Nokia unveils Ovi Store and new phones

E-series gets a boost with E55 and E75

The Nokia E75 is expected to ship in March

Nokia has used the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona to announce that it is joining other mobile players in offering an application store as an addition to its Ovi platform. The company also unveiled two new additions to its E-series of phones.

Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo talked during a press conference about the struggles facing the mobile industry and Nokia's ongoing green initiatives. He predicted that the global mobile market may shrink for the first time in many years, but claimed that Nokia is well placed to weather the storm.

"Environmental leadership is a about more than just creating green devices," he said. "The company also has to look at how it works as a whole, and make sure it looks at every aspect of its operation."

Kallasvuo pointed out that there are over one billion Nokia devices in the world, and that initiatives such as its recycling programme, energy efficient chargers and the establishment of videoconferencing between its offices in 80 countries can have a significant impact.

Kai Oistamo, executive vice president of new devices at Nokia, went on to unveil two E-series additions, as well as announcing that the highly anticipated N97 will be hitting the shelves in June.

The Nokia E75 and E55 build on the 9300 Communicator and E71 respectively, and are the first Nokia devices to ship with the company's new email user interface, Nokia Messaging, which can be added to the company's corporate email clients.

"Efficiency is about doing more with less and focusing on what's truly essential," said Oistamo. "With direct access to Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes, companies can potentially save up to a third of their operating costs as there's no need for middleware or additional servers."

Nokia Messaging features an enhanced email user interface, which includes folder and HTML email support, expandable views, the ability to sort by date, sender and size, as well as improved calendar capability, contacts and task management.

According to Oistamo, the E55 offers nearly a month of standby time while still being the world's most compact messaging device.

"The key to creating an even smaller device is in the keys themselves," he said. "By implementing a compact keyboard, we were able to make a phone even smaller than the E71."

The Nokia E75 is expected to ship in March at an estimated retail price of €375 (£335), while the E55 is expected to ship in the second quarter for around €265 (£237), before taxes and subsidies in both cases.

Niklas Savander, executive vice president of Nokia's Services unit, also announced the Ovi Store, a mobile application store that Nokia said will tap into a user's "social location" to recommend the most relevant applications depending on where they are and the people they are with.

"Consumers want content that is relevant to their interests, location and the people they care about," said Savander.

"We believe that social location is the next wave of consumer demand. The consumption of mobile media is fundamentally different from that on a PC, as it needs to be faster, easier and more appropriate. It's not about what, but about who, where and when."

The Ovi Store is expected to open in May in certain regions, with a wider rollout over the following months. In the interim, the company is opening p ublish.ovi.com, a portal that allows content developers and creators to upload their applications to the Ovi store, and specify how to monetise their service under a revenue sharing deal with Nokia, which will take a 30 per cent cut for hosting and managing the store.