h00 Taxi Violence

27^th December – Somerset Mall, Cape Town: 11h00 Taxi Violence and 15h00 Mix n Blend:Band

28^th December – Blue Route Mall, Cape Town: 11h00 Ashtray Electric and 15h00 Mix n Blend: Band

29^th December – V&A Waterfront, Cape Town: 11h00 Mix n Blend: Band and 15h00 Ashtray Electric

30^th December – V&A Waterfront, Cape Town: 11h00 Ashtray Electric and 15h00 Mix n Blend: Band

31^st December – V&A Waterfront, Cape Town: 11h00 Mix n Blend: Band and Loyiso

 All category winners were recognised at the Calling All Innovators Awards reception and the total cash and prize value of over R1million was awarded to the top ten application developers. In addition, winning application, Afridoctor, is already available on Nokia’s Ovi Store and the response has been very positive so far.  

 Over 125 submissions were received during the competition period, mainly from Africa, signalling a strong response to Nokia's challenge to think big and create mobile applications and services to enhance mobile device usage. Although the competition called for applications relevant to the South African environment a large number of entries were received from developers in other countries including Pakistan, Germany, US, India and Bahrain. The second highest number of entries overall, after those received from South African developers,  came for Kenya, showing that Africa is definitely on the map and has a role to play in the future of technology.  

 "We received a number of top quality entries and the winners have invested a significant amount of time and thought into their applications,” says Helen Jarvis, services marketing manager at Nokia South Africa. "We look forward to working with the South African and African developer community going forward to continue providing the best mobile applications to consumers on the continent and worldwide."

 Over and above the prize money, the owners of the top 10 submissions each received the Judge’s Choice Award, which provides a one-year membership to Forum Nokia Launchpad, valued at 300 Euros.  Each of the winners will receive access to exclusive resources and support designed to accelerate mobile application development and elevate developer’s business visibility in the mobile world.

 “The developers are the future of technology advancement and Nokia understands this,” says Jarvis. “It is for this reason that we recently hosted the Nokia Developer Days where over 62 companies were represented by 100 delegates, from eight African countries, US, United Arab Emirates and Finland to talk about the future of mobile technology.”

 As part of its drive to encourage developers to continue to build more applications, Nokia is focused on collaborating with operators to ensure that consumers have access to the best applications across multiple platforms. Sharoda Rapeti, MTN general manager for products and services says that the Calling All Innovators competition has highlighted the importance of developing local applications for both manufacturers and for operators. “MTN is committed to working with Nokia to make it easier for developers to drive and build applications,” she says. “Great applications need to be developed not only for manufacturers but for the operators too.”

 The competition, has also generated interest from various news organisations including MoneyWeb and News24, which have both created widgets specifically for use on Nokia devices. These widgets are currently hosted on Nokia’s application outlet, Ovi Store at http://store.ovi.com.

 The 2009 Calling All Innovators winners are:

First place and winner of USD85,000: Afridoctor by 20fourlabs

Second place and winner of USD 10,000: That Roach Game – South Africa by Breakdesign

Third place and winner for USD 10,000: Sasol e.Birds by Coolideas

Fourth place and winner of USD 10,000: MrSNAKE by Simon Botes

Fifth place and winner of USD 10,000: Thumbtribe widget by Thumbtribe

 Top ten winners and recipients of the Judge’s Choice Award:

 (12 months membership to Forum Nokia Launchpad):

1^st – Afridoctor by 20fourlabs http://store.ovi.com/content/7909E190D23946A9E040050A8532277E?clickSource=search

2^nd – That Roach Game by Breakdesign

3^rd – Sasol e.Birds by Coolideas

4^th – MrSNAKE by Simon Botes

5^th – Thumbtribe widget by Thumbtribe http://store.ovi.com/content/73C585E40899FF9FE040050A85320AAE?clickSource=search

6^th – LiveMobile by LiveMobile

7^th – Countdown 2010 by Christian Reeve

8^th – Surfing Safari by Aqua Online

9^th – Turn Left at the Barrel by Turn Left at the Giraffe http://store.ovi.com/content/22694

10^th – Mall-Buddy by Paul Hinrichsen

For more information on the Top 10 applications visit http://www.nokiaconnect.co.za/cms/resource/cai_za_winners_top10_nokiaconnect.pdf

"Qt 4.6 marks an exciting time for developers, regardless of their target form factor or platform," said Sebastian Nyström, Vice President, Application Services and Frameworks at Nokia.

