Nokia launches gaming for India

Nokia India on Wednesday announced the launch of its online gaming platform N-Gage, in line with the company's strategy from moving beyond being just a handset maker to becoming a content provider as well.
The N-Gage platform is a part of Ovi, Nokia's online service store that includes a music shop, a gaming service, and other image sharing and navigation-based services.
"It is not about voice anymore. Once 3G is launched, we expect non-voice revenues to improve significantly," D Shivakumar, vice-president, Nokia India, told visiting reporters in Chennai, where the Finnish giant has a manufacturing plant.
Retail presence will be key to Nokia's services strategy in India. The company has tied up with Oxigen Services, a mobile payment company, to facilitate users to pay both for game downloads on N-Gage online or alternatively buy vouchers available at Nokia and Oxigen outlets.
"Retail presence is important for us as Internet penetration in the company is still low and the scenario is unlikely to change soon," Shivakumar said. Users who do not have Internet access on their mobile devices can expect to be able to pay for and download games through dedicated kiosks at Nokia stores at a later stage.
Nokia has partnered with publishers like Electronic Arts Mobile, Gameloft and Indiagames and there are 30 gaming titles to begin with that will be priced between Rs 49 for a day's licence and going up to Rs 299 for an unlimited period licence.
This is slightly costlier that computer games or those sold by independent content providers like Hungama but Nokia insists there is a quality difference. "The days of independent growth are over," said Shivakumar. The company is also considering similar industry tie-ups with Internet service providers and operators for its other services like email.
Nokia also announced that it will launch some of its Life Tools services targeted at rural markets in India by June. Reuters Market Light is the content provider for Life Tools that includes services like crop price updates and information about seeds and other farm goos.