Paris, France and Espoo, Finland - Orange and Nokia today announced a strategic international partnership, extending the first agreement signed by the two companies in February 2008. The two industry leaders have committed to a three year partnership, which will include the addition of ten new Nokia handsets to the Orange Signature range and the addition of music to a combined offer of games, advertising, maps and location based services.
Orange and Nokia have agreed to launch a suite of integrated multimedia services on the new Nokia handsets, launching in H208 across nine major markets, in an initiative designed to boost the adoption of mobile digital entertainment. As part of the strategic partnership, customers will have direct access to the Orange Music Store, both Orange and NGage games, as well as Nokia Maps. Under the Orange Signature programme, all services will be integrated into the familiar Orange user interface, providing one click access to information and entertainment.
"This collaboration underlines Orange's drive to create strategic partnerships that will give customers the best possible mobile multimedia experience in the simplest way," said Olaf Swantee, EVP of Orange's Personal Communications Services. "Combined with our leadership in mobile multimedia innovation and relationships with leading content providers, Orange believes that Nokia's devices and Ovi platform will make a powerful environment for the provision of a joint range of services," added Georges Penalver, EVP of Orange's Group Strategic Marketing.
"We are pleased to create this strategic partnership with Orange and believe that the combination of Signature and Ovi services will extend and enrich consumer choice," said Kai istm, EVP, Devices, Nokia. "We also expect our close collaboration to extend beyond the initial focus areas of music, games, maps and advertising to include other services over time."
Under the agreement, the two companies will work jointly on marketing to support the launch of new devices and the development of multimedia applications. For instance, Nokia's Mobile Maps platform and GPS technology will be introduced to a wide portfolio of Nokia handsets in the Orange Signature range, allowing for navigation, location based search and advertising services. The two companies plan to create 10 million active Mobile Maps users on Nokia devices within the Orange footprint by 2010.
About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves more than 172 million customers in five continents as of March 31, 2008, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 52.9 billion euros in 2007 (13 billion euros at March 31, 2008). As of March 31, 2008, the Group had 111.9 million mobile customers and 12 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers.
Launched in June 2005, the NExT program (New Experience in Telecommunications) will enable the Group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator and make France Telecom the benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates, and Orange Business Services the banner for services offered to businesses worldwide. France Telecom is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband internet services in Europe and one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com. Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.
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[Source: Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]
