Nokia and France Telecom join hands to offer mobile internet services

The latest joint venture in the world of mobile phones is the one between Nokia and France Telecom. Both companies have stated that the reason behind this JV is to provide mobile based internet services to mobile users in nine European countries.

Both Nokia and France Telecom have mutually agreed to contribute equally toward this JV. According to the agreement, Orange, the mobile phone division of France Telecom, will provide its mobile music store to users. Nokia, on the other hand, will offer location based advertising and search services to Orange’s customers through its digital mapping service. This apart, both Orange and Nokia have agreed to offer mobile video games to users.

Orange’s customers can use these services as often as they want and the charges for Nokia’s services will also be added to their mobile bill, thereby eliminating the need for a separate credit card transaction.

Most people overlook Nokia when they talk about companies that will make big bucks through mobile advertising. But I think Nokia is a serious contender in the race. It started off by acquiring Enpocket, then developed its own mobile internet platform Ovi, and has now joined hands with France Telecom. I already predicted a Nokia vs. Google fight in the mobile advertising industry and going by the actions of Nokia, I think I was right in predicting that. What do you say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Nokia, Mobile Web.

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Local mobile search to have huge growth

Juniper Research has recently released a brilliant report which analyzes the future of advertising supported local mobile search services. Some of the important points mentioned in the report were

1. Around 1.3 billion mobile users, a whopping 30% of the user base, will utilize local mobile search facility in 2013.

2. Currently, North America and Western Europe are the best regions for local mobile search. However, this will change soon and China will likely become the leading market for local mobile search.

3. Experts feel that users are more likely to respond to ads that come with local mobile search facility than to generic ads that get displayed in mobile internet or mobile TV.

The research firm has pointed out that this service can only be as good as the local conditions. You need to have good coverage of points of interest, enough mapping data for the place, and lots of high quality local directories which can provide you with the necessary info about the place.

Personally, I think it’s great to have such a facility which you can use to find your way in an unfamiliar place. Especially, people who travel a lot and are constantly on the move will love this service. So, in my opinion, an ad-supported local search facility would be a great success with mobile users. However, the local infrastructure needs to be developed to a great extent in order to make this possible. Hope this happens soon.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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