Nokia recently announced the launch of a new range of mobile applications and content tailored for the holy month of Ramadan. Mozzaker - a Ramadan application 2010 is available on Ovi Store. his updated mobile application tailored for the Holy Month can be downloaded on the compatible Nokia devices for free directly from Nokia’s Ovi Store.
Mozzaker allows mobile users to listen, search and translate a large collection of daily Azkar and selected supplications. People can also download more Azkar and share via SMS and MMS with friends and family
“We know that Itikaf is an important experience for Muslims during Ramadan. Nokia Ramadan Applications 2010 includes the feature rich Mozzaker application which offers a large collection of Azkar and supplications with translation. All those Muslims who are planning to sit in Itikaf in this holy month can enrich their religious experience by using the Mozzaker application. Mozzaker application for 2010 is free and ready to be downloaded for the widest range of Nokia devices.” said Imran Khalid Mahmood, Country General Manager, Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Ramadan applications are developed by ASGATech, a Forum Nokia Premium Partner in the Middle East, with all content reviewed and approved by Al Azhar Al Shareef.
Ramadan applications for 2010 are compatible with a range of Nokia devices including Nokia N97 mini, Nokia E72, Nokia E52, Nokia X6, Nokia 5230,Nokia 5530,Nokia C5,Nokia 5235, Nokia 5800, Nokia E5, Nokia 6700 slide, Nokia 5233, Nokia X3, Nokia 6303i, Nokia 2710, and Nokia C3. The user interface for the applications is available in English, Arabic, Farsi, French and Urdu.
From time to time, while we dabble with some fun projects, we may give you previews of our innovative ideas and ask your help to take our ideas a step further.
As our first application offering, thewi-tribe socialbar(social media bar), a tool that is compatible with your social browsing needs. Before we introduce it to the public, we would love for you to experience it first hand and let us know what you think of it.
This smart socialbar doesn’t only let you login to your favorite networks without leaving your page, but also keeps you updated with all that you want to stay connected with online, letting you make the most of your multimedia experience.
With it you will be able toaccess your wi-tribe account, social networks and online games, get weather updates, email alerts, search the web and even play streaming radio, all at the same time.
What’s more, wi-tribe can send you alerts that allow you to stay on top with what we are up to.
Please make the most of this exclusive opportunity and pick out the utility value this socialbar offers, recommend to others if you like it, and talk with us to make it even better.
This smart socialbar doesn’t only let user login to favorite networks without leaving the current page, but also keeps updated with all that latest news and that user want to stay connected with online, letting user make the most of multimedia experience.
With it able to users access wi-tribe account, famous social networks and online games, get weather updates, email alerts, search the web and even play streaming radio live online, all at the same time. Wow all this in one single toolbar that great.
At Nokia, sustainability is embedded in everything we do across our operations, products and services. This, combined with the positive effects of mobile technology for consumers, enables us to make a real difference to the environment and to driving sustainable development.
Nokia’s China operations epitomise Nokia’s philosophy and commitment to the environment, both through our Green building headquarters and our manufacturing facility, both housed within the greater Xingwang Industrial Park. This Industrial Park in Yizhuang, Beijing houses Nokia and its key suppliers such as Sanyo Energy, Ibiden Electronics, Inpac and Foxcomm Precision Components together as tenants to produce mobile phones under stringent environmental standards for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, and product end-of-life. International logistics company, DHL, manages all the park logistics.
A recent research study by analyst firms THINKTANK Media, SOL and SDR, labelled the Xingwang Industrial Park as “one of the largest and most complete industry value chains in the world.” The study found that the Xingwang Industrial Park achieves on an annual basis:
ØA decrease in energy consumption equivalent to nearly 45,000 tons of standard coal.
ØA reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 88,000 tons.
ØWater conservation of half a million tons.
ØA reduction of packaging equivalent to the volume of sustainable logging of more than 1,500 hectares of Chinese red pine forests.
ØDirect economic benefit of the energy conservation alone of almost 100 Million US Dollars
The Nokia headquarters for the Greater China region, as well as one of our global R&D bases, are housed within the Nokia Green Building, stretching over 70,000 m2 and housing over 2000 employees. The building, which was designed in accordance with LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), boasts several features that result in 37% less water and 20% less energy consumption compared to similar commercial buildings.
This is achieved through several design features such as ‘breathing glass curtain walls’; environmentally friendly parking areas; roofing materials with a high Solar Reflectance Index to dissipate heat, central energy control systems for air conditioning, lighting and projectors, amongst others. The building is the first New Construction to receive the LEED Gold certification for a commercial office in China. This accomplishment is recognised by Nokia across the globe and several other offices have adopted many of the sustainable practices from the China campus.
In Middle East and Africa, Nokia also takes sustainability and our commitment to the communities in which we operate seriously. Nokia employees take a personal responsibility for their impact on the environment by travelling less and using technology such as video conferences to conduct meetings as an alternative. Several employees also use public transport, cycle or walk to work to minimise carbon emissions. Nokia also encourages employees to work from home when possible to reduce the number of commuters. In our offices, we have minimised the need to print documents by having many automated systems in place. We also practice responsible recycling of materials such as paper, plastic and glass used in the offices, and we encourage employees to recycle their old phones, or to switch their phone chargers to more energy-efficient ones.
However, our greatest efforts in the region have been on generating consumer awareness on the issues of energy consumption and recycling. An estimated two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile device is lost when the device is fully charged and unplugged from the charger but the charger remains connected to the mains (this is called the “no load” consumption of a charger). In May 2007, Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into the phone to remind consumers to unplug the charger after use. And over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the no load energy consumption of our chargers by an average of 80%.
Nokia also operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme, across an estimated 5000 Nokia Collection points in 85 countries. In MEA, the program has been launched successfully in many countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Consumers are able to bring old, unwanted and broken mobile devices and accessories, not only from Nokia but any manufacturer, to the Nokia Customer Care points where they are collected for responsible recycling. All materials in Nokia phones can be used again to make parts for new products such as bicycles, kettles or even dental fillings, or to generate energy. In this way, nothing is wasted.
The sad truth is that only 3% of current mobile phone owners claim to recycle their devices. This stat was confirmed in research studies conducted in several countries across the globe including Nigeria and UAE. If all of the around 4.6 billion people using mobile phones globally recycled at least one of their unwanted devices, this could save 370,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce gases to the same extent as taking 6 million cars off the road. This is significant proof point and highlights the need for continued consumer education if we are to build a sustainable future. Nokia will continue to be a pioneer in this area.
From the beginning of its partnership with DiCaprio in January 2009, the actor and environmental activist has worked with TAG Heuer to design measures that will help the company reduce its carbon footprint.
Since 2002, TAG Heuer hasinstituteda series of measures in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint: general recycling in its factory and offices, use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper, and the development of eco-friendly buildings for manufacturing and back office functions.
The new partnership with DiCaprio has triggered more specific measures:
·The hiring of a Green specialist in charge of setting up new sustainability policies for the company.
A new laser engraving closed circuit system that saves 900 liters of water an hour.
Recycling of the acclaimed concept-gone-commercial Monaco V4 drive belt scraps to produce new belts.
Vegetal roofs on the manufacture’s buildings with specific isolation and water filtering properties.
Recycling of the heat generated by the “Machines d’usinage des platines” to heat up the building in winter.
