Mobile-based OVI Mail raises Africa's e-mail appetite

Local languages and quick setup have increased the popularity and appetite for Nokia's OVI mobile phone e-mail service in Africa, ensuring that handsets help fill the gap that a lack of PCs have left on the continent.

"The inspiration for Ovi Mail came from the growing number of people, mostly in developing countries, without access to a PC," said Tom Furlong, head of Consumer Messaging at Nokia. "The top five countries for Ovi Mail subscribers are India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Since its inception in December 2008, Ovi Mail is available in more than 180 countries and supports 20 languages," he said.

South Africa leads in OVI usage in Africa because of high literacy rates and mobile phone penetration rates compared to other African countries. South Africa has three mobile phone service providers, two fixed line providers and a host of other value added service providers.

In a continent with more mobile phones than light bulbs, Nokia's development of OVI mail has proved to be a winning formula in competition with rival manufacturers. Nokia, for example, has developed popular local language interfaces for phones sold in various countries.

"Local language support in our devices is important as it gives our consumers the choice of their preferred language of choice; it is all about giving consumers choices and enabling them to personalize their devices and communicate in a language they are most comfortable in," said Tania Steenkamp, Nokia communications manager in South Africa.

Nokia has also made it easy for users to set up accounts, given that many mobile phone users have limited technological knowledge and may not have the time to go through some of the hassles involved in setting up PC-based e-mail accounts.

Given that a large portion of South Africans do not have access to computers, the quick setup is perfect for a wide range of consumers including first-time e-mail users, added Steenkamp.

In the last six months, Nokia says that over one million OVI accounts have been created.

"If one considers that the mobile penetration in the rural areas is around 20 percent, one can imagine how many people do not have e-mail accounts. We are ensuring that they can be able to do this on their phone and providing GPRS enabled phones at the entry point," said Dorothy Ooko, Nokia communications manager in charge of East and Southern Africa.