"Developers can basily create visually appealing and web-connected applications for desktops or devices, including targeting the hundreds of millions of Symbian and Maemo-based devices,"

"The community will enjoy using Qt's intuitive programming interface to quickly create powerful, appealing applications." Nyström added.

More platforms

Qt 4.6 includes support for the Symbian platform for the first time, and also adds Windows 7, Apple Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and the upcoming Maemo 6 to the list of Qt supported platforms. Also available is community support for real-time operating systems QNX and VxWorks. Support for Maemo 5 is also currently in development, with the second technology preview being released today.

Qt support for Symbian and Maemo creates the first opportunity for developers to target both of these platforms from the same codebase. Being able to share code across platforms means that the applications they create will reach the market faster and reach a broader audience of device users.

Also released today is a technology preview of new Qt APIs from the Qt Mobility project. These cross-platform APIs provide developers with functionality such as location for navigation-type devices, as well as messaging, contacts, and bearer management.

More eye candy

Qt 4.6 builds upon the graphical improvements of 4.5 and enhances them with the addition of new Animation Framework - including intuitive state machine functionality - plus new advanced graphics effects like opacity, drop shadows, glow, and filtering.

More fingers

One of the most exciting new features in Qt 4.6 is the ability to create multi-touch applications. New multi-touch and gesture based input methods such as flicking and kinetic scrolling make Qt 4.6 a powerful framework for creating dynamic, tactile ways for users to interact with applications and devices.

More horsepower

Qt 4.6 challenges the conventional development notion that advanced UI capabilities normally come with a significant performance cost. Extensive work has been done to deliver the best possible performance while enabling developers to deliver the "wow" effect that is demanded by users.

Key performance improvements come in the form of a highly optimized, re-written Qt GraphicsView rendering algorithm, a new OpenGL paint engine, WebKit, 2D vector graphic support using OpenVG, and new DirectFB support.

Updated tools

Complimenting the release of Qt 4.6 is an updated release of Qt Creator, a cross-platform IDE for Qt development. Qt Creator 1.3 and Qt 4.6 form the Qt SDK which contains everything developers need to create cross-platform applications.

To learn more about Qt 4.6, Qt Creator 1.3 and to download the packages, please visit http://qt.nokia.com/whatsnew.

According to Tania Steenkamp, communications manager at Nokia South Africa, the world of technology is changing and the biggest changes can be seen in the mobile technology space. As a result, people no longer need different devices to do different things.  For example digital cameras, alarm clocks, diaries, laptops and even torches no longer need to be carried around as separate items as they have all been incorporated into the mobile device.  However, although the advancement of hardware is extraordinary, the future lies in mobile device applications and focus needs to be placed on how technology is used to best meet a consumers needs through the collaborative power of people.

One of the highlights of the session was guest speaker, Richard Mulholland from Missing Link and Thunk! who shared his views on why manufacturers should start to put the developer at the centre of their business.  According to Mulholland, the customer centric model is outdated and companies that truly want to get ahead in the mobile space need to put more focus on the developers.  Mulholland also explained that because developers are users, often their applications are as a result of their own personal user experience.  More organisations need to provide the tools and forums to unleash the creative and collaborative power of developers, as there is a potential developer in all of us waiting to invent the next revolutionary application to change the way we live.

Nokia also showcased the Nokia N900 which has been earmarked as one of the device of the future as it combines all the elements of basic communications functionality with the ability to run world class applications on the Meamo operating system.  However the most interest has been shown in Nokia's 3G Booklet, which although not yet available in South Africa, will definitely be a strong challenger to other similar products.

During a routine quality control process, Nokia identified a potential product quality issue with certain chargers manufactured by one of its third-party suppliers. The plastic covers of the affected chargers could come loose and separate, exposing the charger's internal components and potentially posing an electrical shock hazard if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plugged into a live socket. Nokia is not aware of any incidents or injuries related to these chargers.