In addition to the durability of TAG Heuer’s products, which are built with only the best quality Swiss watchmaking materials, the company also encourages consumers to preserve their watch and pass it on to the next generation by utilizing TAG Heuer’s worldwide network of customer service centers, which provide maintenance and after sale service.
TAG Heuer’s 22 subsidiaries Worldwide have also implemented DiCaprio-inspired measures, including the implementation of a paperless office in the Carribean/Latin America, limited air conditioning use in Malaysia and CLA, and a virtual internet catalogue to reduce prints and paper, to name a few.
The future is green for the Swiss watch industry. The Scientific and Development teams at TAG Heuer’s Swiss Avant-Garde brand researching the use of new metals for casting. These metalluric changes will lower the environmental impact of casting by substituting new metals in place of steel or gold. This research will continue in 2010.
In a move to continue driving innovation in its market leading mobile phone range, Nokia today unveils the super slim Nokia X3 Touch and Type, with a unique combination of a touch screen and traditional 12 button phone keypad.
As Nokia’s first ‘Touch and Type’ phone, the Nokia X3 allows people to tap quickly on the bright color touch screen, as well as enjoy the familiarity of the full keypad for quick fire text messages and phone calls. Expected to be on sale in the third quarter, the Nokia X3 is expected to retail for approximately EUR 125, excluding taxes and subsidies.
“Innovation is not just a high-end game. The Nokia X3 is a great example of bringing new consumer value to lower price points,” said Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President of Mobile Phones at Nokia.
“With the Nokia X3 we are giving consumers the best of both worlds by combining a touch screen and a keypad in an affordable device. We have given people a larger screen with clear icons and menus plus kept critical keys such as the send and end keys. We’ve also added dedicated function keys for important links like music and text messaging,” she said.
“We have designed the Nokia X3 to be a touch and type device because typing is ideal for SMS and social networking where fast and frequent input is needed, while touch is ideal for functions such as setting alarms, smooth browsing and controlling applications like music and games.
“Our research tells us consumers who have invested years in becoming fast one-handed, one-thumb texters want to maintain their speedy edge for SMS, chat and instant messaging yet enjoy the benefits of touch as well,” continued McDowell.
With its sleek and modern design coming in at a very thin 9.6mm making it one of the slimmest Nokia phones ever the Nokia X3 slips easily into the purse or the pocket, and looks the part with its brushed aluminum back cover which will come in five vibrant colors designed to suit any mood or wardrobe.
Despite its size, the Nokia X3 is jam-packed with features including 3G, WLAN, a music player and an FM radio.
Lovers of the snapshot and social networks will enjoy a great 5 megapixel camera with 4X digital zoom that can take both still and video images.
The Nokia X3 also features dedicated music and messaging keys allowing fast access to important Ovi services including social and entertainment applications. In addition to Ovi Mail, people’s favorite consumer email and chat accounts can be pushed direct to the phone via Nokia Messaging.
With a gentle glide over the touch screen people can go online and get access to many services including thousands of apps from Ovi Store. In certain markets, the new phone will also be available with Ovi Music Unlimited, enabling the owner to access a virtually limitless range of the latest hit music that can be stored on the available 16GB memory card.
The Nokia X3 affordable and accessible touch and type which is simple-to-use and beautifully designed. The Nokia X3 Touch and Type sits alongside the Nokia X3-00, a slider with strong music functionality, which was launched in September 2009.
The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-11. Pocket-sized speakers for big sound
Music lovers can boost the Nokia X3’s inbuilt speaker with some extra ‘oomph’ with the new MD-11, a light pocket-size speaker with great audio quality. For even more fun, you can connect two for stereo sound – a great way to get the music out of your phone and enjoy with friends. The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-11 is estimated to retail for EUR 25 excluding taxes and subsidies.
Google has got the software mavericks; they are on the look-out of good hardware engineers. For industry leading devices there has to be a consolidation of hardware and software expertise.
After a few Nexus One limitations Google must have jolted out of the reverie that even if they dictate all the specifications to their ‘outsourced’ HTC, success rate can’t be cent percent. If this worry was only one of many agenda in the giant’s meeting lists for sometime back, now it has become news for everyone around the world.
Ever since speculations of Motorola’s disintegration found hints of authenticity, the deal with Nokia Siemens Networks about the sale of network assets on the cards, their handset division comes out as a major lucrative segment for shoppers. And so, heads at Google turned to neighborhood- Motorola.
Motorola has been facing some serious pitfalls from quite sometime. Besides the cut throat competition given by resurgent Finnish Nokia, the US based firm has more concerns than only the smartphone sales. So one way to sail across this stormy season of financial hassles is to put its handset division in the showcase.
The question is, is Google the right buyer for Motorola? The bank accounts say yes! Google has reserves of USD 21billion to Motorola’s handset business which costs around USD 2billion. Google does have their vested interests in the deal, their concern, however, would be to poise the new ventures with its core competence.
Since its establishment in 1998, Nokia Research Center Beijing (NRC Beijing) has been an organic part of Nokia’s global research network. The lab has provided a great platform inspiring our devoted and passionate researchers for innovations that improves quality of people’s lives.
The following is a short list of NRC Beijing’s accomplishments:
• NRC Beijing built the world first nation-wide IPv6 research network in CERNET (1999 – 2002) and became the well-known IPv6 research leader in China.
• Pioneer of multinational companies in setting up Postdoctoral Program in China, in 2004 by attracting the top notch Chinese scholars
• Key contributor to the industry’s first HSUPA demo in the world.
• Work closely with our colleagues in Finland on the research and development of Voice UI technologies. 1999, Nokia’s first speaker-dependent name dialing came to market on the Nokia 8850.
• In year 2003, the speaker-independent name dialing was first launched on the Nokia 6600 in China.
• All the Asian language packages such as Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, etc. were developed by NRC Beijing team.
• Our latest breakthrough technology was on continuous speech recognition for Nokia phones in 2008 provides a more convenient solution for text input in mobile devices.
• Active participation in Chinese national high-tech programs like 863 and 973, together with our research partners, as well as European Union projects like SpeeCon, LC-STAR, TC-STAR, EMIME, etc.
Research breakthroughs on visual interaction since 1998:
• Crucial OCR (optical character recognition) applications such as a business card reader, shoot-to-translate language translation and a mobile document scanner.
• Continuous handwriting recognition and human face detection and tracking have achieved world-class recognition accuracy and fantastic recognition speed.
Achievements in Education:
• In 2005-2006, NRC Beijing and Nokia Venture Organization (NVO) co-developed and productized MobileEdu, a mobile learning solution.
• NRC Beijing and Beijing Normal University co-authored and published a book on mobile learning, which was the first one in the mobile learning arena in China.
• Nokia and Tsinghua University established a joint Research Facility, aiming at long-term co-creation of cutting-edge technologies.
• Nokia and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications established a joint Research Facility, aiming at driving the technology development in the Asia market and even the global markets through long-term co-research projects
Open Innovation:
• NRC Beijing is committed to open innovation through joint research facility, joint research projects, university donation, internship program, post-doc program, Campus knowledge sharing program, etc.
• We have established extensive cooperation with over 20 key universities and research institutions in Asia, including Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, Chinese University of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Electronic Science & Technology of China, etc. The joint research cover areas like user interface technologies, user experiences, rich context modeling, mobile sensor network, mobile and internet services, hardware research, IPv6, radio and network technologies etc.
