Nokia recently concluded the pilot phase of its pioneering Life Tools service in Maharashtra, India. Nokia Life Tools will launch commercially India-wide in the first half of 2009. The service will be enabled in the Nokia 2320 and Nokia 2323, which will soon begin shipping, and on more devices to be announced later in the year.


"The creation of Nokia Life Tools is from the ground up: it is built by a team that immersed itself in the rural conditions and did extensive research to understand how people led their lives, the kinds of services they were currently receiving, and what they wanted to see as changes or improvements," said D Shivakumar, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia India. "The results from the pilot in Maharashtra are 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."

The service provided by Nokia will enable users of the Indian Agriculture Service sector to be better informed about market rates for their produce as well as stay informed and current on daily price changes from their mobile handsets. This should allow them to save money and time by reducing the need to physically travel to the market place for the same information or relying on intermediary agents. The same service will also provide advanced information about weather, news and crop advisory services like information about probable diseases, weather-based disruptions and tips for more successful harvests. Farmers could plan labor, sowing, harvesting and selling better, and with more predictable results than they were able to before. Other features include a service to Learn English and General Knowledge.


"The success of the Nokia Life Tools pilot can be attributed to the fact that it honed in on consumers’ specific pain points, and addressed several unmet needs in the areas that were crucial to them in their daily lives," said Jawahar Kanjilal, Global Head of Emerging Markets Services, Nokia. "By continuously sharpening our offerings and providing the most relevant services, we intend to make Nokia Life Tools extremely relevant and indispensible to the target users."

The pilot program of Nokia Life Tools in India was launched in December 2008, with services in Agriculture, Learn English, General Knowledge and Astrology. During the pilot period, buyers of the Nokia 2600 classic or the Nokia 1680 classic – which came enabled with the service - had the option to purchase subscriptions to the Nokia Life Tools services that were most relevant to them. Results showed that a significant number of subscribers had signed up for approximately two of the services on average, reflecting that the services were relevant to a wide cross-section of the society.