Hi, check out WhatsApp Messenger for Nokia, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. Get it now from http://whatsapp.com/dl/ and say goodbye to SMS.
WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia and yes, those phones can all message each other! Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.
In addition to basic messaging iPhone, Android and BlackBerry WhatsApp Messenger users can send each other unlimited images, video and audio media messages.
The following video shows WhatsApp (beta) on Nokia N8. Try it and enjoy it!
In line with its established reputation for Innovation, Nokia is partnering with a social enterprise venture, Co-Creation Hub to provide a platform for young Nigerians to come up with business ideas that also address some of Nigeria’s social issues. Co-Creation Hub had sought entries from Nigerians on how they can use mobile technology to set up businesses that address issues like the quality of Education, Health, combating corruption, and deepening democracy. The entries were pruned to 6 out of which three winners have emerge after a 48-hour camping at the Pan-Africa University, Lagos. Nokia along with other organizations like TBWA/Concepts will allow the winners use their platforms to transform the ideas into thriving businesses.
Segun Fodeke, a software developer won the first prize with her idea on how mobile devices can be used to track the performance of elected government officials against the promises they make when seeking elections. The second position was won by Olusegun V. Sangowawa for her idea on using mobile technology to improve people’s access to health information. Tosin Agboola’s entry emerged third position. The idea seeks to use mobile phones are platforms to alert Nigerians about wanted criminals rather the current use of newspapers, whose reach is quite limited due to poor literacy level and poverty.
Nokia is particularly availing any of the winners who develops a mobile application, an opportunity to upload such on Ovi Store. Ovi store is Nokia’s proprietary platform from which millions of Nokia faithfuls can download applications, games, maps and music. Globally, there are at least 3 million downloads on Ovi store everyday. Nokia’s Head of Marketing for West Africa, Reuben Onwubiko said the Ovi Store platform provides the winners a life-time opportunity to make money from the revenue from downloads all over the world. He said the onus is therefore on those who have entered for the competition to ensure that they come up with solutions that would be acceptable even beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Founded in 2008 in the UK, Social Innovation camp runs as process/event to create innovative applications of the web and mobile technology to solve social problems. Social innovation camps have been run London, Edinburgh, Slovakia, Australia, South Korea, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Czech Republic. The Nigerian initiative is the first of its kind on the African continent.
For Enquiries, Contact:
Osagie Ogunbor Head of Communications Nokia West Africa +234-706-418-6685
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.
I started using the Ovi Life Tools since last Saturday, to see how useful they are and found them engaging for having the latest updates of facts on Health, Education, Agriculture and Entertainment for my news and information blogs.
The Ovi Life Tools were launched in Nigeria last November, 2010, after the successful introductions in India, Indonesia and China.
Ovi Life Tools is a first step toward extending the advantages of today’s digital economy to the whole world at cheaper rates so that everyone can afford the service.
The service has been of immense benefit to over 7 million users so far. Farmers in rural areas in Asia use the tool for agriculture to get vital information on the weather and crops.
Presently the Nokia Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria will be offered on the Nokia 2690 and on the Nokia C1-01 through Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile, at the affordable prices of N250 for the agriculture service and N200 per month for all other subscriptions and will soon be on MTN.
The service will be available countrywide in Nigeria in three languages – English, Hausa and Pidgin English.
Once activated the service on their phones, it will be free of charge for one service for the next one month. Note that there are 4 services: Agriculture, Healthcare, Entertainment, and Education. The 1 month free service is for only one of these services of their choice. If they choose to activate the 4 services, they will be charged for 3 while the 4 th will be free.
The healthcare service include information and advice on mother & childcare, health, fitness and diseases. Users can tailor the service to their needs by entering their sex, age and other relevant details. The agriculture service allows subscribers to specify the crops or commodities they’re interested in, their location and the preferred language for messages. English learning can be provided in Easy, Medium and Difficult levels, according to the user’s proficiency. The entertainment services includes local and international football information (personalised around the subscriber’s favourite team), music, entertainment news and jokes.
Go try the Ovi Life Tools and Enjoy 24/7.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT OVI LIFE TOOLS IN NIGERIA
Q: What is Nokia’s Ovi Life tools?
