Nokia today announced the availability of its Nokia Messaging Services in South Africa as a bundle on the Nokia E63, by partnering with local operator MTN.
The push-email service allows the set-up of up to ten personal email accounts on one device, supporting Gmail, Windows Live, Hotmail and Yahoo! mail as well as local e-mail service providers such as M-Web, MTN Play and Webmail.
“The strategy also includes Ovi Mail for free emerging e-mail services and Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Traveler for corporate e-mail mobilization”, explained Sarah Crowe, head of marketing at Nokia South Africa
The Nokia Messaging Service, previously in Beta, “has had enormous uptake in South Africa”, showing a demand for the service locally and making possible a local partnership between Nokia and MTN.
As part of the agreement with MTN, Nokia Messaging Service will be available as a bundle on the Nokia E63, combined with a 10MB data plan, available at all participating MTN stores from the end of April, at a retail price of R119 per month on MTN AnyTime 100.
Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Officer of MTN South Africa, said the company would provide email messaging “as easy and affordable to use as SMS” to its customers.The South African operator added that there is a growing demand for smartphones with business communication and social networking applications, hence the option of Nokia E63 as the device to bundle with the Nokia Messaging service.
