Nokia CEO pushes LBS integration, N97 for U.S. market

Nokia plans to integrate location-based services and social applications more fully in its phones, according to Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. 

"The phone knows where you are," he said at the D: All Things Digital conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal. "It might know where you're going or what you're going to do."

Kallasvuo also said his company is looking to gain a larger presence in the U.S. handset market. Despite leading the global market with just under 40 percent market share, Nokia only has about 10 percent of the U.S. market.

[1]"I've been working on this for a long time," he said, noting that Nokia has begun making phones tailored specifically for the United States. Indeed, the company's N97 smartphone is destined for the U.S. market, according to Barron's. Kallasvuo is set to demonstrate the phone at the conference and is reportedly talking with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson about bringing the phone to AT&T Mobility.

Nokia and AT&T have developed a closer relationship recently. AT&T launched the Nokia E71x shortly before the 2009 CTIA Wireless trade show, and the carrier said it would make Nokia's Ovi Store available to its customers later in 2009.

For more:
- see this article [2] (sub. req.)
- see this Barron's blog post [3]

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