A: Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is a suite of personally relevant information services providing regular localized information related to Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment. The service is designed to work without the need for any GPRS plans or settings, as the updates are delivered via SMS to the OLT inbox in a graphically rich easy to read format in the user’s local language.
Q: Are all of these services/areas be available in Nigeria?
A: Yes, the Ovi Life Tools offering in Nigeria will consist of the Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment services.
Q: What do these services actually offer?
A: The services offer the following to users:
Healthcare Services: (total of 7 subscription services) • Mother & Child o Subscription service #1: Pregnancy advice – This service keeps the user informed on what to expect from pregnancy and parenthood along with the nutritional and developmental needs of oneself during the entire course of pregnancy. Information delivered to the user is specific to the week of pregnancy and geography determined by the expected date of delivery and the location (6 geographical zones in Nigeria) provided by the user. o Subscription service #2: Child care advice – The service provides information on the nutritional, hygiene, immunization, and developmental needs of the child linked to the important milestones related to child growth up to 5 years of age. Health tips are relevant to the age of the child determined by the Date of Birth input by the parent. • Health and Fitness o Subscription service #3: Women’s Health – The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user. o Subscription service #4: Men’s Health - The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user. • Disease Information • Daily health tips to user based on the important disease conditions prevalent in the geography. Information will help user in prevention, prolonging onset and living better with the condition. Health tips related to medical, co-morbidities, lifestyle, fitness and safety based on the condition chosen by the user. In keeping with the healthcare industry practices, the tips are preventive in nature and not diagnostic or prescriptive advice is offered.
Agriculture Services:
• The Agri service covers the 25 major crops/commodities at launch. More will be progressively added. Market Prices for 111 marketplaces in Nigeria, with 3 market places for each state in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). • There is one agriculture subscription service which packages the news & tips, weather and market prices. The user makes the selection of the 3 crops/commodities that she wishes to be informed regularly about. This hyper local service is personalized to those 3 crops for user’s region. 1. News & Tips: The user will receive daily crop tips based on the choice of crop/commodity and agriculture news that is relevant to the location of the user. The crop tips are hyper localized advice based on crop life cycle & agro climatic aspects prevalent in the user’s location. Tips also will contain best practices & techniques around increasing the yield of the crop/commodity. • Market Prices: The user will receive market prices twice a week for a choice of 3 crops/commodities from 3 nearby & relevant markets for the crop/commodity. • Weather: The user will receive weather forecast for the day specific to the location. The weather information will include general outlook around Temperature, Rainfall, Humidity & Wind.
Education Services:
• Learn English – This service allows users to learn Conversational English with the help of their local language via daily messages. The service comes with a choice of three levels - Easy, Medium & Difficult allowing the users choice of learning levels. The service also allows choice of languages – English, English with Hausa and English with Pidgin. The learning outcomes of the Easy level are 70% common conversational words and 30% common phrases using simple sentences; the learning outcomes of Medium level are 30% intermediate vocabulary, 40% common phrases and 30% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using simple sentences, while the Difficult level focuses on 50% on advanced vocabulary and 50% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using intermediate sentences. Each of the three levels – Easy, Medium, Difficult are separate subscription services to enable the users to choose the service based on their current knowledge. • General Knowledge - This service allows users to keep themselves updated with general knowledge, important information and vital facts about their state, country and the world via daily messages. This service focuses 60% on region or state level, 30% on national level and 10% international information. • Exam Results – This service allows users to get their exam results for WAEC by providing their registration number.
Entertainment Services: • Football: This service allows users to keep themselves updated on the latest happenings around their favorite football club. The daily updates will be around news, match dates, transfers, gossip etc. around the club and the players. On match days, the users will receive 8 updates during the match time spaced from start to end of the match covering key items like goals, score updates, penalties and final result. The users have a choice of 12 football clubs, national and international. • Music: This service allows the user access to a variety of music services like MonoTones, TrueTones, PolyTones categorized into Naija Top 10, World Top 10, HipHop, Oldies, Gospel etc. • News: This service allows the user to keep up-to-date with the latest International, National and Sports news. • Horoscope: This service allows user to access daily predictions based on Sun Signs of choice. • Jokes: This service allows user access to a daily dose of humor in the form of jokes. • Entertainment Gist: This service allows user to keep up-to-date on the gossip around the entertainment industry and popular personalities.