• In the past 5 years, NRC Beijing’s knowledge sharing program in over 40 local universities has trained over 100,000 students, built a huge developer pool for mobile software platform: Symbian & Linux Maemo, produced high quality R&D talents for the mobile industry.
Social Achievements:
• During the Beijing Olympics 2008, NRC Beijing has created new and modified existing solutions enabling exciting and easy to use service system for Nokia’s VIP guests for the Olympics. The VIP service packages included innovations from NRC such as Menu Reader and Sports Tracker, together with tailored solutions such as Share on Ovi, Nokia Maps 2.0 and WeatherBug.
All of these remarkable achievements could not have happened without the hard work of the NRC Beijing team. People are our key asset. Our staff has a good track record of academic excellence. They are devoted, eager to learn and growing fast.
NRC Beijing is an integral part of NRC global research network. We firmly believe that the effective execution of “local relevance, global excellence” is an important factor leading to our success in China. NRC Beijing leverages the heritage and best practices of Nokia research network globally.
Nokia Research Center Beijing Future
NRC Beijing drives long-term research and the development of breakthrough technologies in key areas that are critical to the future success of Nokia. In particular, NRC Beijing, which includes teams located in Nairobi, Africa and Bangalore, India, drives research of cutting-edge technologies aimed at accelerating market growth in these rapidly expanding markets.
The mobile handset market is booming, especially in China and India, where the majority of the next billion mobile users are expected to originate. The rich variety of cultures in these regions will be strong influences in shaping the next generation of the mobile Internet and the surrounding ecosystem. As the only lab with the mission to serve growth markets, NRC Beijing will play an integral role in translating the dreams and aspirations of local users into reality.
NRC Beijing focuses on the areas of New User Interface and Rich Context Modeling. Future user interfaces will be more intelligent, context-aware, and need to integrate the personalization and adaptive aspects of the device with the data sharing enabled by powerful back-end infrastructure. The end result is a more engaging and satisfying user experience.
Rich Context Modeling is a central research area for Nokia. In the context of the mobile Internet, context goes well beyond people and places. It is the intersection between people, their surroundings, location, time, presence, device, and social communities, as well as their psychological and social environment. These factors and their analyses form the backbone for a new class of services in areas like weather, traffic, wellness, and entertainment, and enable a vast array of new business models as well. Our key research topics include context computing architectures, context data modeling and management, and mobile social networks. These are characterized by the use of a wide range of sensor information, and associated data aggregation and dissemination middleware, to construct a coherent model that provides adaptive context-aware solutions that ultimately empower and enrich the lives of end users.
"Nokia established its Beijing mobile phone manufacturing facility in Beijing in 1995. With more than 8,000 people working there, the factory is one of the largest manufacturing bases for Nokia in the world.
Scale – one of the world’s largest and most eco-friendly mobile phone industrial chains
The Nokia Beijing factory and its 20 supply chain partners are located in the Xing Wang Industrial Park, Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone.
Xiangwang Industrial Park is also where the Nokia China headquarters are located in.
The Xing Wang Industrial Park is one of the world’s largest mobile phone industry chains, combining Nokia’s manufacturing, R&D, logistics, distribution, marketing and sales, services, and management functions – all within a one kilometer area.
The establishment of the Xing Wang Industrial Park has allowed Nokia to significantly improve efficiency within its communication and operations, and save on shipping and transportation costs. In addition, the Xing Wang Industrial Park allows Nokia to slash its CO2 transport emissions and decrease the use of packaging materials.
China Role Models Nokia’s Commitment to Environmental Sustainability:
At Nokia, sustainability is embedded in everything we do across our operations, products and services. This, combined with the positive effects of mobile technology for consumers, enables us to make a real difference to the environment and to driving sustainable development.
Nokia’s China operations epitomise Nokia’s philosophy and commitment to the environment, both through our Green building headquarters and our manufacturing facility, both housed within the greater Xingwang Industrial Park. This Industrial Park in Yizhuang, Beijing houses Nokia and its key suppliers such as Sanyo Energy, Ibiden Electronics, Inpac and Foxcomm Precision Components together as tenants to produce mobile phones under stringent environmental standards for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, and product end-of-life. International logistics company, DHL, manages all the park logistics.
A recent research study by analyst firms THINKTANK Media, SOL and SDR, labelled the Xingwang Industrial Park as “one of the largest and most complete industry value chains in the world.” The study found that the Xingwang Industrial Park achieves on an annual basis:
A decrease in energy consumption equivalent to nearly 45,000 tons of standard coal.
A reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 88,000 tons.
Water conservation of half a million tons.
A reduction of packaging equivalent to the volume of sustainable logging of more than 1,500 hectares of Chinese red pine forests.
Direct economic benefit of the energy conservation alone of almost 100 Million US Dollars
The Nokia headquarters for the Greater China region, as well as one of our global R&D bases, are housed within the Nokia Green Building, stretching over 70,000 m2 and housing over 2000 employees. The building, which was designed in accordance with LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), boasts several features that result in 37% less water and 20% less energy consumption compared to similar commercial buildings.
This is achieved through several design features such as ‘breathing glass curtain walls’; environmentally friendly parking areas; roofing materials with a high Solar Reflectance Index to dissipate heat, central energy control systems for air conditioning, lighting and projectors, amongst others. The building is the first New Construction to receive the LEED Gold certification for a commercial office in China. This accomplishment is recognised by Nokia across the globe and several other offices have adopted many of the sustainable practices from the China campus.
In Middle East and Africa, Nokia also takes sustainability and our commitment to the communities in which we operate seriously. Nokia employees take a personal responsibility for their impact on the environment by travelling less and using technology such as video conferences to conduct meetings as an alternative. Several employees also use public transport, cycle or walk to work to minimise carbon emissions. Nokia also encourages employees to work from home when possible to reduce the number of commuters. In our offices, we have minimised the need to print documents by having many automated systems in place. We also practice responsible recycling of materials such as paper, plastic and glass used in the offices, and we encourage employees to recycle their old phones, or to switch their phone chargers to more energy-efficient ones.
However, our greatest efforts in the region have been on generating consumer awareness on the issues of energy consumption and recycling. An estimated two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile device is lost when the device is fully charged and unplugged from the charger but the charger remains connected to the mains (this is called the “no load” consumption of a charger). In May 2007, Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into the phone to remind consumers to unplug the charger after use. And over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the no load energy consumption of our chargers by an average of 80%.
Nokia also operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme, across an estimated 5000 Nokia Collection points in 85 countries. In MEA, the program has been launched successfully in many countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Consumers are able to bring old, unwanted and broken mobile devices and accessories, not only from Nokia but any manufacturer, to the Nokia Customer Care points where they are collected for responsible recycling. All materials in Nokia phones can be used again to make parts for new products such as bicycles, kettles or even dental fillings, or to generate energy. In this way, nothing is wasted.
The sad truth is that only 3% of current mobile phone owners claim to recycle their devices. This stat was confirmed in research studies conducted in several countries across the globe including Nigeria and UAE. If all of the around 4.6 billion people using mobile phones globally recycled at least one of their unwanted devices, this could save 370,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce gases to the same extent as taking 6 million cars off the road. This is significant proof point and highlights the need for continued consumer education if we are to build a sustainable future. Nokia will continue to be a pioneer in this area.
For Nokia, “Made in China” Takes on New Meaning:
For Nokia in China, quality counts. The ‘Made in China’ label communicates that for Nokia China, excellence is the key cornerstone of their business.
