Nokia World 09 Day #1: The Services

Nokia also showcased new and in some case improved services for it’s nearly 1.1 billion customers. Now that’s a huge number isn’t it.

First up, Lifecasting. This application will basically allow you to update your status on Facebook. That’s not all, it will also publish your exact coordinates  along with the semantic name, thus allowing your friends to know where you are and what are you doing. And if your friends comment on it, you will be able to check and reply to it also thus allowing you to take the conversation ahead. I hope they add twitter to it too.

Ovi Maps has also been through the update machine. it now features weather forecasts of up to 5 days of the city you are in or are planning to be in. Michelin and Lonely Planet will be providing relevant information such as restaurants, places to visit, shopping centers, nightlife spots, etc. It will also give information on the events taking place in that city. This makes Ovi  Maps a dynamic service and highly useful to anyone and everyone. Ovi can also be used on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari so you can use it on your PC also.

Last but not the least, probably the most important is ‘The Progress Project‘. This is a site where one can understand what Nokia is doing behind the scenes to improve our lives and connect with each other on a different level and share information. The Progress Project gives a brief intro of all the projects that Nokia is pursuing around the world right now – PEIR, Nokia Data Gathering (NDG), Nokia Life Tools (NLT), Mobile Learning Institute (MLI), Mobile Millennium and Nokia Tej. This in my opinion is a very good way to educate people around the world about what Nokia is doing and also for them to keep a tab on the progress.

I sincerely hope that this project becomes a corner stone of Nokia’s long term strategy like Ovi and Music Store.