Only a limited number of chargers of certain model types manufactured by a single third-party supplier during a specific time period are within the scope of the exchange program. They are the AC-3E and AC-3U models, manufactured between June 15, 2009 and August 9, 2009; and the AC-4U model, manufactured between April 13, 2009 and October 25, 2009.

For more information, including how consumers can check to see if their chargers are part of this exchange program, Nokia has established a website. Consumers are asked to visit http://chargerexchange.nokia.com.

Nokia recommends consumers with chargers within the scope of this exchange program to stop using the charger and exchange it for a free replacement.

From her breakthrough multi-platinum album A Girl Like Me to her ubiquitous global smash Good Girl Gone Bad, in just a few short years, Rihanna has helped redefine the path of popular music for a new generation.  She continues that musical and stylistic journey on one of the most hotly anticipated new albums in recent history, her fourth original studio album, Rated R. Rated R features the sultry, provocative first single "Russian Roulette," which is rocketing up the charts at radio stations across the globe.

This event places Rihanna at the forefront of cutting-edge technology to deliver music and exclusive content to fans, whilst enabling fans to get closer to the live action from wherever they are in the world.

 Rihanna fans can:

- Sign up to watch the live stream

- Invite their friends to watch the performance simultaneously with them through Facebook and Twitter

- Download a web widget counting down to the live performance.

- Download an exclusive Rihanna mobile application from Nokia's Ovi Store.

- Download the album with an exclusive track either to their PC or over the air to mobile from Nokia Music Store or Comes With Music.

 In addition, Nokia will offer of an exclusive version of the new Rated R album via Nokia Music Store, as well as a companion Rihanna application with exclusive footage and other links on Ovi Store. 

 Rihanna stated, "I am so excited to partner up with Nokia. They are doing some really revolutionary things with this album, enabling me to reach more fans than ever before."

 To secure your place in the making of music history, register at www.nokia.com/rihanna.

The local initiative forms part of Nokia’s global take-back scheme which currently covers 85 countries. The campaign calls not only for the return of old Nokia devices, but rather any manufacturer device can be dropped in the bins.

“Since the start of the campaign we have had a very positive response from our trade customer as well as our end users,” comments Matthew Channing, Nokia’s head of customer care in Sub Saharan Africa. “We are seeing more and more customers returning their old and broken devices for recycling at our Care points and we are ramping up awareness through a radio campaign to ensure people know about this environmentally friendly solution.”

This year we again held a recycling collection drive at two of the county’s busiest shopping malls, one in Durban and one in Pretoria.  Over 447 devices were collected in Durban alone, more than four times the amount that was collected in the first drive in 2008.  As part of this year’s campaign, which coincided with Arbor Week in South Africa, Nokia established a sustainable Food Garden at a school in Orange Farm, working closely with NPO The Food Gardens Foundation in Johannesburg  http://www.foodgardensfoundation.org.za/

Energy saving chargers

Two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile phone charger during its usage is lost when the phone is fully charged and unplugged but the charger is left connected to the mains, this is termed “no-load” mode. In an effort to reduce this energy loss, Nokia became the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into phones encouraging people to unplug their chargers when not in use.

Nokia started this campaign with the introduction of three mass market phones, a move that alone could save enough energy a year to power 100 000 average sized homes. The alerts have now been included across Nokia’s product range.

Energy use in Nokia facilities

“Twenty-five percent of the electricity used in Nokia facilities is from renewable sources and we have a global target to increase this to 50% in 2010”, continues Channing. “From 2003 to 2006, Nokia increased energy saving in our facilities around the world to 3,5 percent. We are targeting further progress in this area, aiming to achieve a cumulative saving of 6 percent before 2012 in our annual facilities energy consumption,” concludes Channing.

Environmental friendly packaging

In a move to reduce Nokia’s footprint, smaller device packaging was created in February 2006 using less than half of the normal materials. Accessories packaging was also redesigned to reduce the amount of plastic used by 60 percent. The cardboard used in Nokia packaging has been made significantly thinner.

 By the end of 2007 Nokia  shipped 250 million phones using the compact packaging resulting in 5000 fewer trucks needed to distribute products around the world and creating financial saving of over R700 million.

