Oct. 21, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --
Sravanthi Challapalli
Clad in a striped blue shirt, young Umesh Markad of Kurduwadi village in Maharashtra’s Solapur district seems unfazed by the mediapersons and cameras focused on him. The ninth standard student has come to Pune to testify to the difference Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Life Tools’ English lessons are making to his life, and reels off something when he’s asked to present a bit of what he has learnt. It’s intelligible only when repeated: RajaRaviVermaisthebestIndianartist”, but it’s not bad considering he began learning English at school only the previous year.
Also present at that meeting, part of a media tour organised by Nokia, is Dattatrey Bhong of Bhorgaon village who is something of a leader now – his subscribing to the agriculture service offered by Nokia Life Tools (NLT) and getting market prices, crop advisory and weather information has made this onion farmer a first among equals as his peers now seek his advice (a fact that evokes awkward laughter from the Nokia executives present there when Bhong comes up with this reply to whether other farmers followed him in subscribing to the service).
Launched about a year ago, with a pilot project in Maharashtra, NLT represents Nokia’s move up the communications chain from devices to services.
The company also launched entry-level cell phones (and will add more models) equipped to receive the information through the Life Tools services. The project aims to bridge the digital divide in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa. Underpinning this effort is the belief that the Internet’s benefits should not be tied to access to a personal computer, a relatively expensive device, nor to connectivity, which is patchy in non-urban areas, not even to a GPRS-enabled mobile phone.
Bhong, for instance, no longer depends on his agent for market prices. He would lug his produce to a main market miles away only to find the prices were lower than what the agent had quoted, but would be forced to sell it as he could not possibly return with it. With NLT relaying the price (through its tie-up with the Maharashtra State Agriculture and Marketing Board which collates the information from various markets across the State), the agent is out of his life, he no longer waits indefinitely for information, his bargaining power has increased and in one instance, his profit rose by Rs 6,000-8,500 per tonne since he began subscribing to the service.
NLT offers three primary services (Agriculture; Education - Learn English, General Knowledge and Exam Preparation in various subjects; and Entertainment - astrology, news, jokes, cricket and ringtones). They were rolled out in several States earlier this year, after the pilot project ended.