Q. Why do you say Ovi Life Tools is personalized and hyper local?
A: The learning and information services in Ovi Life Tools are specific to user profile and choices making them personalized and hyper local. Various services allow relevant personalization by users, for example: • The agriculture services allow the user to specify the crop/commodity of choice, location and language of messages. • In healthcare services the user is allowed to input details like Gender, Date of Birth and relevant details (expected date of delivery or last menstrual period) to personalize the service content to exactly match the profile of the user. The user also has the choice of language of content for all services and location for pregnancy, men’s & women’s health. • In education services, for Learn English the user can choose the level of difficulty of learning English by subscribing to Easy, Medium and Difficult levels based on their current proficiency in the language. Furthermore, the user can choose to learn English with via English or English + Hausa or English + Pidgin. • In entertainment services, for Football the user has a choice of 12 popular football clubs to choose from and similar choice are available in other entertainment services too like Sun Signs in Horoscope, wide range of options in Music, etc...
Q: Which Operators will support Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria?
A: We will support all operators to ensure the benefits of the service are available to all mobile users in Nigeria. To start with, Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile are live. We are in discussions with other operators and will endeavor to work with them to get the benefits of Life Tools to a larger base of mobile users in Nigeria.
Q. In which languages is this service be available?
A: The service content will be available English, Hausa and Pidgin English. .
Q. Is Ovi Life Tools be available to the whole of Nigeria?
A: Yes, Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is available nationwide in Nigeria.
Q: Is this available on all Nokia devices in Nigeria ?
A: The Nokia Ovi Life Tools service in Nigeria is available on select Nokia devices. It will initially be pre-installed on the Nokia 2690 and the Nokia C1-01. The service will be available on additional Series 40 & Series 30 devices in 2011.
Q: When did you start working on this project in Nigeria?
A: We have been working on this project since the second half of 2009.
Q: Why do you think this service will be popular in Nigeria?
A: OLT addresses the basic needs of people. Aside from this, the service aims to improve people’s livelihood. It will also provide information which will help people make informed decisions that will improve their lives.
Q: What type of support have you had from the Government in Nigeria?
A: Courtesy visits were made to the management team of Nigeria’s telecom industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as well to the Minister of Information (which is the supervisory ministry of NCC), Prof. Dora Akunyili, in September 2010, during which they were briefed on the OLT service. They are very excited about the service and we will work together to take the partnership further.
Q: What are Nokia’s expectations for take up of the service in Nigeria and by when?
A: Based on our experience in other markets, we are confident that Nigeria consumers will find this service attractive and affordable. We will start off slowly with only a few devices linked to the service and add more next year. We will take continuous feedback from the market and constantly improve the service.
Q: Aren't these low-end phones on which OLT is being offered no longer meeting demand - even in rural areas - for multimedia touch devices at affordable prices?
A: It is important that we deliver the total solutions at an affordable price, so we are starting with some of the well known and affordable devices. We will add a larger range of devices in the future giving consumers even more choices.
FACTS ON SMS
Despite the flexibility of email and the ever-so-fashionable Twitter, SMS (text) messages remain the most popular messaging choice of mobile phone users around the world. Here are five textual facts:
The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992 using the UK’s Vodafone network. It read ‘Merry Christmas’.
Six per cent of texts are never read by their recipients.
Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology found that texting was addictive as smoking, with around a fifth of people suffering increased heart rate and anxiety levels when deprived of their phones.
Around 2.5 trillion text messages were sent worldwide in 2008 – a 20 percent increase from 2007.
The phrase used in Guinness World Record speed texting attempts is “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” Time to beat? 41.4 seconds.
The world's leading mobile phone company Nokia has given phones to some Nigerian bloggers, including Orikinla whose first New Year gift is a Nokia C3 for blogging on the go. Thanks to Mr. Osagie Ogunbor, Head of Communications, Nokia West Africa.
