Speaking at CES 2007 in Las Vegas – which begins today – Nokia President and CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, will share the company’s vision of how simplifying and converging mobility and the Internet with connected multimedia devices is making it possible to create, consume and share our experiences when and where we want.
“Mobility will be at the core of how the Internet evolves, where people can have access to the people, content and information they want from wherever they are,” said Kallasvuo. “In emerging markets, we see that more people are accessing the Internet for the first time via their mobile device rather than on a PC and we aim to be at the forefront of making that happen.
“Single purpose devices are becoming less attractive,” continued Mr. Kallasvuo. “And the converged devices taking their place are increasingly powerful and easy to use.” Reaching 90 million units in 2006 and expected to reach 250 million units in 2008, the market for converged devices is the fastest growing segment of consumer electronics. In this market, Nokia is the world’s largest manufacturer, selling close to 40 million converged devices in 2006.
“Nokia brings the value added of mobility and connectivity to convergence – enabling people to take their content and Internet services with them,” said Mr. Kallasvuo. He also shared his excitement regarding Nokia’s cooperation with Sprint Nextel in bringing WiMaX and open internet based services and mobile devices to the pockets of US consumers in 2008.
Nokia will also announce a deal with blogging specialist Six Apart, to bring Vox, a free personal blogging service to the Nokia Nseries multimedia computer product range. The two companies will make it easy for people to upload video and photos, and update their blogs directly from their compatible Nokia Nseries devices to the Vox blogging service.
Nokia will also present a collaboration with Skype to develop a new mobile Skype experience on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.
According to Nokia, the collaboration builds on the familiarity and richness of desktop Skype and makes it mobile. The Nokia N800’s small size and easy wireless connectivity frees Skype users from their desktop, allowing Skype conversations to take place anywhere, as long as there is an available wireless Internet connection.
A number of product launches will also be announced at CES:
• The Nokia 6131 NFC handset includes Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to enable information sharing, service initiation and payment and ticketing capability with one tap of the device. Used in much the same way as existing contactless cards and keytags to allow access and make small payments, the addition of NFC technology to a full featured mobile device is said to add an entirely new level of capability by leveraging the phone’s computing power, wireless Internet access and user interface.
• The introduction of a trimmer fold model to its Nokia Nseries line up, the Nokia N76, a new multimedia computer.
• The introduction of its next generation widescreen Nokia Nseries multimedia computer, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, which is said to combine a personal Internet experience with easy wireless connections, high resolution display and support for a wide variety of Internet applications.
• The introduction of the Nokia N93i, a compact digital camcorder and multimedia computer in one.