14 DAY TRIAL // The Indian mobile phone market is a known Nokia stronghold for quite some time now. Therefore, it’s only natural for the manufacturer to try boosting revenues further by offering additional services that will also help strengthen its presence.
Recently, the Finnish manufacturer and Reliance Communications, one of the major carriers in India, have announced the launch of Nokia's popular mobile application store Ovi on the Indian market.
According to the agreement, Reliance will be the first service provider to offer integrated operator billing for consumers in India.
Starting this month, Reliance customers will be able to access a host of paid content on the Ovi Store. The costs will either be included in their monthly mobile phone bills (for postpaid) or deducted from the pre-paid balance.
Up until now, Indian customers had to use their credit cards in order to buy apps from the Ovi Store. In addition, prices will now be available in INR (Indian Rupees), as opposed to Euros.
Nokia's decision to make its app store available in India is meant to encourage the adoption rate and wide usage of Symbian apps in India.
The new announcement might prove beneficial for both Nokia and Reliance Communications, as the number of weekly downloads from Ovi Store in India is currently around 4.5 million.
The following agreement between Nokia and Reliance will be exclusive only until the end of March 2011, when Nokia plans to introduce the integrated billing option with other Indian carriers, as well.
It is unclear what is going to happen when Nokia's Ovi Store is completely integrated with Microsoft's Marketplace.
Commenting on the subject, V Ramnath, Director Operator Channels, Nokia India, said that they are still in talks with Microsoft to find a solution to offer Indian customers the best of both platforms.