Nokia Life Tools launched across India
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Ecosystem involving key government bodies, operators & industry
players to address consumers' information gaps.
Mumbai, India - After a successful pilot in the state of Maharashtra,
Nokia today announced the commercial launch of its pioneering Nokia
Life Tools service in India. The service will be rolled out first in
Maharashtra in association with the Maharashtra State Agricultural
Marketing Board (MSAMB). Designed specifically for the emerging
markets, Nokia Life Tools is a range of Agriculture, Education and
Entertainment services sharply addressing the information gaps of
target consumers.
Today, Nokia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
MSAMB. Under this MOU, MSAMB will provide expertise in the areas of
commodity prices from their network of 291 local mandis
(marketyards). MSAMB will also have the opportunity to deliver
relevant news, alerts on schemes and other information directly to
grassroots consumers.
Speaking at the occasion, Shri. Ashok Chavan, Hon'ble Chief Minister
of Maharashtra said, "We are happy that Maharashtra is the first
state in India to go live with the Nokia Life Tools services in
association with the state marketing board. Empowering our people
with the right tools and facilities is a top priority for the State
Government. I would like to congratulate Nokia for developing a
unique and innovative service that has tremendous potential to
improve lives and the livelihood of farmers and sub-urban consumers
in Maharashtra."
Shri Harshavardhan Patil, Hon'ble Minister for Co-operation,
Marketing, Cultural Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs said, "It has
been the Maharashtra state government's endeavour to provide vital
agri information tools for a progressive and an empowered farmer
community. Nokia Life Tools is tailormade to positively impact
farmers across the state. This MOU further strengthens MSAMB's
mandate to get the information directly to the farmers."
Mr. D Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India said, "Nokia Life
Tools was a result of the entire ecosystem coming together and is
ideally placed to usher in an information revolution impacting the
daily lives of people. We extend our sincere thanks to MSAMB and our
key partners for believing in and supporting our vision of
'empowering people and connecting them to the things that matter'. We
believe this is the beginning of a historical journey that will take
mobility to grassroots and make a positive difference to the lives of
people in the areas that are crucial to them."
The complete Nokia Life Tools solution will be available on the newly
launched Nokia 2323 classic and Nokia 2330 classic devices, and will
be later expanded to other Nokia devices.
Nokia Life Tools Partner Ecosystem and Services
Designed with deep insights gathered from target users, Nokia has
collaborated with multiple partners across the Indian Government and
private enterprises to bring together a rich ecosystem to deliver
localised & personalised information directly to consumers' Life
Tools-enabled mobile devices.
Nokia Life Tools has a range of 3 primary services - Agriculture
Services, Education Services and Entertainment Services
Nokia Life Tools Agriculture services:
The Nokia Life Tools Agriculture service offers consumers a choice of
2 plans. The basic plan, available across India at Rs 30/month,
provides daily weather updates and relevant agriculture-related news,
advice and tips. The premium plan, at Rs 60/month, will be available
in 10 states, including Maharashtra, and provides the closest market
prices for three crops chosen by the subscriber, as well as weather,
news, advice and tips.
Nokia is collaborating with Reuters Market Light (RML), which was the
exclusive provider for agriculture services in the successful pilot.
Syngenta, Madison Research, Skymet and many others also form this
ecosystem.
Nokia Life Tools Education services:
The Nokia Life Tools Education service, available throughout India,
offers three components: Learn English, with basic, intermediate and
advanced levels; Exam preparation, which offers students tips and
advice for ICSE, CBSE and State Board-level exams mapped to the
relevant curriculum; and General Knowledge, which gives subscribers
useful information about the world around them. Each of the Education
services will be offered at Rs 30/month. Information and content from
multiple local and international companies will be aggregated and
delivered to Nokia Life Tools by EnableM.
Nokia Life Tools Entertainment services:
The Nokia Life Tools Entertainment service at launch will include
Astrology, News, Jokes, Cricket and ringtones, offered at existing
market prices. The content is aggregated and brought to Life Tools by
OnMobile.
Nokia Life Tools is hosted by OnMobile in India.