For more information on Nokia’s recycling activities visit www.nokia.com/werecycle

Comes With Music devices enable the consumer to download an unlimited number of the over 5-million digital tracks available on the South African Nokia Music Store http://music.nokia.co.za for a one year period. In addition, the consumer is able to keep all their downloaded music from the diverse catalogue of international and local artists - even when the service period of one year is over - on both their Comes With Music device and dedicated PC.

Jake Larsen, Nokia's head of music for Middle East and Africa says that Comes with Music will further transform the way people enjoy digital music. "With unlimited music access for one year, consumers can enjoy their favourite artists or delve into new genres without having to worry about individual track or album purchases. This service will widen the range of music consumed as people aren't restricted by the cost of an album or track."

Comes with Music will be available exclusively across a range of Nokia devices through MTN, Cell C, Nashua Mobile and Autopage cellular. Devices include the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic Comes with Music edition - exclusive to MTN, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic available across all four channels.

"This is the most compelling digital music offer ever introduced in South Africa and around the world. The freedom and simplicity of this service is unparalleled," concluded Larsen.

The Comes with Music service is available on three devices, namely the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic and the 5130 XpressMusic – The 5130 Comes with Music offering is exclusively available through MTN, the other two units are available though MTN, Cell C, Nashua Mobile and AutoPage. – to learn more about Nokia’s Comes with Music service, visit http://music.nokia.co.za/comeswithmusic 

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, is a compact XpressMusic device that uses a touch interface for accessing people and content on the brilliantly clear homescreen.  The 'scrolling' Contacts Bar provides direct access to 20 people and their latest conversations and media updates. The homescreen also features one touch shortcuts to content and popular social networks, like Facebook and MySpace. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic follows in the footsteps of the top-rated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, expanding the touch XpressMusic phone range with a youthful device that has a solid stainless steel frame finish and comes in five vivid colors.

At the core of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is the music and entertainment experience. It is an ideal device for those who wish to quickly and easily access, share and mix a huge selection of media. In true XpressMusic form, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is a great music player with 27 hours of playback time, excellent audio quality and a 4 GB memory card for storing music and other media. Videos, either self made or from social media sites such as Youtube and Facebook can be enjoyed on the brilliantly clear 2.9 inch widescreen display. New music can be purchased through the Nokia Music Store, either directly on the phone or through a PC http://music.nokia.co.za.  The music collection is easily managed and can be synchronized with the PC using the Nokia Music for PC application. Calls and music can be conveniently managed and listened to with the Nokia Stereo Headset WH-205 with tangle-free cable.

The innovative 'people carousel' features thumbnail images of up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates.  The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic also features the pop-up Media Bar so music, photos, videos, Internet and on-line sharing applications such as Ovi Share, Flickr and VOX are just a touch away.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic supports GSM/EDGE networks and also offers fast and affordable access to internet services via the integrated wireless LAN over the ubiquitous wireless networks. Nokia is collaborating with Boingo and offers three months of free Internet access in select markets. Boingo works with hundreds of hotspot operators around the world in familiar locations such as airports, hotels, coffee shops and restaurants.

Nokia 5630 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5630 XpressMusic, is an ultra-slim S60 device that offers a complete entertainment experience, letting individuals quickly and easily play music, videos and games, as well as share content.   

Building on the XpressMusic range tradition of delivering superior entertainment experiences, the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic features a world class music player for excellent audio quality, music and videos on-the-go through dedicated keys, and music essentials including a 4GB memory card for storing up to 3000 tracks, with option to upgrade up to 16GB microSD memory card, support for all main digital music formats and a 3.5 mm AV jack.  Featuring Nokia’s innovative voice-controlled ‘Say and Play’ feature, consumers can merely say the name of a favourite artist or song to automatically play it. 

Offering a seamless music experience, Nokia 5630 XpressMusic is compatible with Nokia Music Store, allowing consumers to browse and purchase tracks from the Nokia Music Store, where applicable, while the Nokia Music for PC software allows for easy drag-and-drop transfer of songs and management of any music collection. http://music.nokia.co.za

Putting people first, the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic homescreen gets individuals closer to the people and media that are most important to them. The Contacts Bar allows direct access to up to 20 closest friends or business contacts straight from the homescreen and provides a full communication history with these contacts including recent emails, messages, phone logs and photos shared.  A shortcuts bar at the bottom of the homescreen gives quick access to the most frequently used applications including music, radio, Web, N-Gage and photos. 

