Nokia is not wavering from its vision of building a more vibrant mobile ecosystem. This drive was once again emphasized at the company’s OneConnectedWorld event held recently in Malaysia. The event saw more than 300 attendees comprising of media, bloggers, developers and invited guests from around the Southeast Asian region as the company shared its ideas of a connected world with smart devices and solutions, and how building a vibrant ecosystem with developers, regulators, incubators and mobile operators is key to creating an exciting mobile future.

At the event, Nokia zoomed in on developers, outlining the importance of establishing local collaborations and creating locally relevant content and applications across the region to benefit consumers. Not off the mark as the company has more than a million Forum Nokia developers in Asia alone.

Nokia, together with its developers and publishers, demonstrated the latest innovations in products and services, including 2C2P from Singapore, who was recently announced as the Grand Prize winner of the Nokia Calling All Innovator 2009 in the Emerging Markets and Mobile Necessities category. The application from 2C2P, Mobile Credit Card Terminal, gives business owners the ability to charge a credit card/debit card, and to manage transactions securely from Nokia S60 devices without additional equipment. Interactive sessions provided a platform for Nokia senior executives and industry experts to present opinions and views on the fast-changing, exciting converged world of mobility and the internet.

At the same time, Nokia also used the opportunity to announce collaborations with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd („Cradle‟) to provide support to local developers and assistance in bringing their ideas to commercialization. The company has been extending its collaboration footprint, recently forging a similar relationship in Singapore with the Media Development Authority (MDA) and Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF).

Vlasta Berka, general manager Singapore/Malaysia & Brunei said, “The way consumers are using their mobile devices and consuming the internet is constantly changing. Ideas and innovation come from all over the world and while Nokia has a global developer ecosystem in place, we strongly believe in investing in local collaborations and working closely with developers to bring relevant content and applications to consumers. The integration of innovative content and applications with the depth of smart services and great devices from Nokia will be what we bring to the table. By working together we can create and accelerate the adoption of the services and applications that consumers will want.”

Miikka Nevasalo, Head of Forum Nokia, Asia adds, “Nokia’s strategic vision is to build a vibrant mobile ecosystem with content publishers and developers and to further build on Ovi, our open platform for services on the mobile. As a global platform for third party innovators, we recognize that content plays a key role, particularly locally relevant content. By collaborating with publishers and developers to create an ecosystem that drives innovation, we can create rich user experiences for consumers and greater opportunities for the mobile ecosystem.”

By Shanti Anne Morais