Nokia Corp. unveiled the largest order in its history yesterday to supply mobile phones in China in a deal worth $2.5-billion (U.S.). The order from China Postel, China’s largest mobile phone wholesaler, to supply handsets this year represents a milestone for Nokia…via Design

In an effort to encourage consumers to save electricity, Nokia has launched phones with alerts informing users to unplug the charger once the battery is full. Nokia decided to put the alerts into mass markets products first to help maximize the potential energy savings. Mobile phones sounding a beep and displaying an alert - “Battery is full, please unplug the charger” - could save enough electricity to power 85,000 homes annually, Nokia said.

The unplug alerts are set to first appear on its 1200, 1208 and 1650 phone models with later handhelds to follow, targeting fast growing markets like India, China and Latin America.
Kirsi Sormunen, Vice-President of Environmental Affairs at Nokia said, “Around two-thirds of the energy used by a mobile phone is lost when it is unplugged after charging but the charger itself is left in a live socket. We want to reduce this waste and are working on reducing to an absolute minimum the amount of energy our chargers use. The new alerts also play an important role, encouraging people to help us in this goal by unplugging their chargers.”

The alerts are the latest in a series of energy saving initiatives from Nokia. The phone maker had agreed with other mobile industry companies on measures to reduce energy consumption and pollution as a project in partnership with the European Commission. By 2010 it aims to have reduced by an additional 50% the amount of electricity a charger consumes whilst still plugged into the mains but not the phone.

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Mobile phone giant Nokia has cancelled its sponsorship of ITV1’s The X Factor.

The company sponsored the talent show for the first three series but has now decided not to renew its contract.Nokia’s acting head of marketing Marcus Dacombe said he “wished the programme well” but no reason was given for the decision to end the deal.On Wednesday, media watchdog Ofcom upheld a viewer complaint after ITV2 spin-off show The Xtra Factor appeared to promote Nokia in an episode.The complaint related to an episode that showed X Factor Judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh jokingly sending childish insults via text message.Ofcom said there were 13 close-up shots of Nokia mobile phone handsets, with the phone brand clearly visible.

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Nokia Nordics is launching a new website called “Experience Beta“.

The site intends to become a central access point for all the services available for Nokia Multimedia Computers, whether the service is coming from Nokia or from a local partner.

The main objectives of the site are e.g:
- to increase the visibility of Nokias services, making sure that the latest solutions can be found easily
- to train Nokias customers, operators, retailers, all the way to the store staff
- to get in touch with the most advanced end-users
- to increase revenues generated by these services

Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone company, has seen solid sales during the first three months of 2007, as it tapped into emerging markets. Global sales rose 4% to 9.86bn euros (£6.7bn) in the quarter, helped by strong growth in India and China.

However, Nokia’s profits fell 7% to 979m euros because it had to cut prices to attract buyers in emerging markets.

The Finnish firm’s results are in contrast to US rival Motorola, which saw its sales fall during the quarter.

Showing growth

Nokia lastest earnings news sent the firm’s shares 4% higher to a 12-month high.

Looking ahead, analysts said Nokia - which sells one in three of the world’s mobile phones - will need to take other steps to boost its profits, or its shares would suffer.

“In the second quarter Nokia has to show some market share growth and higher prices,” said Tom Lehto, managing director of Aktia Asset Management.

The average price of Nokia’s handsets declined to 89 euros during the first three months of 2007, from 103 euros a year earlier.

The firm, which sold 253 million mobile phones during the quarter, 18% more than a year earlier, has warned that phone prices are likely to fall further.