Nokia has scored another partner to support its OVI offering – Telecom Italia. Under the agreement, Nokia will customize its handsets — most notably Nokia N81, N95 8GB and we guess N82 in the near future — to provide easy access to TIM services. In addition, the Finish giant also said that the collaboration will include areas such as “technology and billing co-operation.” Somehow, we see the latter being used for seamless music buying process for the TIM subscribers… Full release follows after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE – Nokia today announced a collaboration with Telecom Italia to accelerate the adoption of new Internet services on mobile. Ovi, the gateway to Nokia’s Internet services, will be enabled on Nokia handsets offered by TIM. The agreement will make it easy for people to find and enjoy best-in-class Internet services, from TIM, Nokia or from other Internet service providers.
As part of the collaboration, Nokia will customize the new Nokia handsets to provide easy access to TIM services. Similarly, TIM customers can access all Nokia services through the customized Multimedia Menu embedded into their Nokia device. The collaboration also includes areas such as technology and billing co-operation.
The Nokia N95 8GB and the Nokia N81 will be the first devices offered that will have customized menus to provide easy access to both services. Nokia and TIM have also agreed on a sustainable business model for both parties in a mutually beneficial approach.
“We want to provide TIM mobile customers with the best mobile experience and by working with Nokia, we ensure that our customers have access to the best in internet services. Nokia and other Internet services will be able to take advantage of TIM’s high quality mobile broadband network,” said Riccardo Jelmini, Telecom Italia Executive Vice President VAS – Domestic Mobile Services.
“We’re extremely excited about this collaboration as I believe it can pave the way for a new way of working throughout our industry,” said Jyrki Salminen, Senior Vice President, Nokia Multimedia. “Ease of use has always been at heart of Nokia devices and this collaboration is an important step in creating the same for Internet services. Nokia devices and services are based on open standards making it easy for us to work with forward thinking operators such as TIM to provide consumers with a choice about which internet services they want to access from their mobile device.”