Nokia World: C3 Touch and Type targets emerging markets

Mobile firm offers low-cost, entry-level feature phone

The C3 Touch and Type will retail for around £120

Nokia has unveiled the C3 Touch and Type phone in a bid to wrest the smartphone initiative from Apple and Google, and appeal to burgeoning emerging markets.

Mary McDowell, executive vice president of mobile phones at Nokia, claimed at the Nokia World event in London today that the company is committed to getting another one billion people around the world online.

"There used to be a digital divide between the emerging world and the developed world, but this divide is closing thanks to mobile technology. Lots of countries are now blossoming using mobile phones as the gateway to the internet, " she said.

"Currently, though, only around 20 per cent of the world's population has internet access, but there is connectivity available for almost 80 per cent."

The C3 phone will retail for €145 and is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter, providing what Nokia claims is a low-cost, entry-level feature phone offering key functions for customers in emerging markets.

"The C3 combines normal text input and touch-screen functionality, and provides 3G and wireless LAN connectivity, 32GB of [storage] when using a memory card and runs on the Series 40 platform," she said.

"The Series 40 is one of the highest volume mobile platforms in the world, so there is a tremendous opportunity for developers to reach a huge user base of customers."

McDowell also revealed that Nokia has seen over 14 million Ovi Mail activations, and that 60 per cent of all new accounts are being opened in south east Asia and Africa.

Nokia is currently beta testing a new Ovi browser that takes advantage of technologies from its recent acquisition of Novarra.