The 5630 XpressMusic comes with a complete N-Gage experience with an N-Gage shortcut on the homescreen.  N-Gage offers an entire catalogue of games from leading publishers, a multiplayer feature, and the ability to track progress, as well as add friends to play against. 

In addition, with the full focus 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, images or videos can be captured and shared via a favourite online community, such as Share on Ovi, Flickr, or Facebook.   

Nokia 5130 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is ideal for music lovers looking for a combination of style and functionality.

The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is just one device that helps brings the universal connection and desire that consumers have for music into reality.  The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is the perfect companion for customers who consider themselves music buffs and who also want a colourful device.

Continuing the tradition of the XpressMusic portfolio, the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic delivers an intuitive music experience with a built-in music player, dedicated external music keys, 3.5 mm headphone jack, stereo Bluetooth and FM radio. The phone is also equipped with a 2 megapixel camera with video capture, WAP browser, instant messaging and e-mail and the Series 40 operating system.  

Featuring a thin candybar phone design, the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic Comes with Music offering is available exclusively through MTN and requires a PC to enjoy the Comes with Music experience.

The Nokia 5130 is compatible with the Nokia Music Store http://music.nokia.co.za

"Ovi Store is now open for business in South Africa and we've stocked the shelves with content for a broad range of Nokia devices," continued Jarvis. "We are working with local outlets to provide a variety of local applications, and once we have viable entries from our 'Calling All Innovators' competition, we will be in a strong position to offer local South African content on the store."

Ovi Store is an evolving media service that consolidates Nokia's existing content services into a one-stop-shop for free and paid content. Thousands of the content industry's biggest names along with independent application developers are distributing their media, applications and games through Ovi Store. The content will range from applications, games and videos to widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalisation content for Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 devices.

Customers can update their devices with the Ovi Store mobile application by selecting the Ovi Store icon in the Download! folder on their device. The Nokia N97 will be the first device to include the simple and easy-to-use storefront.

“Nokia’s Nseries brand is associated with a certain expectation and given the performance of the new flagship device, we are extremely proud to introduce the Nokia N97 in South Africa,” says Mathia Nalappan, General Manager of Nokia South Africa.  “Users of the Nokia N97 will quickly see that it embodies the full Nseries experience as well as many incredible additions. With the introduction of widgets to our devices, users can now experience an ‘always open’ window to favourite social networking sites and Internet destinations.”

The Nokia N97: Your ultimate personal Internet computer 

Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5" touch display that can be fully personalised with frequently updated widgets, and a full QWERTY keyboard.  With both a physical and visual touch input, the Nokia N97 is easily used for blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of 'social location'. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos.

The Nokia N86 8MP: Capture your life in more detail

When Nokia set out to make the best mobile imaging device, it combined wide-angle Carl Zeiss optics and an 8 megapixel sensor, resulting in performance comparable to a stand-alone digital camera. The Nokia N86 8MP is designed to excel in both bright and low light conditions and is optimized for both video and still imaging. Its high-speed connectivity ensures easy and convenient sharing.

"People demand mobile cameras that take excellent pictures in all light conditions," continues Nalappan. "That's why the aperture of the Nokia N86 8MP is comparable to that of a high-quality, stand-alone digital camera. Whether it's running with the bulls in Pamplona or capturing the panoramic beauty of a sunset over Signal Hill in Cape Town, the Nokia N86 8MP will take brilliantly clear, wide-angle images that are instantly geotagged to be uploaded onto sites like Ovi Share or Flickr."

The Nokia N97 and Nokia N86 8MP both offer full integration with Nokia’s services outlet, Ovi.com. Users are able back up and edit contacts and calendars through Ovi Sync, access files from any location using Ovi Files, share content through Ovi Share, download Nokia Maps, stay in touch using Ovi Mail and browse the newly launched application store, Ovi Store. In addition, both devices offer quick access to the Nokia Music Store and Ngage platforms ensuring 24 hour entertainment.