Nokia has a global demand supply network that includes ten manufacturing facilities in nine countries around the world, including two in China - all with a worldwide reputation for quality products and reliability.
Global Quality Manufacturing in China
Nokia China’s Beijing factory is located in the XingwangIndustrial Park, along with its headquarter, test center, and its suppliers. A plant in Dongguan was also established in 1995. Both factories have supplied products to different countries all around the world.
More important than the size of Nokia China’s operations is their dedication to quality control and strenuous testing which has made products produced in China the same quality as any other Nokia factories in other parts of the world. You could see Nokia is committed to ensuring that manufacturing processes are world class. Nokia is taking the same processes, top quality worldwide. Nokia is also taking the exhaustive testing beyond the normal wear and use.
Nokia China is proud of its world class quality. David Tang, Vice Chairman of Nokia China, sums it up aptly, “Here, we adopt the same standards, the same processes, particularly in terms of quality…So you cannot see any difference from products that are produced in China and other parts of the world.”
World-Class Industry Chain
From the first stage in designing the phones to the final packaging, every single device as well as its components is painstakingly checked for quality at each step of the way. Products are tested well past the bounds of “everyday use”. Both Nokia China sites have been certified to the international standards of ISO9001 and ISO14001.
Nokia’s Beijing base boasts one of the world’s largest mobile phone industry chains, combining R&D, logistics, distribution, marketing and sales, services, management functions, and of course, manufacturing and testing. A device’s journey begins in Nokia China’s design studios, where state of the art facilities house one of Nokia’s most advanced R&D sites in the world. Designers use sophisticated high-tech tools to create virtual blueprints of the products before transferring their designs to a machine that produces accurate 3D molds of phone models. And everything must fit in a consumer’s back pocket.
These plans are then translated into reality on the factory floor itself. All components for the phones such as the touchscreen and camera are inspected meticulously before assembly. A consumer can therefore buy a Nokia product with the knowledge that all capabilities have been thoroughly tested. Production performance can be viewed on internal websites, through real-time monitoring, on white boards, and so on. Overall, Nokia has manufactured approximately 700 million phones in China.
Rigorous Product Testing
At the test centers, devices are subjected to every condition imaginable, at extremes beyond the strain of everyday life.
Those of us who SMS extensively are familiar with the strain an average keypad endures in a phone’s lifetime. Machines at the test center press keys up to one million times in the lab. Flip and slide tests are also performed countless times.
Everything is taken into account. Devices are exposed to dust, extreme temperatures, and sun bleaching . Since these products will be used globally, testing for usability in tropical and humid parts of the world is also taken into consideration, by placing phones in special chambers for weeks to test humidity levels as high as 95 percent.
Nokia China Sustainability Initiatives
Nokia China not only focuses on the products, but also on the people that make them. Their aim is to create a customer-supplier relationship, where each employee can take pride in and be responsible for their own work. Advancement and reward programs have been adopted, encouraging employees to constantly strive to improve quality and work processes through every stage of the process, from development to production.,
Nokia takes pride in their employee satisfaction and ensures positive working environments for their employees.
Quality of product is undeniably Nokia’s focus, but commitment to quality of the environment has taken priority as well. Sustainability and environmental protection have become matters of great importance for Nokia in their China operations.
The materials that go into all of Nokia products are carefully selected, ensuing environmental sustainability at every stage of the product lifecycle. Nokia operate the largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme in the world. People can bring their phones back for responsible recycling to around 5000 Nokia Care Points located in 85 countries.
Nokia’s Beijing green building, built with more than 10 per cent recycled materials, is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in China. Energy consumption has been cut by 20 percent and water usage reduced by 37 per cent. Of the 70,000m2 complex, 77.4 per cent of the total area has been designed to be lit with natural light. A double-glass “wall curtain” lines the building to keep the interior at a constant temperature, saving heating and cooling costs.
Reducing its carbon footprint has also become a concern for Nokia; even the site of the Beijing campus itself is an environmentally friendly choice. Nokia has situated themselves less than one kilometer away from 20 of their suppliers, allowing their components to be delivered to the plant by gas-powered trains.
From the pre-production stage to the end of the product life cycles, Nokia China has made efforts to oversee all aspects of the lives of their devices. A phone-recycling program has been implemented in over 700 Chinese cities, so batteries can be safely disposed of and other parts stripped for recycling. 30 tons of phone units have been collected through the program so far.
This is the story of the world class Nokia product quality happened in every Nokia presences globally.
“Made in China” and Fake Phones – Understanding the Difference:
There are many misconceptions in the marketplace around products manufactured in China. These include the belief that these products are all of an inferior standard, are produced using cheaper materials and unscrupulous labour practices or are all fake in some respect. This is far from the truth, and a visit to the Nokia China manufacturing facility highlights the stringent quality tests that all genuine Nokia products produced in China undergo to ensure consumer satisfaction. These same processes and quality controls are replicated in all of Nokia’s nine manufacturing facilities across the globe, regardless of their location.
However, there is some truth to the stories on fake products and, indeed, many counterfeit phones are produced in China. A counterfeit phone is defined as an exact or indistinguishable replica of a genuine product and, as such, infringes upon the genuine product’s design and registered trademark. Counterfeiting is a global criminal activity that affects many successful consumer product companies in a wide range of industries and Nokia is no exception. Wherever it exists, counterfeiting also damages local economies and negatively affects people with legitimate jobs in the supply chain.
The prevalence of counterfeit phones and accessories is growing globally and we see this trend also in the Middle East and Africa. There are a number of reasons for this including the enormous growth in the number of mobile phone users in the region, the feature rich devices desired by consumers even in the entry markets and the increased availability and range of fake devices in the market.
Nokia takes Intellectual Property Rights and the protection of its brand seriously and works across several fronts to protect these. The company’s efforts focus on the entire counterfeit supply chain from the point of manufacture, through the distribution channels, to the markets in which the products are sold.
Nokia globally has a dedicated team focused on brand protection and combating counterfeit by maintaining an international network of investigators and lawyers specializing in anti-counterfeiting efforts. Where necessary, Nokia will use the appropriate legal remedies against suspected counterfeiters or enablers in the distribution chain. We have received excellent support from the Chinese government and customs authorities to clamp down on counterfeit devices leaving China, but there is more work to be done in China and across the distribution hubs.
“Within the Middle East and Africa region, Nokia has taken a very proactive approach to tackling the challenge of counterfeit products, says Jussi Hinkkanen, Head of Government Affairs for Nokia Middle East and Africa. “This approach targets government and government agencies, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and consumers.”
In several countries, Nokia is working closely with customs officials on training and tools to help them more effectively identify counterfeit goods at the port of entry. We are also working with local organisations such as consumer protection bodies and anti-counterfeit collaborations to lend support to their efforts, as well as collaborating with other brand owners in country to form coalitions that are more effectively able to lobby the government on legislation that enables more severe penalties for crimes associated with counterfeiting.
Nokia has adopted a hard line policy with its authorized distributors and retailers with regards to counterfeit products. Through our dedicated field force, Nokia is able to monitor which outlets are selling counterfeit products and these retailers can be penalized by not receiving rebates, incentives or marketing support. They may also lose their license as Nokia authorized dealers. In the same way, we are working to reward our loyal distributor and retail partners who deal only in genuine Nokia devices. Our marketing efforts will also encourage consumers to purchase from these genuine Nokia outlets for peace of mind.
