 Nokia unveils consumer application
Theo Boshoff
Cellphone giant Nokia, through its Ovi business, has partnered with the world's favourite social networking company, Facebook, to bring consumers a new offering called lifecasting.
The purpose of this application is to provide users with a richer internet experience from their mobile phones, based on location-based or, as Nokia calls it, location-aware, capabilities to share more than just their status, in an instant and in real-time, with friends through their Facebook page, all from their Nokia mobile handset.
The company claims that this is the first application of its kind in the world.
 Mathia Nalappan, GM for Nokia South Africa, says that this fits perfectly into Nokia's global strategy of connecting people and the company's current focus areas, which are: people, music, location and communication.
This application is now available for free on all Ovi Maps-compatible devices, after first being offered on the Nokia N97 mini, which will be available in South Africa in May this year.
The Ovi Maps offering, with mapping and navigation data supplied by Nafteq, is also currently being upgraded to include specific road information for South and Southern Africa in light of the 2010 World Cup. This update, which includes detailed mapping data of stadiums where matches will be played, as well as detailed information of various local travel destinations, such as national parks, will be available in April, according to Navteq.
This lifecasting location-aware application promises to be the travelling consumer's dream. From personal testing on the coming Nokia N97 mini device, things proved to be a bit more difficult than expected, but with some time and experience, it might become easier to use.
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