The Nokia N97 and Nokia N86 8MP will be available in South Africa from July 2009 at an estimated retail price of R7,999.00 and R6,999.00 respectively.

Johannesburg, 16 July 2009 - Nokia today unveiled the latest from its coveted Nseries range, the Nokia N97 and the Nokia N86 8MP.  Both devices incorporate leading Nseries technology including high-speed connectivity, the latest version of Nokia Maps and a large onboard memory for storing of music and photographs. The highly anticipated Nokia N97, known as the world's most advanced mobile computer, is set to transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. 

“Nokia’s Nseries brand is associated with a certain expectation and given the performance of the new flagship device, we are extremely proud to introduce the Nokia N97 in South Africa,” says Mathia Nalappan, General Manager of Nokia South Africa.  “Users of the Nokia N97 will quickly see that it embodies the full Nseries experience as well as many incredible additions. With the introduction of widgets to our devices, users can now experience an ‘always open’ window to favourite social networking sites and Internet destinations.”

The Nokia N97: Your ultimate personal Internet computer 

Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5" touch display that can be fully personalised with frequently updated widgets, and a full QWERTY keyboard.  With both a physical and visual touch input, the Nokia N97 is easily used for blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of 'social location'. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos.

The Nokia N86 8MP: Capture your life in more detail

When Nokia set out to make the best mobile imaging device, it combined wide-angle Carl Zeiss optics and an 8 megapixel sensor, resulting in performance comparable to a stand-alone digital camera. The Nokia N86 8MP is designed to excel in both bright and low light conditions and is optimized for both video and still imaging. Its high-speed connectivity ensures easy and convenient sharing.

"People demand mobile cameras that take excellent pictures in all light conditions," continues Nalappan. "That's why the aperture of the Nokia N86 8MP is comparable to that of a high-quality, stand-alone digital camera. Whether it's running with the bulls in Pamplona or capturing the panoramic beauty of a sunset over Signal Hill in Cape Town, the Nokia N86 8MP will take brilliantly clear, wide-angle images that are instantly geotagged to be uploaded onto sites like Ovi Share or Flickr."

The Nokia N97 and Nokia N86 8MP both offer full integration with Nokia’s services outlet, Ovi.com. Users are able back up and edit contacts and calendars through Ovi Sync, access files from any location using Ovi Files, share content through Ovi Share, download Nokia Maps, stay in touch using Ovi Mail and browse the newly launched application store, Ovi Store. In addition, both devices offer quick access to the Nokia Music Store and Ngage platforms ensuring 24 hour entertainment.

The Nokia N97 and Nokia N86 8MP will be available in South Africa from July 2009 at an estimated retail price of R7,999.00 and R6,999.00 respectively.

"The first round of the global Calling All Innovators competition saw more than 12,000 developers from around the world registered with Forum Nokia, the world's largest mobile developer community," says Helen Jarvis, Nokia's Services Marketing Manager "We are hoping that the South African developer community will rise to the challenge and impress us with their application submissions and enthusiasm for such a competition."

The Calling All Innovators competition is open to anyone, including mobile and web application developers worldwide, to submit their entries. All applications developed for South Africans and running on Series 40 or Series 60 devices will be considered.

The contest opens on July 16, 2009 and all entries are due by 31 October, 2009. Finalists will be selected and notified in December 2009. All competition entries should be submitted at http://callingallinnovators.com/southafrica/.

The 'Search for N' hunt will take place in advance of the Nokia N97 going on sale in South Africa, with the clues being released on the same date and time in each of the 13 participating counties. Nokia and partners http://www.simon.co.za/ , http://pauljacobson.org, http://www.imod.co.za and http://www.nafisa.co.za/ each have Nokia N97's to be discovered, and the only way to find them is to crack five cryptic clues placed on the partner's blogs.

The first clue for the worldwide search will be posted at 13:00 on the 26^th of May, this hunt will run over a period of eight days with the last clue posted at 13:00 on the 2^nd of June 2009. The 'Search for N' clues posted on the partner sites could relate to news that week, feature aspects of the new Nokia N97, or clever cryptic clues that encourage consumers to explore content online.