“However, at the heart of all our efforts, remains our commitment to the consumer and to providing consumers with the true Nokia brand promise,” adds Hinkkanen. “Only genuine Nokia products bought through authorized dealers offer consumers a full 12 month warranty. Genuine Nokia products are manufactured to the highest quality standards and undergo stringent testing to ensure peace of mind. Our product promise also extends beyond devices to accessories, services and solutions, after sales support, responsible end of life – the full consumer offering”.
It is important for consumers to understand the risks of buying counterfeit mobile phones. Not only are these not manufactured according to stringent quality standards, they also do not offer the consumer any recourse in terms of after-sales service. At worst, these devices can even be harmful and potentially dangerous. There is no standardization on the materials used nor on the quality checks conducted during their manufacture. Manufacturers of counterfeit devices do not adhere to accepted practices in terms of factory conditions, radio wave emissions or environmental sustainability.
So, when purchasing your next Nokia device, the question to be asking is not “Was this phone manufactured in China?” but rather “Is this a genuine Nokia phone manufactured to the highest gold standards?” If not, it may be worth thinking twice about that purchase.
Nokia recently announced the launch of a new range of mobile applications and content tailored for the holy month of Ramadan. Mozzaker - a Ramadan application 2010 is available on Ovi Store. his updated mobile application tailored for the Holy Month can be downloaded on the compatible Nokia devices for free directly from Nokia’s Ovi Store.
Mozzaker allows mobile users to listen, search and translate a large collection of daily Azkar and selected supplications. People can also download more Azkar and share via SMS and MMS with friends and family
“We know that Itikaf is an important experience for Muslims during Ramadan. Nokia Ramadan Applications 2010 includes the feature rich Mozzaker application which offers a large collection of Azkar and supplications with translation. All those Muslims who are planning to sit in Itikaf in this holy month can enrich their religious experience by using the Mozzaker application. Mozzaker application for 2010 is free and ready to be downloaded for the widest range of Nokia devices.” said Imran Khalid Mahmood, Country General Manager, Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Ramadan applications are developed by ASGATech, a Forum Nokia Premium Partner in the Middle East, with all content reviewed and approved by Al Azhar Al Shareef.
Ramadan applications for 2010 are compatible with a range of Nokia devices including Nokia N97 mini, Nokia E72, Nokia E52, Nokia X6, Nokia 5230,Nokia 5530,Nokia C5,Nokia 5235, Nokia 5800, Nokia E5, Nokia 6700 slide, Nokia 5233, Nokia X3, Nokia 6303i, Nokia 2710, and Nokia C3. The user interface for the applications is available in English, Arabic, Farsi, French and Urdu.
From time to time, while we dabble with some fun projects, we may give you previews of our innovative ideas and ask your help to take our ideas a step further.
As our first application offering, thewi-tribe socialbar(social media bar), a tool that is compatible with your social browsing needs. Before we introduce it to the public, we would love for you to experience it first hand and let us know what you think of it.
This smart socialbar doesn’t only let you login to your favorite networks without leaving your page, but also keeps you updated with all that you want to stay connected with online, letting you make the most of your multimedia experience.
With it you will be able toaccess your wi-tribe account, social networks and online games, get weather updates, email alerts, search the web and even play streaming radio, all at the same time.
What’s more, wi-tribe can send you alerts that allow you to stay on top with what we are up to.
Please make the most of this exclusive opportunity and pick out the utility value this socialbar offers, recommend to others if you like it, and talk with us to make it even better.
This smart socialbar doesn’t only let user login to favorite networks without leaving the current page, but also keeps updated with all that latest news and that user want to stay connected with online, letting user make the most of multimedia experience.
With it able to users access wi-tribe account, famous social networks and online games, get weather updates, email alerts, search the web and even play streaming radio live online, all at the same time. Wow all this in one single toolbar that great.
At Nokia, sustainability is embedded in everything we do across our operations, products and services. This, combined with the positive effects of mobile technology for consumers, enables us to make a real difference to the environment and to driving sustainable development.
Nokia’s China operations epitomise Nokia’s philosophy and commitment to the environment, both through our Green building headquarters and our manufacturing facility, both housed within the greater Xingwang Industrial Park. This Industrial Park in Yizhuang, Beijing houses Nokia and its key suppliers such as Sanyo Energy, Ibiden Electronics, Inpac and Foxcomm Precision Components together as tenants to produce mobile phones under stringent environmental standards for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, and product end-of-life. International logistics company, DHL, manages all the park logistics.
A recent research study by analyst firms THINKTANK Media, SOL and SDR, labelled the Xingwang Industrial Park as “one of the largest and most complete industry value chains in the world.” The study found that the Xingwang Industrial Park achieves on an annual basis:
ØA decrease in energy consumption equivalent to nearly 45,000 tons of standard coal.
ØA reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 88,000 tons.
ØWater conservation of half a million tons.
ØA reduction of packaging equivalent to the volume of sustainable logging of more than 1,500 hectares of Chinese red pine forests.
ØDirect economic benefit of the energy conservation alone of almost 100 Million US Dollars
The Nokia headquarters for the Greater China region, as well as one of our global R&D bases, are housed within the Nokia Green Building, stretching over 70,000 m2 and housing over 2000 employees. The building, which was designed in accordance with LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), boasts several features that result in 37% less water and 20% less energy consumption compared to similar commercial buildings.
This is achieved through several design features such as ‘breathing glass curtain walls’; environmentally friendly parking areas; roofing materials with a high Solar Reflectance Index to dissipate heat, central energy control systems for air conditioning, lighting and projectors, amongst others. The building is the first New Construction to receive the LEED Gold certification for a commercial office in China. This accomplishment is recognised by Nokia across the globe and several other offices have adopted many of the sustainable practices from the China campus.
In Middle East and Africa, Nokia also takes sustainability and our commitment to the communities in which we operate seriously. Nokia employees take a personal responsibility for their impact on the environment by travelling less and using technology such as video conferences to conduct meetings as an alternative. Several employees also use public transport, cycle or walk to work to minimise carbon emissions. Nokia also encourages employees to work from home when possible to reduce the number of commuters. In our offices, we have minimised the need to print documents by having many automated systems in place. We also practice responsible recycling of materials such as paper, plastic and glass used in the offices, and we encourage employees to recycle their old phones, or to switch their phone chargers to more energy-efficient ones.
However, our greatest efforts in the region have been on generating consumer awareness on the issues of energy consumption and recycling. An estimated two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile device is lost when the device is fully charged and unplugged from the charger but the charger remains connected to the mains (this is called the “no load” consumption of a charger). In May 2007, Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into the phone to remind consumers to unplug the charger after use. And over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the no load energy consumption of our chargers by an average of 80%.
Nokia also operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme, across an estimated 5000 Nokia Collection points in 85 countries. In MEA, the program has been launched successfully in many countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Consumers are able to bring old, unwanted and broken mobile devices and accessories, not only from Nokia but any manufacturer, to the Nokia Customer Care points where they are collected for responsible recycling. All materials in Nokia phones can be used again to make parts for new products such as bicycles, kettles or even dental fillings, or to generate energy. In this way, nothing is wasted.
The sad truth is that only 3% of current mobile phone owners claim to recycle their devices. This stat was confirmed in research studies conducted in several countries across the globe including Nigeria and UAE. If all of the around 4.6 billion people using mobile phones globally recycled at least one of their unwanted devices, this could save 370,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce gases to the same extent as taking 6 million cars off the road. This is significant proof point and highlights the need for continued consumer education if we are to build a sustainable future. Nokia will continue to be a pioneer in this area.
