LAS VEGAS – “Convergence has to mean convenience,” was the key point delivered by Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo during his industry insider speech at the International CES. During his session he stressed that Nokia is committed to being an “experience company” that will bring great experiences to people around the world through mobility, Internet, communities and convenience.
Kallasvuo remarked as the Internet is not static, but is constantly changing and evolving, and therefore so much the devices that access it. He added that mobile devices are also much more than mere communication devices, but rather computers in their own right, being more powerful than a full-fledged PC from a mere decade ago.
In the coming years Kallasvuo stated that smart phones will be more common than laptops. Leading the way with these devices will be the Nokia N95, a multi-media handset, which will arrive at retail in March, and feature a camera, as well as MP3 capability, Web browsing functionality and GPS. Smart2go map and routing functionality will be a standard feature on future phone and personal navigation devices, with maps cached on the devices and available via Wi-Fi or other download. These will include point of interests, and turn-by-turn navigation as an optional feature.
Other Nokia products that Kallasvuo highlighted included the upcoming Nokia N93i, a mobile handset featuring a DVD quality 3.2megapixel camera, and the newly available Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, a communication device with IM capability, always on Internet, VoIP and stereo audio.
To ensure that these, and future devices, will be able to offer the convenience of anywhere Internet Nokia will work with Sprint/Nextel in the development of Wi-MAX networks to bring e-mail to multimedia computers “We are excited to see Sprint taking a leading role in this promising technology., says Kallasuvo. “Wi-MAX has great potential to bring the open Internet to the mobile space.”