The first correct contestants on each blog who successfully submit their answers to all five clues will win the 'hidden' Nokia N97 devices. Simon, Paul, Christopher and Nafisa will email the first successful entrants who have revealed the secret location of the new Nokia N97 in South Africa. Only 96 other people around the globe will have the chance to test drive Nokia's most advanced multi-media, multi-sensory mobile device and be able to join the 'Search for N' winners club which will span three continents.

Should you wish to participate in the challenge please visit one of the following blogs: www.simon.co.za ; http://pauljacobson.org; http://www.imod.co.za; www.nafisa.co.za

Competitors may enter on all four blogs but are only eligible to win one of the Nokia N97 devices in the 'Search for N' hunt.' Winners will have to provide scanned identity documents.

In today’s climate the cost and benefits of technology are under scrutiny and email is an essential driver of efficiency and productivity. “Business people are looking for a mobile email application that is efficient, cost effective, easy to use and easy to integrate with existing infrastructure” says Mathia Nalappan, General Manager for Nokia South Africa.  “With direct access to Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes, companies can potentially save up to a third of their operating costs as there’s no need for middleware or additional servers.”

The Nokia E75 brings up to 10 third party email accounts into one simple to access user interface supporting expandable views, one click reply and sub-folder and HTML email support. Added to this is the enhanced email functionality, upgraded personal information management features such as the ability to create and respond to meeting requests, contacts lookup and auto-complete.

The security features on the Nokia E75 allows users to handle security at different levels. Users can protect data on both the phone's internal memory and any microSD card by encryption. Users can also choose device lock and if the situation demands it, remote lock. 

“Today, mobile professionals need to be able to manage their business and personal life at any time” adds Nalappan “With the Nokia E75, users can choose between two home screens with stand-by views that can be easily customised. This feature enables users to switch between configurable homescreens i.e business and personal mode.

The device features a side slider qwerty keyboard for optimal email experience. Enjoy videos, music, and graphics on the 2.4” QVGA display and orientation sensor. Added to the Nokia Messaging service, the device comes with full Nokia Maps and assisted GPS with integrated 12-month license for turn-by-turn navigation, and a great gaming experience with N-Gage on board. With Ovi Files, also included on the Nokia E75, important files stored on a PC can be remotely managed and shared, even when your PC is switched off. Take photos with a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. Additional features include USB charging with simultaneous data transfer, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, and USB 2.0 High-Speed.

The Nokia Music Store will also boast exclusive download rights for the Mnet Idols Season 5 winner track from Monday 4th May for 7 days.

"South Africans have waited a long time for a local store offering both international hits and local favourites," said Jake Larsen, Nokia's Head of Music for Middle East and Africa. "The Nokia Music Store caters for a variety of tastes and with just one account music lovers can access the store via any desktop computer or directly from optimised Nokia devices such as the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N96 and Nokia N95 8GB."

The store's intuitive user-interface makes downloading full-length tracks easy and offers options to create customised playlists and to add tracks on a wishlist that you can decide to buy later. Tracks purchased can also be transferred via your PC to compatible Nokia devices. The music collection can then simply be synchronised between the PC and a mobile using the Nokia music PC client available for download on the Nokia Music Store or from the product software CD available in the latest devices' sales packs.

Purchasing music made easy

Music on the Nokia Music Store can be purchased through a variety of payment options, including credit cards and pre-paid vouchers. Individual tracks cost R10 and an entire album can be purchased for R100. Customers to the store will also have the option to listen to a 30 second clip from any track on the store prior to purchasing.

Alignment with record labels and local artists

Ensuring the Nokia Music Store is kept up to date with the latest tracks Nokia has aligned globally and locally with major record labels such as Sony Music, Universal, EMI, Warner and local independents including African Cream, Coolspot, Sheer and Next Music. The store boasts a variety South African artists including rock bands The Narrow, Snotkop and Springbok Nude Girls, electronic acts Kalahari Surfers, Goldfish and Felix Laband, a full Afrikaans genre including the likes of Kurt Darren, Piet Botha and Karen Zoid, hip hoppers Prophets of da City, Judith Sephuma, kwaito guys Tzozo and Professor, MCs like Teba, and even traditional artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo. South Africa is the 16th country to see a local launch of the Nokia Music Store. Most recently the store was launched in Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.