NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – Mobile phone manufacture Nokia says it will concentrate on developing more applications to hold off competition from other manufactures in the race for Kenyan users.
Nokia Head of Sales for East and Southern Africa Ken Oyolla says the next frontier for mobile handsets sales is going to be relevant applications that give the consumer functionality.
“We as Nokia are sill the leader in the device market and we are using our knowledge and expertise to build solutions that are relevant to people,” Mr Oyolla said.
Already Nokia develops applications for its handsets and has made them available on Ovi store.
Globally, the handset manufacture is continuously growing its Ovi Store content with downloads averaging more than 1.7 million a day.
Mr Oyolla said the response in the Kenyan market had been impressive, with users downloading apps that best suite their needs.
“That has really helped to drive the sales of our low-end devices and we are quite pleased by the report so far,’ he said.
He said the most popular application for Kenya has been the Ovi Mail that has enabled people to have access to an email account without having to be on an internet browser.
Nokia has continued to work with local developers in an effort of developing new applications that are country specific with Mr Oyolla adding they were still looking for more developers.
He was speaking during the launch of new range of mobile applications and content tailored for Kenyans during the Holy Month of Ramadhan.
The new range of Ramadhan applications 2010, an updated set of mobile applications tailored for the Holy Month, are available on Ovi store and can be downloaded on the compatible Nokia devices free of charge.
“We have witnessed growing demand from Kenyans in general and we expect a good response from users interacting with these new applications among our Muslim brothers and sisters as they go to the Holy Month,” he said.
