Nokia launches latest NSeries in Africa

REMMY NWEKE,
just back from South Africa

Global leader in driving transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries through mobile handsets, Nokia, has launched three of its latest NSeries in the bid to take mobiles to the next level on the continent.

The latest mobile phones in the family of NSeries include N79, N85 and N96, made debut at the launch last weekend.

Speaking at the unveiling which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, the Vice President for Sales at Nokia in charge of Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Loren Shuster, told ITRealms Online in an interview that its remarkable how technology has involved and transformed today’s world.

Tagged the “Nokia’s Roof Top Fusion,” he noted that the latest launch of NSeries devices followed on the track success of the Nokia N96 globally.

He pointed out that with a strong lineup of multimedia features, the new devices are taking the world of mobile convergence to the next level.

“Gaming, photos, navigation and music blend together with the newest Ovi and third party services to make discovery and sharing experiences quick and seamless,” he said.

These latest offerings, Shuster said, were made out of cutting-edge technology into compact, user-friendly designs; a characteristic of the iconic NSeries range, that allows people to discover, create and share their passions with others.

“Converged mobility is at the heart of every device we produce, and these three devices are shining examples of how far we have come in achieving this,” he said.

Pointing out that the new devices from Nokia, showcased their online services platform, OVI, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish and symbolizing a door to an on-line world.

“Ovi.com encompasses Share on Ovi, a one-stop storage place for photographs and other media, games on Ovi, Maps on Ovi and Mail on Ovi, a secure and spam-free personal email service was designed for Nokia Series of 40 devices.

In addition, he explained that the site functionality includes personal information management (PIM) sync as well as Nokia Ovi Suite for Personal Computer (PC) and Files on Ovi remote-access service.

The different elements of Ovi, he explained, help users to manage their personal information and media in various ways through a simple and unified interface.

For instance, describing the Nokia N85 as “engaging and interactive,” Shuster said, that along with an eye-catching 2.6” Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) screen and smooth, sleek finish, in addition to having, at least, 10 made-for-mobile N-Gage gaming titles.

“Enhancing the gaming experience, the device design includes dedicated gaming keys that light up when the device is in landscape gaming mode. While all on-board games can be sampled, the device comes with a voucher to activate the full license of the user’s choice game,” he said.

Stressing that by boasting of an in-built FM transmitter, 5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and geo-tagging capabilities, the Nokia N85 comes out of the box with a multitude of powerful functionality.

On Nokia N79, which he described as Xpress-On style, Shuster enlightened that it’s perfect for the style conscious as it comes with Xpress-On smart covers available in five popular colours.

“The device represents true convergence of photos, music and navigation, and with hi-speed 3.5G HSDPA and Wi-Fi, it is quick and easy to share experiences on websites, blogs or online communities,” he said.

The Nokia N79, Shuster who was accompanied by the Design Manager, Nokia Design, Mr. Jonne Harju and Head, Go to Market NSeries, Sales for Middle East and Africa, said that comes packaged with a 4 Giga Bytes (GB) of microSD memory card that makes it possible to store around 3000 song files, approximately 2500 pictures and up to four hours of DVD-quality video clips that can be organized by albums or tags and uploaded directly to Share on Ovi or other third party services.

Equally on reiterating Nokia N96 as the mobile entertainment at its best, Shuster said that the handset is the flagship multimedia computer in the iconic Nokia NSeries range, and boasts live TV, a 5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, turn-by-turn voice navigation and the transformers’ movie preloaded.

“The device also offers 16GB of internal memory that can be increased to 24GB with an optional microSD card, superior sound and music, N-Gage gaming and a stunning 2.8” display. The Nokia N96 is a fitting flagship for our NSeries range. It defines convergence by blending phone and multimedia options seamlessly. Users are able to watch live TV and video, take high quality photos and directly upload them online – it is all about taking mobile entertainment and communication to the next level,” Shuster said.

These devices, he continued, were created to be more than the sum of their parts, offering a complete mobile entertainment package.

Through the Roof Top Fusion event, he explained offers the hope to highlight what consumers could, in fact, hold their world in their hand.

Emphasizing that with Nokia NSeries products, consumers could use a single device to enjoy entertainment, access information and to capture and share pictures and videos on the go at any time.

Nokia says the S60 software built on Symbian as Operating System (OS) is the world’s leading smartphone software, and is licensed by some of the industry’s foremost mobile device manufacturers.

Currently, Nokia said, more than 150 million S60 devices had been shipped by all licensees by January 2008.

The flexibility of the S60 software allows for various hardware designs and software configurations, as evidenced by the multitude of S60 devices already available on the market.

Through its award-winning user interface, extensive support for new mobile services and the innovation potential for partner solutions, the S60 platform provides an open and scalable business opportunity for mobile operators and 3rd party developers.


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