Nokia's Mail On Ovi Public Beta Goes Live

Mail on Ovi, the free e-mail account from Nokia, is now ’live’ and can be set up directly on Nokia phones without requiring a PC to get started. People who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own e-mail address directly on their mobile phones. The Ovi e-mail account gives a person all the features and functionalities of a typical PC-based e-mail account. During the Beta period, consumers will be able to choose from 12 languages based on the settings of their device, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.

“We’re creating a mindset shift with mobile messaging. Mail on Ovi is the first-ever e-mail service, which allows people to create an account directly on their mobile phone, and start using it right away,” said senior vice president Tom Furlong, who oversees Consumer Messaging initiatives within Nokia’s Services and Software organisation. “Rather than focusing purely on push e-mail for the world’s most advanced mobile users, we are mobilising e-mail across Nokia’s mainstream device portfolio, while giving consumers in emerging markets their first e-mail account, Mail on Ovi, as well as their very own Internet identity. These people are the new ‘mobile digital natives’, who will exclusively use their mobile phones for e-mail and the Internet, rather than a PC.”

Mobile phone users from India, Malaysia and the Philippines have been able to use the Beta service since November, with extremely encouraging results, and the availability is now being extended to the rest of the world.

Nokia has launched more than 35 Nokia Series 40 device models which immediately enable the creation of the Mail on Ovi email account. As of October 2008, Nokia has shipped more than 110 million of such devices globally.