[Ict4women] Nokia’s rural odyssey

[Sophia Huyer]

 From bytesforallreaders.



Nokia's rural odyssey

The cell phone maker kicks off mobile services for non-urban areas by  
launching Life Tools..


Selling to small-town India
Sravanthi Challapalli

A thin sheet of fog hangs over the bright winter morning in Dankaur,  
Uttar Pradesh, a town with a population of 15,000 people. In this  
small, agricultural town, two hours away from Delhi, the excitement  
that morning is centred on a van in one of its main streets. Men,  
mostly in their late teens and twenties, are crowded around a  
presenter who is explaining the features of various mobile phones  
displayed inside the van. The marketer is Nokia, which the previous  
day launched several more entry-level models as well as Life Tools, an  
SMS-based service (negating the need for GPRS coverage) for emerging  
markets, and specifically, the rural and semi-rural markets.

Life Tools, which will begin life as a pilot project in some districts  
in Maharashtra, aims to bridge the digital divide in the emerging  
markets. Nokia says experiencing the benefits of the Internet should  
not be so heavily dependent on a personal computer — and services such  
as this, which aim to bring the advantages of the Net to those who  
cannot afford PCs, will add value to people's lives.

In Dankaur, the van, after moving from one area to another, will come  
back to the town centre in the evening to screen four clips that will  
tell viewers how owning a mobile phone has made a difference to their  
lives. A fisherman, a farmer, a woman entrepreneur who sells pickles  
and a carpenter talk of how owning a mobile phone saved them the  
drudgery of having to trudge great distances selling their wares and  
services, eliminated some middlemen and brought them enquiries and  
orders. The time and money they thus saved helped them augment their  
business. Outside the van is a photo prop — a cardboard cut-out of a  
doctor. Anyone who so wishes can pose — stand behind it, his or her  
face standing in for the doctor's, and have an inkling of what it's  
like to be one.

"Sapne dekhna mat chhodo," say pamphlets that are being distributed,  
exhorting people not to stop dreaming, but realise their dreams by  
buying efficient Nokia phones.

"The potential for Life Tools is immense. Health and medical advice  
could be one of the applications later," D. Shivakumar, Vice-President  
& Managing Director (Markets), Nokia India, tells BrandLine. To begin  
with, Nokia will provide e-mail on Ovi (a Nokia platform), services in  
agriculture and English language learning. "Agriculture employs more  
than 60 per cent of the Indian workforce and education and English are  
seen as springboards for small town and rural youth to move into the  
employment market. Our competitors are still focused on marketing  
devices and growing the market while we have moved beyond devices to  
services," he adds.

Reuters Market Light (which has been running a similar subscription- 
based service for farmers in Maharashtra and Punjab) will supply the  
content to Nokia which will relay it to the farmers. It will include  
information on prices and availability of seeds, fertilisers,  
pesticides and market prices of produce and weather conditions. The  
information is customised to the farmer's location and selection of  
crops and will be delivered directly to the mobile phone. It will help  
farmers make informed decisions that will have a beneficial impact on  
their productivity and yield.

The English services will include a word-a-day service and quizzes on  
words and phrases. Going further, the education service will also come  
with information on higher education and career guidance and tips,  
exam preparation, quizzes and access to exam results. Both services  
will be available on payment of a monthly subscription.

Life Tools will use an icon-based, graphically-rich user interface  
that comes with tables and can even display information simultaneously  
in two languages. Idea Cellular is the first GSM operator in India to  
collaborate on Life Tools, which will be available in local languages  
for the target audience.

Says Robert Andersson, Executive Vice-President (Devices Finance,  
Strategy and Sourcing), addressing a press conference held to announce  
the launch of Life Tools and several models of phones priced between  
€25 and €90 for emerging markets: "The Internet is the opportunity but  
the barrier to Internet access remains high. Does it really require a  
PC? Mobility has the power to make it available and affordable and  
bridge the digital divide. The mobile phone is a durable that's highly  
easy to use and is affordable though the screen size and memory may be  
disadvantages."

Life Tools will be available on several entry-level models such as the  
Nokia 2323 Classic and Nokia 2330 Classic in the first half of 2009,  
but the pilot will run on the Nokia 2600 and Nokia 1680 models. The  
Life Tools service, which has 'Inform, Involve and Empower' as its  
promise, will also be offered in select countries in Asia and Africa  
later next year.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/11/13/stories/2008111350020100.htm

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