It’s a fine thing when business and philanthropy work at common purposes. For Nokia, the push to deliver advanced mobile technology to the developing world figures to play a major role in the handset giant’s plans for 2010, an effort that it hopes will at once open lucrative markets while improving the quality of life in the poorest regions in the world. Enterprise Mobile Today has the details on Nokia’s plans.
LAS VEGAS — Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo’s keynote address here today at the Consumer Electronics Show focused exclusively on the importance — both economically and socially — of bringing mobile devices and mobile applications to emerging countries to improve their economies and their way of life.
Putting his company’s money where his mouth is, Kallasvuo concluded his remarks by announcing the Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge, a contest of sorts that asks the developer community to come up with an application or service that will promote upward mobility around the world.
The winner will receive a $1 million investment from Nokia, a tactic that Netflix used to help it improve the accuracy of its movie recommendation applications.
The ground rules require that the winning submission not only be utilitarian in nature, but also must be of use to people in the world earning an average of less than $5 a day. Nokia will announce the winner in June.