From the beginning of its partnership with DiCaprio in January 2009, the actor and environmental activist has worked with TAG Heuer to design measures that will help the company reduce its carbon footprint.
Since 2002, TAG Heuer hasinstituteda series of measures in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint: general recycling in its factory and offices, use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper, and the development of eco-friendly buildings for manufacturing and back office functions.
The new partnership with DiCaprio has triggered more specific measures:
·The hiring of a Green specialist in charge of setting up new sustainability policies for the company.
A new laser engraving closed circuit system that saves 900 liters of water an hour.
Recycling of the acclaimed concept-gone-commercial Monaco V4 drive belt scraps to produce new belts.
Vegetal roofs on the manufacture’s buildings with specific isolation and water filtering properties.
Recycling of the heat generated by the “Machines d’usinage des platines” to heat up the building in winter.
In addition to the durability of TAG Heuer’s products, which are built with only the best quality Swiss watchmaking materials, the company also encourages consumers to preserve their watch and pass it on to the next generation by utilizing TAG Heuer’s worldwide network of customer service centers, which provide maintenance and after sale service.
TAG Heuer’s 22 subsidiaries Worldwide have also implemented DiCaprio-inspired measures, including the implementation of a paperless office in the Carribean/Latin America, limited air conditioning use in Malaysia and CLA, and a virtual internet catalogue to reduce prints and paper, to name a few.
The future is green for the Swiss watch industry. The Scientific and Development teams at TAG Heuer’s Swiss Avant-Garde brand researching the use of new metals for casting. These metalluric changes will lower the environmental impact of casting by substituting new metals in place of steel or gold. This research will continue in 2010.
In a move to continue driving innovation in its market leading mobile phone range, Nokia today unveils the super slim Nokia X3 Touch and Type, with a unique combination of a touch screen and traditional 12 button phone keypad.
As Nokia’s first ‘Touch and Type’ phone, the Nokia X3 allows people to tap quickly on the bright color touch screen, as well as enjoy the familiarity of the full keypad for quick fire text messages and phone calls. Expected to be on sale in the third quarter, the Nokia X3 is expected to retail for approximately EUR 125, excluding taxes and subsidies.
“Innovation is not just a high-end game. The Nokia X3 is a great example of bringing new consumer value to lower price points,” said Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President of Mobile Phones at Nokia.
“With the Nokia X3 we are giving consumers the best of both worlds by combining a touch screen and a keypad in an affordable device. We have given people a larger screen with clear icons and menus plus kept critical keys such as the send and end keys. We’ve also added dedicated function keys for important links like music and text messaging,” she said.
“We have designed the Nokia X3 to be a touch and type device because typing is ideal for SMS and social networking where fast and frequent input is needed, while touch is ideal for functions such as setting alarms, smooth browsing and controlling applications like music and games.
“Our research tells us consumers who have invested years in becoming fast one-handed, one-thumb texters want to maintain their speedy edge for SMS, chat and instant messaging yet enjoy the benefits of touch as well,” continued McDowell.
With its sleek and modern design coming in at a very thin 9.6mm making it one of the slimmest Nokia phones ever the Nokia X3 slips easily into the purse or the pocket, and looks the part with its brushed aluminum back cover which will come in five vibrant colors designed to suit any mood or wardrobe.
Despite its size, the Nokia X3 is jam-packed with features including 3G, WLAN, a music player and an FM radio.
Lovers of the snapshot and social networks will enjoy a great 5 megapixel camera with 4X digital zoom that can take both still and video images.
The Nokia X3 also features dedicated music and messaging keys allowing fast access to important Ovi services including social and entertainment applications. In addition to Ovi Mail, people’s favorite consumer email and chat accounts can be pushed direct to the phone via Nokia Messaging.
With a gentle glide over the touch screen people can go online and get access to many services including thousands of apps from Ovi Store. In certain markets, the new phone will also be available with Ovi Music Unlimited, enabling the owner to access a virtually limitless range of the latest hit music that can be stored on the available 16GB memory card.
The Nokia X3 affordable and accessible touch and type which is simple-to-use and beautifully designed. The Nokia X3 Touch and Type sits alongside the Nokia X3-00, a slider with strong music functionality, which was launched in September 2009.
The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-11. Pocket-sized speakers for big sound
Music lovers can boost the Nokia X3’s inbuilt speaker with some extra ‘oomph’ with the new MD-11, a light pocket-size speaker with great audio quality. For even more fun, you can connect two for stereo sound – a great way to get the music out of your phone and enjoy with friends. The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-11 is estimated to retail for EUR 25 excluding taxes and subsidies.
Google has got the software mavericks; they are on the look-out of good hardware engineers. For industry leading devices there has to be a consolidation of hardware and software expertise.
After a few Nexus One limitations Google must have jolted out of the reverie that even if they dictate all the specifications to their ‘outsourced’ HTC, success rate can’t be cent percent. If this worry was only one of many agenda in the giant’s meeting lists for sometime back, now it has become news for everyone around the world.
Ever since speculations of Motorola’s disintegration found hints of authenticity, the deal with Nokia Siemens Networks about the sale of network assets on the cards, their handset division comes out as a major lucrative segment for shoppers. And so, heads at Google turned to neighborhood- Motorola.
Motorola has been facing some serious pitfalls from quite sometime. Besides the cut throat competition given by resurgent Finnish Nokia, the US based firm has more concerns than only the smartphone sales. So one way to sail across this stormy season of financial hassles is to put its handset division in the showcase.
The question is, is Google the right buyer for Motorola? The bank accounts say yes! Google has reserves of USD 21billion to Motorola’s handset business which costs around USD 2billion. Google does have their vested interests in the deal, their concern, however, would be to poise the new ventures with its core competence.
Since its establishment in 1998, Nokia Research Center Beijing (NRC Beijing) has been an organic part of Nokia’s global research network. The lab has provided a great platform inspiring our devoted and passionate researchers for innovations that improves quality of people’s lives.
The following is a short list of NRC Beijing’s accomplishments:
• NRC Beijing built the world first nation-wide IPv6 research network in CERNET (1999 – 2002) and became the well-known IPv6 research leader in China.
• Pioneer of multinational companies in setting up Postdoctoral Program in China, in 2004 by attracting the top notch Chinese scholars
• Key contributor to the industry’s first HSUPA demo in the world.
• Work closely with our colleagues in Finland on the research and development of Voice UI technologies. 1999, Nokia’s first speaker-dependent name dialing came to market on the Nokia 8850.
• In year 2003, the speaker-independent name dialing was first launched on the Nokia 6600 in China.
• All the Asian language packages such as Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, etc. were developed by NRC Beijing team.
• Our latest breakthrough technology was on continuous speech recognition for Nokia phones in 2008 provides a more convenient solution for text input in mobile devices.
• Active participation in Chinese national high-tech programs like 863 and 973, together with our research partners, as well as European Union projects like SpeeCon, LC-STAR, TC-STAR, EMIME, etc.
Research breakthroughs on visual interaction since 1998:
• Crucial OCR (optical character recognition) applications such as a business card reader, shoot-to-translate language translation and a mobile document scanner.
• Continuous handwriting recognition and human face detection and tracking have achieved world-class recognition accuracy and fantastic recognition speed.
