At a London press conference Wednesday, Nokia introduced Ovi, a new Internet services brand developed to expand the company's focus beyond mobile devices and platforms to embrace a range of web services. Ovi--"door" in Nokia's native Finnish--promises to enable consumer access to social networks, communities and content as well as provide a gateway to Nokia services. In conjunction with Ovi, Nokia officially announced the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage gaming platform--its Nokia Maps navigation service also falls under the Ovi aegis, with more web-based services scheduled to roll out in coming months.
"The industry is converging towards Internet driven experiences and Ovi represents Nokia's vision in combining the Internet and mobility," said Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo at the Nokia Go Play event. "Nokia is the number one mobile device company in the world. Looking into the future, we will deliver great devices, combined with compelling experiences and services, to make it easy for people to unlock the potential of the Internet."
Nokia also introduced four new mobile devices developed specifically for entertainment, music and games, with dedicated music or gaming keys, expanded memory, large screens and extended battery life. The Nokia N81 and N81 8GB multimedia computer is configured to find, buy, manage and play music and games purchased via the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage. The N95 8GB multimedia computer offers up to 20 hours of video or as many as 6000 songs; the 5310 XpressMusic boasts up to 18 hours of music playback, memory for up to 3,000 songs on an optional 4GB microSD card and dedicated music keys. The 5610 XpressMusic promises up to 22 hours of music playback and capacity for 3,000 songs on an optional 4GB microSD card. Nokia and audio manufacturers including Altec Lansing, JBL and Philips will also offer a range of music accessories matching the XpressMusic handsets in design and functionality.
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