MWC: Nokia expands Asha range

Three new additions to the Nokia Asha range, designed to bring a high-end experience to low-end phones, were unveiled today at Mobile World Congress, along with new content and services.

Nokia today unveiled additional services and three more Asha feature phone models – the Nokia Asha 202, Asha 203 and Asha 302 – at Mobile World Congress.

Designed to deliver a variety of affordable mobile experiences, the new offerings target three dimensions: Work, with Mail for Exchange support for the Nokia Asha 302: Learn, bringing new information services for young, urban consumers, and a fast, cloud-based browser that reduces internet access costs: and Play, with free EA games available on the Nokia Asha 202 and Asha 203.

Nokia Asha 202

“Since outlining a new strategy a year ago, we’ve taken significant actions to deliver against it,”” said Mary T. McDowell, Nokia’s executive vice president for Mobile Phones. “”We’ve been connecting the next billion people to the mobile world and its benefits through contemporary feature phones and internet services. Today, we are taking another step in that direction, with a compelling combination of smarter mobile devices packed with innovative services.””

Nokia Life benefits 50 million users Nokia also announced an evolution of Nokia Life Tools, Nokia Life, which provides life-enhancing information across the range of Nokia Series 30 and Series 40 products. Now with additional relevant services, social elements and fresher look, it’s available first on the Nokia Asha 202 and 203 phones. Since its 2009 launch in India, the SMS-based service has expanded to China, Indonesia and Nigeria. To date, more than 50 million people have experienced its benefits.

Nokia Life delivers content in the areas of parenting, life skills, education, health, entertainment and agriculture. For example, Nokia Life can help parents focus on children’s physical, emotional and social growth needs, from birth to adolescence. People can also learn English using basic SMS communications, and enjoy ringtones, sport news and trivia.

“”Nokia Life services provide an entry to the world of digital content and an internet-like experience for many people who don’t yet have access to data plans”” said Dieter May, Nokia’s senior vice president of Mobile Phone Services. “”With today’s news, we’re enhancing our services to bring consumers an even more enjoyable experience on the new Asha phones, with content that matters to them in their daily lives, is fun and helps them progress.””

Nokia Asha family expands The Nokia Asha family has expanded rapidly since its debut, just four months ago, with four devices presented at Nokia World 2011. It’s now available in more than 100 markets globally and will be complemented by three devices announced today.

Nokia Asha 302

Nokia’s Asha 202 and 203 phones stand out with the combination of a traditional keypad with a 2.4- inch touch screen, ideal for browsing, scrolling and opening applications. The Asha 202 features Dual SIM Easy Swap technology with dedicated SIM manager to personalize the phone and save up to five SIM cards with unique information. Both devices come with a 2-megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Nokia Browser, and Bluetooth connectivity, and can handle memory cards up to 32GB.

Estimated retail price for each is about EUR 60, excluding taxes and subsidies, and both are expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

Nokia and EA have teamed on innovative ways to bring games to the next billion. The Nokia Asha 202 and 203 will be the first Series 40 devices to offer EA games. As a 60-day promotion at Nokia Store, the EUR 75 separate cost of an EA 40-game pack – including popular titles such as Tetris, Need for Speed, The Run and Bejeweled – will be automatically waived for buyers of either new model.

The Nokia Asha 302 is Nokia’s first Series 40 phone to support Mail for Exchange, giving people access to their emails, contacts and calendar on an exchange server. That and a stylish QWERTY keyboard make it ideal for young entrepreneurs and professionals seeking a beautifully designed phone.

Additionally, the Nokia Asha connects to popular social networks and enables chatting through Whatsapp and other IM services. The Nokia Asha 302 is powered by a 1-GHz processor and supports 3.5G data speeds. It is available now for about EUR 95.

“”With today’s announcement, Nokia has accelerated the truly global opportunity for enterprise mobility,”” according to Nicholas McQuire, research director enterprise mobility strategies EMEA for IDC.

“”By making Mail For Exchange available for the sub 100 euros mobile device market, Nokia has taken a significant step in helping businesses across the globe, including those from high growth economies, achieve the productivity and employee satisfaction benefits that greater mobility affords them.””

Nokia Browser helps consumers and operators to significantly cut costs All three new devices provide a fast and affordable internet experience via Nokia’s cloud-accelerated Nokia Browser, which makes internet content easy to discover with its localized and personalized home page design and portal to thousands of web apps. In addition to its speed, the browser compresses data traffic up to 90 percent, meaning cost reductions for consumers and operators, who can have better network utilization. Nokia Browser has been rapidly adopted, with almost four new users around the world activating it every second. It is available today in more than 200 markets.

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