What is Nokia Life Tools?
Posted: June 14th, 2009 | Author: SD | Filed under: TechTalk | Tags: nokia | Comments Off
Nokia Life Tools is in the news for quite some time now. The service was unveiled in 2008 and a trial run was on in Maharasthra and now the service has been commercially launched across India on June 12. I decided to do some Googling and understand what exactly is Nokia Life Tools about.
Nokia Life Tools is a pioneering concept by the Finnish mobile phone giant on value added services for the rural market.
So what does it offer?
There are three parts in the package focused on Agriculture, Education supplemented by Entertainment services sharply addressing the information gaps of target consumers with an aim to empower people to make informed decisions.
According to the official Nokia Press Release:
- Nokia Life Tools Agriculture services aim to plug the information gaps and needs of farmers, by providing information on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, market prices, and weather (temperature, rainfall, wind conditions) via their mobile phones.
- Nokia Life Tools Entertainment services also has fun features, including astrology, news, ringtones and more.
- Nokia Life Tools Education services aim to provide career and education services, including English language learning, General Knowledge, Exam preparations and results, as well as career information and tips.
Nokia Life Tools services use an icon-based, graphically rich user interface that comes complete with tables and which can even display information simultaneously in two languages. Behind this rich interface, SMS is used to deliver the critical information to ensure that this service works wherever a mobile phone works, without the hassles of additional settings or the need for GPRS coverage.
This is what Nokia has to say about the service
“Filling in the information gaps in agriculture and education with Nokia Life Tools, we strive to contribute towards empowering people with the right tools to help them make informed decisions in their daily lives,” said Jawahar Kanjilal, Global Head of Emerging Market Services, Nokia. “Nokia Life Tools was developed to help bridge the digital divide in the emerging markets.”
“Nokia is a global innovator with a strong pulse of local markets. Agriculture employs more than 60 percent of all workforce in India. This sector of the economy needs fresh inputs via technology for the sector to get to a 3 percent growth,” said Shiv Shivakumar, Vice President, Nokia India. “Education and English language, on the other hand, are springboards for a number of small town and rural youth to move into the employment market. Nokia, through services in Agriculture and Education, will fulfil these opportunities for the Indian population.”
Mobiles supported?
The complete Nokia Life Tools solution will be available on the newly launched Nokia 2323 classic and Nokia 2330 classic mobile, and will be later expanded to other Nokia handsets.
How much does it charge?
The Nokia Life Tools Agriculture service offers consumers a choice of 2 plans. The basic plan, available across India at Rs 30/month, provides daily weather updates and relevant agriculture-related news, advice and tips. The premium plan, at Rs 60/month, will be available in 10 states, including Maharashtra, and provides the closest market prices for three crops chosen by the subscriber, as well as weather, news, advice and tips.
Where is the service available now?
The service is targeted towards developing markets in Asia and China.
It has been rolled out first in Maharasthra where Nokia has tied up with Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) who will provide data from their 291 mandis (markets) across the state. This data on commodity prices will then be delivered to subscribers.
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are next in line. The service gradually be launched across ten states and select other countries in Asia and Africa. The service will be available in local languages also.
In these regions, the service will work wherever there is GSM connectivity. GPRS service is not required.
Who else is involved in this service?
Apart from MSAMB, Nokia is also working with Reuters Market Light, Syngenta, Madison Research, Skymet and others. Nokia Life Tools is hosted by OnMobile in India. Idea Cellular Limited is the first GSM operator in India to collaborate on Nokia Life Tools.
Mr. Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular Ltd said, “IDEA is the first GSM operator in India to collaborate on Nokia Life Tools. We are very happy to associate with Nokia, an industry innovator, and take mobility and its benefits to the masses of India.”
Amit Mehra, MD, Reuters Market Light (RML) said, “Reuters Market Light (RML) has already proven the value of personalized information services by selling RML to over 100,000 farmers across 10,000 villages. Most farmers have made thousands of rupees in additional profit and reduced losses using the most accurate, comprehensive, timely and personalized information service. We were the exclusive provider of agriculture services to Nokia in the successful Nokia Life Tools pilot in Maharashtra. It gives us great pleasure to continue our collaboration by scaling up our association with Nokia Life Tools to cover many more states in India.”
Kuldeep Kaul, Vice-President Marketing – Syngenta India Limited said, “Agriculture is a local business where timely and relevant information dissemination to farmers can help them make better decisions, helping to boost their productivity and raise farm incomes. Nokia Life Tools is designed to offer location-specific personalized information to individual farmers. We look forward to collaborating with Nokia Life Tools in India, by providing Syngenta’s expertise in seeds and crop protection.”
Nokia will collaborate with Pearson Education (India) to bring best-in-class content to Nokia Life Tools. Mr Vivek Govil, CEO of Pearson Education (India) said, “Pearson is delighted to collaborate with Nokia in exploring how to deliver its wide range of educational content through mobile phones, which are the most popular information devices in emerging markets.”
Pratapa Bernard, Head of Marketing & Products, OnMobile Global Ltd said, “We are happy to collaborate with Nokia and share our experience in Value Added Services (VAS) in India to deliver regional and local content to the consumer. Our expertise in Managed Services for mobile data services enables us to meet the stringent operational requirements for Nokia Life Tools.”
What is the response from the target customers?
According to Nokia, the trial run has been successful and there was a positive feedback from the actual subscribers.
Mr. D. Shuivkumar, Managing Director, Nokia India :
Nokia Life Tools was a result of the entire ecosystem coming together and is ideally placed to usher in an information revolution impacting the daily lives of people. We extend our sincere thanks to MSAMB and our key partners for believing in and supporting our vision of ‘empowering people and connecting them to the things that matter’. We believe this is the beginning of a historical journey that will take mobility to grassroots and make a positive difference to the lives of people in the areas that are crucial to them.
The results from the pilot project is testimony that Nokia still plays a very relevant role in people’s lives – connecting them in new and better ways through devices that they continue to love, and services that help them improve their lives.
Farmers found the “Agriculture” module helpful as it allowed them to be better informed about market rates for their produce. Farmers using the service said that getting prices daily on their mobile phones reduced their dependency on agents for basic information. Now with greater awareness on market conditions, there was newfound confidence in their negotiations with the agents. There was also resounding appreciation for the time and money saved from not having to make multiple trips to the market place to get the latest rates.
Subscribers to the “Learn English” and “General Knowledge” modules all claimed confidence and empowerment as key motivators and benefits for the services. For many, learning English was an aspiration which was finally achievable. Better performance in job interviews and career prospects, enhanced image and social standing also featured highly and frequently in the feedback.
What is the response from the government?
Speaking at the launch of Nokia Life Tool, Shri. Ashok Chavan, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra said, “We are happy that Maharashtra is the first state in India to go live with the Nokia Life Tools services in association with the state marketing board. Empowering our people with the right tools and facilities is a top priority for the State Government. I would like to congratulate Nokia for developing a unique and innovative service that has tremendous potential to improve lives and the livelihood of farmers and sub-urban consumers in Maharashtra.”
Shri Harshavardhan Patil, Hon’ble Minister for Co-operation, Marketing, Cultural Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs said, “It has been the Maharashtra state government’s endeavour to provide vital agri information tools for a progressive and an empowered farmer community. Nokia Life Tools is tailormade to positively impact farmers across the state. This MOU further strengthens MSAMB’s mandate to get the information directly to the farmers.”
External Links:
1) Press Release from Nokia on the newly launched service.
2) PDF Document on Nokia Life Tools
