Music, Maps, N-Gage and advertising services will be integrated in ten new Orange handsets. Will we see Ovi integrate with U.S. carriers anytime soon?
Nokia and Orange today announced a strategic international partnership, extending the first agreement signed by the two companies in February 2008. The two companies have committed to a three year partnership, which will include the addition of ten new Nokia handsets to the Orange Signature range and the addition of music to a combined offer of games, advertising, maps and location based services.
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom; two thirds of the latter's 172 million customers in five continents, are Orange customers.
Orange and Nokia have agreed to launch a suite of integrated multimedia services on the new Nokia handsets, launching in the second half of 2008 across nine major markets. Customers will have direct access to the Orange Music Store, both Orange and N-Gage games, as well as Nokia Maps. All services will be integrated into the Orange user interface.
Orange believes that Nokia's devices and Ovi platform will prove to be a powerful environment for the provision of a joint range of services. Nokia expects the close collaboration to extend beyond the initial focus areas of music, games, maps and advertising to include other services over time.
Under the agreement, Nokia and Orange will work jointly on marketing to support the launch of new devices and the development of multimedia applications. For instance, Nokia's Mobile Maps platform and GPS technology will be introduced to a wide portfolio of Nokia handsets in the Orange Signature range, allowing for navigation, location based search and advertising services. The two companies aim to create 10 million active Mobile Maps users on Nokia devices within the Orange footprint by 2010.
This form of approach to carriers will increase the chances of seeing Nokia Ovi services in the U.S. It's a well-known fact that the carriers have been struggling to find content partners of significance, with the Apple and AT&T collaboration on iTunes services as one of few good examples so far (though they aren't, at least yet, integrated in the AT&T interface).
With the resources Nokia is spending on services nowadays, it would likely be a great opportunity for a carrier like T-Mobile to jump-start the 3G crusade if they integrated Ovi in their interface. That said, we have no indications whatsoever that such a collaboration will become a reality.
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