14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia has announced today that the pilot phase of its Life Tools service in Maharashtra, India shows that subscribers are rather enjoying what the company offers them, and that the service will become commercially available in the country in the first half of the ongoing year. According to the Finnish mobile phone maker, the service will come on handsets such as the Nokia 2320 and Nokia 2323, expected to soon start shipping, while more devices to support it will be unveiled later this 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.”
It seems that subscribers consider the service beneficial for them, as it offers them the opportunity to stay better informed about the market rates for their products. Getting prices on the mobile phone every day was a great thing for some users of the Agriculture Service, as they were no longer dependent on agents for basic information. In addition, they were more confident on the negotiations with agents, while also being able to save more money from not having to go to the market several times to get the latest rates.
“I believe in working rigorously to enhance my livelihood and lifestyle and I expect that Nokia Life Tools services will help me in validating the desired information,” said a farmer and trader from Tuljapur, Amravati.
The Agriculture service also offers information on weather, as well as news and crop advisory services including info on probable diseases, weather-based disruptions and tips for more successful harvests. The service will be able to allow farmers to plan labor, sowing, harvesting and selling better, while also being able to better forecast the results than they could do before starting to use Life Tools.
“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.”