Nokia at 3GSM 2007 in Barcelona

Although noted for their range of innovative and feature-packed devices, Nokia is not about to rest on its laurels even though the company emerged as the leading vendor for converged mobile devices in Q4 2006 according to an IDC press release.

On 27 February, Nokia announced a joint pilot of its new N-Gage mobile gaming with Elisa, previously Helsinki Telephone Corporation which was absorbed into HPY Holdings Corporation in 2002. The pilot started in February 2007 and will run until mid 2007.

Two days later, on 1 March, Nokia announced that Glu will be publishing a selection of N-Gage games and content.

Glu's stand at 3GSM 2007 in Barcelona.

Glu was founded in 2001 and is a publisher specialising in mobile content such as games, wallpapers and ringtones.

On the back of these two announcements, it would appear that Nokia is making a bid as a significant player in the mobile content sector.

Commenting on the joint pilot service with Elisa, Jaakko Kaidesoja, Director, Games, Multimedia, Nokia said, "The core of the Nokia games strategy is to make it easy for people to find, buy and play great quality mobile games and we're excited to expand our relationship with Elisa to help make this possible. This pilot will help us further refine the N-Gage experience for our commercial launch later this year."

Mikko Mattinen, Head of Department, Consumer Customers Products, Content services, Elisa Corporation said, "Our goal is to give our customers a new and unique experience they cannot get anywhere else. People who enjoy mobile games are often the same customers who enjoy experimenting with new mobile services and content. Elisa can provide a wide range of content and services to meet their needs."

Elisa will combine its existing mobile gaming platform with the Nokia N-Gage gaming platform and carry out intensive testing and evaluation in a live network environment. The full launch is scheduled for mid 2007 whereby Nokia's games will be available on a range of Nokia handsets as well as through Elisa’s portals.

Meanwhile the first Glu title currently planned for the platform is World Series of Poker® Texas Hold'em (WSOP), which will allow players to compete at tables with up to eight mobile gamers against WSOP champions such as Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Scott Fischman. World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em is among the portfolio of games, applications and wallpapers that Glu is developing and publishing based on a multi-year, worldwide alliance with Harrah's License Company, LLC, an affiliate of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: HET).

Glu's portfolio of games includes original titles like Super K.O. Boxing!, Stranded and the Ancient Empires franchise, as well as titles based on major brands from Atari, Harrah's, Hasbro, Microsoft, PlayFirst, PopCap Games and Sony.

"Glu Mobile is one of the driving forces in the mobile gaming industry and we're excited to be working with them to bring premium mobile game experiences to our N-Gage platform," said Gregg Sauter, Director, Games Publishing, Nokia. "Glu's reputation and experience in creating compelling mobile games makes them a natural fit for the N-Gage platform."

"We're excited to be part of Nokia's mobile gaming efforts, and are impressed with the offering that Nokia has brought together with its new N-Gage Platform," said Kristian Segerstråle, Managing Director, EMEA, Glu Mobile. "The combination of Nokia's hardware and mobile platform vision and expertise along with Glu's top-rated, quality mobile games will deliver consumers a truly unique immersive entertainment experience."

Nokia’s first foray into mobile gaming started back in 2003 with the Nokia N-Gage phone that rapidly acquired the nickname of ‘Taco’ because of its shape. The phone never really caught on. It did not compare well in form factor either to mobile phones at the time nor the other game consoles such as the Gameboy Advance. But it probably acted as a springboard for Nokia’s subsequent smartphone platforms as the N-Gage was one of the earliest examples of ‘converged’ handsets. Not only could you make calls on this gaming device, it was also an MP3 player with real audio and video playback and a set of PDA-type capabilities. The experimental platform was undoubtedly behind the success of Nokia’s current line of best-selling smartphones.

But it would seem that Nokia is not content to stop at being a handset vendor. After all, with the unpredictability of the handset market - now as subject to fashion trends as high street retail wear with constant challenges by up and coming vendors such as Samsung and LG, Nokia would be the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand if it were to rest on its laurels. Therefore, it is not surprising to find the company taking another look down the path of gaming. After all, even though the N-Gage phone was not a commercial success, some of the games that were developed for the platform gained a number of critical applause - namely Pocket Kingdom: Own the World by Sega and Pathway to Glory by Nokia and RedLynx.

Today, Nokia Games can be purchased primarily through Nokia’s own game shop N-Gage Nokia , a site that is designed to appeal to the visual sense of gamers with an encouragement for feedback and information dissemination. Clearly, Nokia had given this site a great deal of thought. When it comes to marketing itself, the Nokia book is a good one from which many a leaf can be extracted!

I have no doubt that Nokia will continue down the road of content. There is great synergy between content and handset capability. However, the content landscape is as broad as it is wide and the borders are set at infinity. It will be crucial for Nokia to select the right sort of content, not necessarily from scratch but more likely through partnerships, alliances and even acquisition. After all none of this is new territory for the company. The question regarding the next step would be - consumer or enterprise?