Jawahar Kanjilal, Nokia's Global Head of Emerging Markets Services,
said, "As mobile coverage increases to cover the millions of
unconnected, Nokia - in India and in other emerging markets around
the world - will work together with mobile operators, multiple
government and private enterprises, and non-government organizations
to empower millions by connecting them to better opportunities that
have a positive impact on their daily lives."
Nokia Life Tools was piloted in Maharashtra earlier this year before
its commercial roll-out this month. The feedback from actual
subscribers during the pilot that was concluded in April 2009
revealed that the service had a wide appeal, and connected with
subscribers at both emotional and rational levels. On one hand, the
service brought livelihood gains through relevant information such as
market rates for farmers' produce, greater awareness on market
conditions, tips on weather, news, crop advisory, Learn English and
General Knowledge. On the other hand, it enabled consumers to fill
their information gaps by being better informed, save time and money,
and improve their confidence and social standing.
Nokia Life Tools service will be expanded to select countries across
Asia and Africa later in 2009 and beyond.
About Nokia Life Tools
Nokia Life Tools is a range of innovative Agriculture information and
Education services targeted at non-urban consumers. Under the Nokia
Life Tool Services, consumers can choose various types of
services/information that they wish to receive. Services available
are as follows.
- Nokia Life Tools Agriculture services aim to plug the information
gaps and needs of farmers via their mobile devices, by providing
information on seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, market prices, and
weather (temperature, rainfall, wind conditions)
- Nokia Life Tools Education services aim to provide education and
career services, including English language learning, General
Knowledge, Exam preparations and results, and career information and
tips
- Nokia Life Tools Entertainment services also has fun features for
subscribers, including Astrology, News on current affairs, sports,
politics and other matters, Jokes and downloadable ringtones
Nokia Life Tools services use an icon-based, graphically rich user
interface that comes complete with tables and which can even display
information simultaneously in two languages. Behind this rich
interface, SMS is used to deliver the critical information to ensure
that this service works wherever a mobile phone works, without the
hassles of additional settings or the need for GPRS coverage.
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.
Media Enquiries:
Nokia
Communications, India
Tel. +91 124 4199358
Nokia
Communications
Tel. +358 7180 34900
Email: press.services@nokia.com
www.nokia.com
Key ecosystem partners collaborating with Nokia on the importance and
benefits of Life Tools
Mr. Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular Ltd
said, "IDEA is the first GSM operator in India to collaborate on
Nokia Life Tools. We are very happy to associate with Nokia, an
industry innovator, and take mobility and its benefits to the masses
of India."
Amit Mehra, MD, Reuters Market Light (RML) said, "Reuters Market
Light (RML) has already proven the value of personalized information
services by selling RML to over 100,000 farmers across 10,000
villages. Most farmers have made thousands of rupees in additional
profit and reduced losses using the most accurate, comprehensive,
timely and personalized information service. We were the exclusive
provider of agriculture services to Nokia in the successful Nokia
Life Tools pilot in Maharashtra. It gives us great pleasure to
continue our collaboration by scaling up our association with Nokia
Life Tools to cover many more states in India."
Kuldeep Kaul, Vice-President Marketing - Syngenta India Limited
said, "Agriculture is a local business where timely and relevant
information dissemination to farmers can help them make better
decisions, helping to boost their productivity and raise farm
incomes. Nokia Life Tools is designed to offer location-specific
personalized information to individual farmers. We look forward to
collaborating with Nokia Life Tools in India, by providing Syngenta's
expertise in seeds and crop protection."
Nokia will collaborate with Pearson Education (India) to bring
best-in-class content to Nokia Life Tools. Mr Vivek Govil, CEO of
Pearson Education (India) said, "Pearson is delighted to collaborate
with Nokia in exploring how to deliver its wide range of educational
content through mobile phones, which are the most popular information
devices in emerging markets."
Pratapa Bernard, Head of Marketing & Products, OnMobile Global Ltd
said, "We are happy to collaborate with Nokia and share our
experience in Value Added Services (VAS) in India to deliver regional
and local content to the consumer. Our expertise in Managed Services
for mobile data services enables us to meet the stringent operational
requirements for Nokia Life Tools."
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