14 DAY TRIAL // Espoo, Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia announced today that it had teamed with New Alliance, an investment company, part of the Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd, for the forming of a 50/50 joint venture company in China. According to the company, the new entity will be aimed at the delivery of a series of mobile services in the country, as well as at proving support for the local developer ecosystem.
The new joint venture will operate under the name of Nokia Alliance Internet Services Company Limited, the Finnish handset vendor also revealed. At the same time, Nokia and New Alliance stated that they planned on opening the joint venture for business in January next year, and that the company would have a number of around 80 employees at that time.
Niklas Savander, executive vice president of Services for Nokia, commented the following on the formation of the new joint venture: “China is the world's largest mobile and internet market. As Nokia is entering the services business in China, establishing this joint venture is a natural step to help us bring locally relevant mobile services to Chinese consumers.”
At the same time, he also stated that the partnership with New Alliance offered Nokia access to “the right platform and expertise” that should enable the Nokia Alliance Internet Services Company Limited to provide a great suite of services. Savander further said that the new joint venture would, at the same time, offer Nokia the possibility to “work with local content developers to help bring their applications to market.”
New Alliance saluted the forming of the new entity as well. Mr. Qu Liefeng from the company stated the following on the announcement: “We are delighted to form this venture with Nokia. Given our wealth of local knowledge and experience, we believe that we are well placed to help develop the next level of mobile content and services in China.”