It an unforgettable historical fact that the billionth Nokia phone, a Nokia 1100 was sold in Nigeria in 2005. I wonder how the owner of that special Nokia phone felt at that particular moment.
Emotions as Nokia Splashes Prizes in Cash Dash Promotion
Mr. Rasheed Agoro is a Lagos based retiree who is being owed the sum of 450 thousand Naira as part of his retirement gratuity. Mr. Agoro’s optimism about prospect of being paid the money gradually waned as his repeated trips to Abuja yielded no fruits. Just when he gave, up got a call from Nokia informing him that he had just won the same amount of money in the Nokia Cash Splash promotion. In this age of scam calls, Mr. Agoro almost dismissed this call as another fast one by criminal elements in town. But this was real. Mr. Agoro was almost in tears when he picked up the check of 450 thousand naira in the Zain-Nokia Cash Splash promotion at a ceremony held at the Protea Hotel Ikeja. Other winners include Mrs. Bukola Aiyesimoju who was visibly excited as she received her cash prize of another 450 thousand naira.
The Zain-Nokia promotion, which was launched during Nigeria’s 50th Independence celebration, was Nigerians carting away a total of eighteen million naira in total. 5 people won N1millionwith with several others winning cash prizes ranging from 50 thousand Naira to 450 thousand naira. Before the grand draw in Lagos, draws were held in Abuja, Portharcourt and Kano.
Tunji Ademiluyi, Retail Customer Marketing Manager for Nokia West Africa said the move is part of effort by Nokia to reward loyal customers. He said the grand draw could not have come at a more auspicious time especial this yuletide when it is customary to give and receive gifts. The event is a climax of all the raffle draws that had been previously held in which several winners emerged. The promotion was aimed at encouraging Nigerians’ sense of pride in Nigeria as well as rewarding their loyalty to Nokia products and it was carried out across several states in the Nations four geo-political zones. The cash prizes ranged from fifty thousand Naira, one hundred thousand Naira, one hundred and fifty thousand Naira to four hundred and fifty thousand Naira only.
Other winners were, Okolo Victor, a student, Mrs Ronke Ajala, Wasiu Salami, Adeyinka Oshodi, Gabriel Adu and Theodore Gyuk who mentioned that the first thing he would do with the money was to purchase another Nokia phone.
Nokia is the world’s number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share. Beyond its leadership status as a manufacturer of devices, Nokia is fast becoming a leading solutions provider in the converging Internet and communications industries providing internet services that enable users to experience media, messaging, maps and games.
The first Nokia Bloggers Forum in Nigeria took place on Thursday February 18, 2010, at the Robert's Cafe on Isaac John Street, Ikeja, G.R.A. in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ngozi Ife Anene, Nokia Communications Manager, West Africa, speaking to the bloggers and guests at the forum.
Ngozi Ife Anene sitting attentively.
Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, The Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report speaking on how Nokia can improve mobile blogging.
CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Responding to a lawsuit brought against the company by Nokia, Apple® today filed a countersuit claiming that Nokia is infringing 13 Apple patents.
"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," said Bruce Sewell, Apple's General Counsel and senior vice president.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
Nokia has honoured Emmanuel Odiase, 27, of Nigeria and 19 other youth leaders as the YouthActionNet(R) Global Fellows. Odiase was recognised for his laudable SmokeFreeNigeria Initiative, an NGO educating young people about the dangers of smoking tobacco and has been conducting advocacy campaigns to establish 'smoke free' zones in Nigeria.
The following is the full report of the press release.
10 Aug 2009 15:30 Africa/Lagos
International Youth Foundation & Nokia Honor 20 Youth Leaders as YouthActionNet(R) Global Fellows
BALTIMORE, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Youth Foundation (IYF) and Nokia today announced the 2009 YouthActionNet(R) Global Fellows. The winners are distinguished by their innovative local solutions to urgent global challenges. Among the 20 Fellows are a 23-year-old in the United States who helps young female victims of sexual violence in Sri Lanka to heal from their past; and a 27-year-old in Palestine, who uses mobile phone technology to link unemployed youth to jobs.