Achievements in Education:
• In 2005-2006, NRC Beijing and Nokia Venture Organization (NVO) co-developed and productized MobileEdu, a mobile learning solution.
• NRC Beijing and Beijing Normal University co-authored and published a book on mobile learning, which was the first one in the mobile learning arena in China.
• Nokia and Tsinghua University established a joint Research Facility, aiming at long-term co-creation of cutting-edge technologies.
• Nokia and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications established a joint Research Facility, aiming at driving the technology development in the Asia market and even the global markets through long-term co-research projects
Open Innovation:
• NRC Beijing is committed to open innovation through joint research facility, joint research projects, university donation, internship program, post-doc program, Campus knowledge sharing program, etc.
• We have established extensive cooperation with over 20 key universities and research institutions in Asia, including Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, Chinese University of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Electronic Science & Technology of China, etc. The joint research cover areas like user interface technologies, user experiences, rich context modeling, mobile sensor network, mobile and internet services, hardware research, IPv6, radio and network technologies etc.
• In the past 5 years, NRC Beijing’s knowledge sharing program in over 40 local universities has trained over 100,000 students, built a huge developer pool for mobile software platform: Symbian & Linux Maemo, produced high quality R&D talents for the mobile industry.
Social Achievements:
• During the Beijing Olympics 2008, NRC Beijing has created new and modified existing solutions enabling exciting and easy to use service system for Nokia’s VIP guests for the Olympics. The VIP service packages included innovations from NRC such as Menu Reader and Sports Tracker, together with tailored solutions such as Share on Ovi, Nokia Maps 2.0 and WeatherBug.
All of these remarkable achievements could not have happened without the hard work of the NRC Beijing team. People are our key asset. Our staff has a good track record of academic excellence. They are devoted, eager to learn and growing fast.
NRC Beijing is an integral part of NRC global research network. We firmly believe that the effective execution of “local relevance, global excellence” is an important factor leading to our success in China. NRC Beijing leverages the heritage and best practices of Nokia research network globally.
Nokia Research Center Beijing Future
NRC Beijing drives long-term research and the development of breakthrough technologies in key areas that are critical to the future success of Nokia. In particular, NRC Beijing, which includes teams located in Nairobi, Africa and Bangalore, India, drives research of cutting-edge technologies aimed at accelerating market growth in these rapidly expanding markets.
The mobile handset market is booming, especially in China and India, where the majority of the next billion mobile users are expected to originate. The rich variety of cultures in these regions will be strong influences in shaping the next generation of the mobile Internet and the surrounding ecosystem. As the only lab with the mission to serve growth markets, NRC Beijing will play an integral role in translating the dreams and aspirations of local users into reality.
NRC Beijing focuses on the areas of New User Interface and Rich Context Modeling. Future user interfaces will be more intelligent, context-aware, and need to integrate the personalization and adaptive aspects of the device with the data sharing enabled by powerful back-end infrastructure. The end result is a more engaging and satisfying user experience.
Rich Context Modeling is a central research area for Nokia. In the context of the mobile Internet, context goes well beyond people and places. It is the intersection between people, their surroundings, location, time, presence, device, and social communities, as well as their psychological and social environment. These factors and their analyses form the backbone for a new class of services in areas like weather, traffic, wellness, and entertainment, and enable a vast array of new business models as well. Our key research topics include context computing architectures, context data modeling and management, and mobile social networks. These are characterized by the use of a wide range of sensor information, and associated data aggregation and dissemination middleware, to construct a coherent model that provides adaptive context-aware solutions that ultimately empower and enrich the lives of end users.
"Nokia established its Beijing mobile phone manufacturing facility in Beijing in 1995. With more than 8,000 people working there, the factory is one of the largest manufacturing bases for Nokia in the world.
Scale – one of the world’s largest and most eco-friendly mobile phone industrial chains
The Nokia Beijing factory and its 20 supply chain partners are located in the Xing Wang Industrial Park, Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone.
Xiangwang Industrial Park is also where the Nokia China headquarters are located in.
The Xing Wang Industrial Park is one of the world’s largest mobile phone industry chains, combining Nokia’s manufacturing, R&D, logistics, distribution, marketing and sales, services, and management functions – all within a one kilometer area.
The establishment of the Xing Wang Industrial Park has allowed Nokia to significantly improve efficiency within its communication and operations, and save on shipping and transportation costs. In addition, the Xing Wang Industrial Park allows Nokia to slash its CO2 transport emissions and decrease the use of packaging materials.
China Role Models Nokia’s Commitment to Environmental Sustainability:
At Nokia, sustainability is embedded in everything we do across our operations, products and services. This, combined with the positive effects of mobile technology for consumers, enables us to make a real difference to the environment and to driving sustainable development.
Nokia’s China operations epitomise Nokia’s philosophy and commitment to the environment, both through our Green building headquarters and our manufacturing facility, both housed within the greater Xingwang Industrial Park. This Industrial Park in Yizhuang, Beijing houses Nokia and its key suppliers such as Sanyo Energy, Ibiden Electronics, Inpac and Foxcomm Precision Components together as tenants to produce mobile phones under stringent environmental standards for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, and product end-of-life. International logistics company, DHL, manages all the park logistics.
A recent research study by analyst firms THINKTANK Media, SOL and SDR, labelled the Xingwang Industrial Park as “one of the largest and most complete industry value chains in the world.” The study found that the Xingwang Industrial Park achieves on an annual basis:
A decrease in energy consumption equivalent to nearly 45,000 tons of standard coal.
A reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 88,000 tons.
Water conservation of half a million tons.
A reduction of packaging equivalent to the volume of sustainable logging of more than 1,500 hectares of Chinese red pine forests.
Direct economic benefit of the energy conservation alone of almost 100 Million US Dollars
The Nokia headquarters for the Greater China region, as well as one of our global R&D bases, are housed within the Nokia Green Building, stretching over 70,000 m2 and housing over 2000 employees. The building, which was designed in accordance with LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), boasts several features that result in 37% less water and 20% less energy consumption compared to similar commercial buildings.
This is achieved through several design features such as ‘breathing glass curtain walls’; environmentally friendly parking areas; roofing materials with a high Solar Reflectance Index to dissipate heat, central energy control systems for air conditioning, lighting and projectors, amongst others. The building is the first New Construction to receive the LEED Gold certification for a commercial office in China. This accomplishment is recognised by Nokia across the globe and several other offices have adopted many of the sustainable practices from the China campus.
In Middle East and Africa, Nokia also takes sustainability and our commitment to the communities in which we operate seriously. Nokia employees take a personal responsibility for their impact on the environment by travelling less and using technology such as video conferences to conduct meetings as an alternative. Several employees also use public transport, cycle or walk to work to minimise carbon emissions. Nokia also encourages employees to work from home when possible to reduce the number of commuters. In our offices, we have minimised the need to print documents by having many automated systems in place. We also practice responsible recycling of materials such as paper, plastic and glass used in the offices, and we encourage employees to recycle their old phones, or to switch their phone chargers to more energy-efficient ones.
However, our greatest efforts in the region have been on generating consumer awareness on the issues of energy consumption and recycling. An estimated two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile device is lost when the device is fully charged and unplugged from the charger but the charger remains connected to the mains (this is called the “no load” consumption of a charger). In May 2007, Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into the phone to remind consumers to unplug the charger after use. And over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the no load energy consumption of our chargers by an average of 80%.
