Nokia to introduce handsets as low as $10

Nokia has a huge brand presence in markets like India. Nokia’s market especially the rural markets in countries like India is a goldmine of potential customers. Nokia is already catering to this segment with its suite of applications called Nokia Life tools which allow farmers to know about market rates , weather forecasts and much more at the press of a button.

Nokia is reportedly increasing this market base by launching devices at the $10 ie Rs 500  mark under its life tools branding. If succesful , Nokia will successfully wipe out the burgeoning chinese mobile market. More information as we get it.

Nokia 5233 launched in India

Nokia has just announced the availability of its new device , the Nokia 5233 , in India. The Nokia 5233 , is Nokia’s further undercut model especially for markets like India. In fact , the only difference between the 5233 and the 523o is the absence of 3G in the 5233. This results in a price cut of about Rs 1000 , giving it a very affordable price tag of Rs 7500.

Nokia 5233 is available in two colors – silver and black and it runs on Symbian S60v5 operating system and 434 MHz ARM processor.

Some other notable feature are 3.5 mm audio jack, FM radio with RDS, A-GPS, audio and video player, Photo editor, Flash Lite 3.0, downloadable games, upto 7 hours talktime.

Nokia unleashes its low-cost Touch Screens in India !

The competition better be wary because the king is in the house ! Yup , Nokia has launched touchscreen enabled smartphones at unbelievable price points , right in line for the holiday season !

The Nokia 5230 , 5530 Xpress Music handsets running on s60 v5 with high resolution screens , wifi , 3.5mm headsets as standard.

Shown above , the 5230 is an entry level model expected to come in a wide variety of colors. It has been priced at Rs 9000 in India.

Nokia 5530

The Nokia 5530 is like a re-hash of the 5800. But in my opinion  , it does look better than the 5800 and the touch screen is a marked improvement over the previous models. It incorporates wifi , 3.5mm jack  , 3.2MP camera into a svelte design. The 5530 is priced at Rs 14000 in India. We’ll try to bring you a hands on report as soon as possible !

Nokia Messaging to go paid in India

Just goes to show that if I do get some inside info I should publish it on that day! Well I got hold of this info a couple of days back. Nokia Messaging Service which till now was free in India is set to go paid.

My sources told me that Nokia has been in talks with the big carriers in India and by the end of December, we will see the first roll out of the Nokia Messaging Service as a paid service on carrier networks. Since the market for S60 is low in India (S40 outsells S60 in India), an S40 version of Nokia Messaging will also be released.

What I’m wondering is what happens to all of them who have a lifetime subscription to this service courtesy Nokia, will they have to ‘pay’ for it or will it continue to be free for them? I broached this with the Nokia Messaging team on Twitter but I’ve not got any response so far.

Atleast one thing I am sure of, if the price of using this service is high, the number of subscribers Nokia has built up for this service will leave. Additionally if pre-paid (pay as you go customers) aren’t made allowed to subscribe for this service, there will be further fall in numbers.

What do you think about the NMS going paid? will you be using it if you have to pay for it? Let us know, leave your comments below.

A little hint for you guys, one of the top 3 carriers will be the first one to offer it at a fee in India.

When you want only a SIM card and not the phone!

When you are in this line of work, you tend to get a lot of emails asking for advice.

Yesterday I got an email from a reader from India, he is going to UK for further studies and was disheartened to know that out there one had to go into a contract to get a connection.

Now, us Indians don’t have that system here. We prefer to buy our handsets and change them when we feel like, and do what we want with it. The operator’s job is only to provide the service and not the handset. That’s how we work in India and it’s pretty good that way. The growth of cellular service providers is proof of that.

So keeping this mentality in mind I set out to see if what my friend said was true or not. A few clicks here and there and I found out that it was not so. One could easily pick up only a SIM card and use the phone of his  or her choice. This stands true for not only pre-paid (pay as you go) connections but also for a post-paid connection.

But you will be wondering what’s so good about it. Well let’s say you have gone to UK. You need a connection for a phone that you have and don’t want to throw away because you just bought it, or you like it or because you simply don’t get these phones this side of the planet.  Then in this case a SIM card is enough, you don’t need to pay for the handset. Also the monthly fee might work out cheaper.

Another scenario is if you have just moved to UK and you don’t know which connection to take, you can pick up only a SIM card and check it out. if you don’t like it, at least you won’t be left with a bundled handset contract for x number of months or years.

Now let me tell you about this site that allows me to actually buy a SIM card of a provider (O2, Virgin Mobile, T Mobile, Vodafone, Orange) in UK. http://www.simonlyoffers.com offers you the option to buy SIM cards of any of the above mentioned providers. The site lists down the offers of all the providers listed, you then only have to choose which offer is best suited to your needs and click the “Buy Now” button against that offer. The site also clearly lists out the benefits of having a SIM card only connection, you will see it is cheaper than a plan with a bundled handset which is locked by the operator.

These kind of deals are also available for business users, so if think you need something different, just click the “SIM Only Business Deals” and it will show you plans tailored to meet the needs of the business user.

Additionally you can also segregate the offers based on a particular carrier. This site is simple to use and very effective. It loads fast, so annoying ads or anything.

So if you are going to UK and need a SIM card, you know where to go. This site gives the best sims only, so you can be assured you’ll get a great deal!

Go ahead and find your plan!

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