Nokia Launches 3G Handset For Developing Markets

Nokia has introduced three new Internet-ready phones, the 2730 Classic, the 2720 Fold and the Nokia 7020, each with features geared toward emerging markets.

The curved, slim and glossy 2730 is Nokia’s least expensive 3G phone to date. It features a 2-inch QVGA display, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth connectivity and a stereo FM radio.

Ovi Mail also comes included on the phone, letting users set up e-mail in just three steps without the need to download anything. Nokia provides a free personal e-mail address, along with spam and virus protection.

Also included is a phonebook with the capacity to hold 1,000 contacts. The additional space is expected to be useful when the device is shared by several users, as is the custom in many developing markets.

Additional features include 17 days’ of standby battery time, 3.3 hours of WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) talk time and Nokia Life Tools, which provide a range of services, including for agriculture, education and entertainment, designed for consumers in rural areas of emerging markets. A video on the Nokia Website, for example, features users saying they use Nokia Life Tools to check weather predictions and crop prices.

The 2730 Classic will sell for approximately $108 (£70) in the third quarter of 2009.

The 2720 Fold, also for sale in the third quarter, for approximately $75, is a slim, mirrored clamshell phone with a hidden external display: Tap the glossy exterior twice with a fingertip, however, and the phone comes to life.

Like the 2730 Classic, the 2720 Fold includes Ovi Mail, Nokia Life Tools and significant battery time—in this case, up to 18 days of standby time and approximately 5 hours of talk time. The Nokia 2730 phone also has an FM radio with the ability to record radio, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), Bluetooth and MP3 ring tones.

Last on board is the Nokia 7020, also a fold, or clamshell, phone. It, too, lights up with two taps on its exterior, though a bit more dramatically than the 2720. Light, color and metal finishes add pizzazz to the 7020, which has a 2-megapixel camera.

Users can additionally receive messages, share photos and connect to “social networks,” Nokia said. With a selling price of approximately $124 (£80) before subsidies and taxes, the 7020 will begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2009.

“With our longstanding commitment to emerging markets, a Nokia customer can be confident that any product we offer meets a strict and consistent set of high-quality standards,” Alex Lambeek, vice president of Nokia, said in a statement about the devices.

Lambeek concluded, “This is particularly important in markets where technical assistance and repair shops are not easily accessible.”