The new version of Nokia Maps is not the only service Nokia has introduced at this year’s Nokia World. The Finnish giant also introduced two messaging products/services:

• First comes Nokia Messaging, which mobilizes consumer email and instant messaging (IM) on Nokia devices. Once available (in Q1 2009), Nokia’s service will provide users with access to email and IM accounts from all the popular email and IM accounts. Agreements with key operators will establish Nokia Messaging as an operator supported service allowing users to take full access of the built-in push email and IM access without additional service charges. The “application part” of the service is already available on a wide range of Nokia S60 smartphones, with support for Series 40 devices to be enabled in H2 2009.
• The second news deals with Mail on Ovi. Nokia unveiled the online portal for their email service, to enable PC users to create and access Ovi email accounts and access other Ovi services with a single account. Again, there’s the application part here, which beta version will roll out globally in December 2008 on all currently shipping Nokia Series 40 devices. The web access version will launch in February 2009.

Commenting on the announcement, Nokia’s Tom Furlong said: “We believe everybody should have mobile messaging - it’s not a privilege service that’s meant only for a certain segment of the market. With Nokia Messaging, our customers can simply and affordably gain mobile access to the world’s most popular email and IM accounts. We are making mobile messaging an affordable experience for everyone, not just for those with specialized phones designed for messaging, but for everyone with a Nokia device. In response to overwhelming consumer feedback that messaging is a critical, must-have feature, Nokia has responded with solutions to bring messaging to the broadest range of devices and to ensure the service works with the most popular messaging services in the market. Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, email accounts provided by thousands of ISPs around the world, and even brand new Nokia-provided email accounts, can now be accessed from mobile phones with a few simple clicks, directly from the home-screen.”

[intromobile]