Ovi news from China

Today i'm bringing you Ovi news from China. I had the chance to interview Phil Kemp, the Head of Services for Nokia in China. He is giving us insights to the lesser known facts about the success of Ovi in China.

Today i’m bringing you Ovi news from China. I had the chance to interview Phil Kemp, the Head of Services for Nokia in China. He is giving us insights to the lesser known facts about the success of Ovi in China.

Ilse: We are all aware of the new heights that Ovi is touching globally. In a recent post we highlighted the continued expansion of Maps, wide availability of Music and a refreshed Store experience. One country which illustrates the success of Ovi is China.

Phil: With a mobile penetration rate of 59.6% and 31.7% internet penetration, consumers in China have started using more and more internet services, relying heavily on their phones. Think about that at the end of 2010, there will be more mobile Internet users in China than there are people in the USA.That’s more than 310 million.
We recognized these trends early on and brought to market relevant internet services which we developed in collaboration with local partners. We started with Maps where we have integrated relevant local rich content: Ctrip, Piao, Sina Movie, Dianping, Weather & Sohu Public transport. Since launch, Maps has received very positive feedback both from users and from press. As recognition of the service we also received the Voyage magazine Travel annual award.

Ilse: To continue and build on Maps success, this September, we have been awarded one of the first internet map service licences in China.

Phil: This will enable Ovi and Nokia’s partners to offer consumers mapping, search and routing services to complement free navigation on Nokia smartphones, which has been available since the beginning of the year.

Ilse: Looking at some of these major trends across China you get a clear understanding that the rapid adoption of mobile phones and the Internet is amplifying the guanxi networks. As both mobile phones and Internet continue to attract new users, they will provide more people with a platform for networking that they’ve never had before.

Phil: Yes, China is one of the leaders in social networking usage. We tailored our messaging services and integrated RenRen with our social networking service. Mail is seeing solid growth pattern, China being one of top countries by activation.

Ilse: What can you tell about the Store?

Phil: In September we launched the commercial version of the Store with operator billing and we already see that 70% of content is from local partners. We have also launched MM-Ovi in cooperation with China Mobile. This brings the benefits of both the Store and Mobile Market together in an integrated offering.

Ilse: The launch of Music Unlimited this April was very well received.

Phil: Music Unlimited is the only service to offer a vast & comprehensive catalogue of legal, high quality DRM-free tracks which can be downloaded and kept forever. With complete metadata for each and every track, the service includes catalogues from the major global labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Music, and a host of local independent labels, including Huayi Brothers Media Group and Taihe Rye.

And let’s not forget the Life Tools. It addresses the needs of the rural and semi-urban consumers in China, it was launched in May 2010 offering a wide range of information services including healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment. The service aims to provide livelihood and life-impacting benefits to improve the economic prosperity and quality of life of a large group of consumers in China who are not smartphone users.
We teamed up with Tencent, the largest internet company in China and developed a local Browser solution.  We launched it in September 2010, and ever since it has been very fast getting popular with the consumers.

Ilse: What can you tell us about the future?

Phil: In China both mobile phones and the Internet continue to attract new users. This trend, coupled with availability of affordable mobile phones will lead to an increase in the usage of Ovi which will translate into better value for consumers.

I hope you got an insight into what is Ovi in China and I look forward to the next post focusing on Ovi’s success in another country.

-Ilse

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2010/12/02/ovi-news-from-china...