Launched in 2001 by IYF and Nokia, YouthActionNet(R) seeks to develop a new generation of socially-conscious global citizens who create positive change in their communities, their countries, and the world. Each year, YouthActionNet(R) selects 20 outstanding young leaders for its Global Fellowship program. Through the 12-month program, Fellows refine their leadership skills, participate in a weeklong retreat held in Washington, DC, and are recognized for their efforts at the YouthActionNet(R) Global Awards Ceremony.
"Each of the 2009 YouthActionNet(R) Fellows are passionate, committed young leaders who chose not to look the other way when they saw a problem, but to take a stand," said IYF President and CEO William S. Reese. "Through their efforts, companies in Colombia are learning how to operate sustainably, low-income farmers in Zimbabwe are able to send their children to school, and youth in violence-prone neighborhoods in the U.S. are learning to be peace-builders."
Kirsi Sormunen, Vice-President, Sustainability at Nokia, said, "Congratulations to each of this year's Fellows for their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to improving the lives of others. Through their example, each teaches us the importance of creativity, perseverance, teamwork, and taking action to tackle society's most critical challenges."
A sample of the 2009 YouthActionNet(R) Fellows includes:
Cecilia Mendes Barros, 24, Brazil. Through Oficina-Escola de Artes e Oficios, Cecilia provides disadvantaged youth in S o Paolo with the skills needed to rehabilitate historic buildings, while preserving their city's cultural heritage. In 2008, she was honored as a local YouthActionNet(R) National Fellow in Brazil by the Anhembi Morumbi Youth Initiative (Iam), created with support from the Sylvan/Laureate Foundation.
Eugeniu Graur, 27, Moldova: The founder of NGO CERTITUDE, Eugeniu equips Moldovan youth, many living in isolated rural areas, with the skills and knowledge to get jobs or create successful enterprises.
Emmanuel Odiase, 27, Nigeria. Through the SmokeFreeNigeria Initiative, Emmanuel educates young people about the dangers of smoking tobacco, conducts advocacy campaigns, establishes 'smoke free' zones, and harnesses the power of electronic and print media to educate audiences.
Deepika Singh, 29, India. Believing that education is a powerful tool to bring about social change, Deepika co-founded Udaan, which develops curricula, trains teachers, and uses video technology to improve the quality and accessibility of primary school education in rural and slum communities.
Since the Global Fellowship program was launched in January 2002, 160 young social entrepreneurs have been selected, with applications received from more than 4,500 young people in over 60 countries. Fellows are chosen annually following a peer review process in which previous Fellows select the next round of winners.
To learn more about YouthActionNet(R) and this year's Fellows, visit: http://www.youthactionnet.org/.
About YouthActionNet(R)
Launched in 2001, YouthActionNet(R) seeks to develop a new generation of socially-conscious global citizens who create positive change in their communities, their countries, and the world. Through its fellowship programs, national institutes, dynamic website, grants, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities, YouthActionNet(R) offers young change makers ideas, resources, and connections to like minds around the world. To date, YouthActionNet(R) has launched national institutes in Australia, Brazil, Haiti, Israel, Mexico, and Spain. For further information, visit: www.youthactionnet.org.
About the International Youth Foundation (IYF)?
The International Youth Foundation (IYF) invests in the extraordinary potential of young people. Founded in 1990, IYF builds and maintains a worldwide community of businesses, governments, and civil-society organizations committed to empowering youth to be healthy, productive, and engaged citizens. IYF programs are catalysts of change that help young people obtain a quality education, gain employability skills, make healthy choices, and improve their communities. To learn more, visit: www.iyfnet.org.
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. More information about Nokia is available at: www.nokia.com.
About Nokia - Community involvement
Nokia is committed to having a positive impact on society that extends beyond the advanced technology, products, and services it creates. It has invested in community projects supporting young people and education in over 30 countries, benefiting more than one million young people. The company has an active employee volunteering program which last year saw its employees give almost 32,100 hours to local community projects. Nokia is also supporting innovative technology projects designed to bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of mobile technology to communities around the world.
Source: International Youth Foundation
CONTACT: James Peirce of the International Youth Foundation, +1-410-951-1606, Jim@iyfnet.org