Nokia also operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme, across an estimated 5000 Nokia Collection points in 85 countries. In MEA, the program has been launched successfully in many countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Consumers are able to bring old, unwanted and broken mobile devices and accessories, not only from Nokia but any manufacturer, to the Nokia Customer Care points where they are collected for responsible recycling. All materials in Nokia phones can be used again to make parts for new products such as bicycles, kettles or even dental fillings, or to generate energy. In this way, nothing is wasted.
The sad truth is that only 3% of current mobile phone owners claim to recycle their devices. This stat was confirmed in research studies conducted in several countries across the globe including Nigeria and UAE. If all of the around 4.6 billion people using mobile phones globally recycled at least one of their unwanted devices, this could save 370,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce gases to the same extent as taking 6 million cars off the road. This is significant proof point and highlights the need for continued consumer education if we are to build a sustainable future. Nokia will continue to be a pioneer in this area.
For Nokia, “Made in China” Takes on New Meaning:
For Nokia in China, quality counts. The ‘Made in China’ label communicates that for Nokia China, excellence is the key cornerstone of their business.
Nokia has a global demand supply network that includes ten manufacturing facilities in nine countries around the world, including two in China - all with a worldwide reputation for quality products and reliability.
Global Quality Manufacturing in China
Nokia China’s Beijing factory is located in the XingwangIndustrial Park, along with its headquarter, test center, and its suppliers. A plant in Dongguan was also established in 1995. Both factories have supplied products to different countries all around the world.
More important than the size of Nokia China’s operations is their dedication to quality control and strenuous testing which has made products produced in China the same quality as any other Nokia factories in other parts of the world. You could see Nokia is committed to ensuring that manufacturing processes are world class. Nokia is taking the same processes, top quality worldwide. Nokia is also taking the exhaustive testing beyond the normal wear and use.
Nokia China is proud of its world class quality. David Tang, Vice Chairman of Nokia China, sums it up aptly, “Here, we adopt the same standards, the same processes, particularly in terms of quality…So you cannot see any difference from products that are produced in China and other parts of the world.”
World-Class Industry Chain
From the first stage in designing the phones to the final packaging, every single device as well as its components is painstakingly checked for quality at each step of the way. Products are tested well past the bounds of “everyday use”. Both Nokia China sites have been certified to the international standards of ISO9001 and ISO14001.
Nokia’s Beijing base boasts one of the world’s largest mobile phone industry chains, combining R&D, logistics, distribution, marketing and sales, services, management functions, and of course, manufacturing and testing. A device’s journey begins in Nokia China’s design studios, where state of the art facilities house one of Nokia’s most advanced R&D sites in the world. Designers use sophisticated high-tech tools to create virtual blueprints of the products before transferring their designs to a machine that produces accurate 3D molds of phone models. And everything must fit in a consumer’s back pocket.
These plans are then translated into reality on the factory floor itself. All components for the phones such as the touchscreen and camera are inspected meticulously before assembly. A consumer can therefore buy a Nokia product with the knowledge that all capabilities have been thoroughly tested. Production performance can be viewed on internal websites, through real-time monitoring, on white boards, and so on. Overall, Nokia has manufactured approximately 700 million phones in China.
Rigorous Product Testing
At the test centers, devices are subjected to every condition imaginable, at extremes beyond the strain of everyday life.
Those of us who SMS extensively are familiar with the strain an average keypad endures in a phone’s lifetime. Machines at the test center press keys up to one million times in the lab. Flip and slide tests are also performed countless times.
Everything is taken into account. Devices are exposed to dust, extreme temperatures, and sun bleaching . Since these products will be used globally, testing for usability in tropical and humid parts of the world is also taken into consideration, by placing phones in special chambers for weeks to test humidity levels as high as 95 percent.
Nokia China Sustainability Initiatives
Nokia China not only focuses on the products, but also on the people that make them. Their aim is to create a customer-supplier relationship, where each employee can take pride in and be responsible for their own work. Advancement and reward programs have been adopted, encouraging employees to constantly strive to improve quality and work processes through every stage of the process, from development to production.,
Nokia takes pride in their employee satisfaction and ensures positive working environments for their employees.
Quality of product is undeniably Nokia’s focus, but commitment to quality of the environment has taken priority as well. Sustainability and environmental protection have become matters of great importance for Nokia in their China operations.
The materials that go into all of Nokia products are carefully selected, ensuing environmental sustainability at every stage of the product lifecycle. Nokia operate the largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme in the world. People can bring their phones back for responsible recycling to around 5000 Nokia Care Points located in 85 countries.
Nokia’s Beijing green building, built with more than 10 per cent recycled materials, is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in China. Energy consumption has been cut by 20 percent and water usage reduced by 37 per cent. Of the 70,000m2 complex, 77.4 per cent of the total area has been designed to be lit with natural light. A double-glass “wall curtain” lines the building to keep the interior at a constant temperature, saving heating and cooling costs.
Reducing its carbon footprint has also become a concern for Nokia; even the site of the Beijing campus itself is an environmentally friendly choice. Nokia has situated themselves less than one kilometer away from 20 of their suppliers, allowing their components to be delivered to the plant by gas-powered trains.
From the pre-production stage to the end of the product life cycles, Nokia China has made efforts to oversee all aspects of the lives of their devices. A phone-recycling program has been implemented in over 700 Chinese cities, so batteries can be safely disposed of and other parts stripped for recycling. 30 tons of phone units have been collected through the program so far.
This is the story of the world class Nokia product quality happened in every Nokia presences globally.
“Made in China” and Fake Phones – Understanding the Difference:
There are many misconceptions in the marketplace around products manufactured in China. These include the belief that these products are all of an inferior standard, are produced using cheaper materials and unscrupulous labour practices or are all fake in some respect. This is far from the truth, and a visit to the Nokia China manufacturing facility highlights the stringent quality tests that all genuine Nokia products produced in China undergo to ensure consumer satisfaction. These same processes and quality controls are replicated in all of Nokia’s nine manufacturing facilities across the globe, regardless of their location.
However, there is some truth to the stories on fake products and, indeed, many counterfeit phones are produced in China. A counterfeit phone is defined as an exact or indistinguishable replica of a genuine product and, as such, infringes upon the genuine product’s design and registered trademark. Counterfeiting is a global criminal activity that affects many successful consumer product companies in a wide range of industries and Nokia is no exception. Wherever it exists, counterfeiting also damages local economies and negatively affects people with legitimate jobs in the supply chain.
The prevalence of counterfeit phones and accessories is growing globally and we see this trend also in the Middle East and Africa. There are a number of reasons for this including the enormous growth in the number of mobile phone users in the region, the feature rich devices desired by consumers even in the entry markets and the increased availability and range of fake devices in the market.
Nokia takes Intellectual Property Rights and the protection of its brand seriously and works across several fronts to protect these. The company’s efforts focus on the entire counterfeit supply chain from the point of manufacture, through the distribution channels, to the markets in which the products are sold.
Nokia globally has a dedicated team focused on brand protection and combating counterfeit by maintaining an international network of investigators and lawyers specializing in anti-counterfeiting efforts. Where necessary, Nokia will use the appropriate legal remedies against suspected counterfeiters or enablers in the distribution chain. We have received excellent support from the Chinese government and customs authorities to clamp down on counterfeit devices leaving China, but there is more work to be done in China and across the distribution hubs.
“Within the Middle East and Africa region, Nokia has taken a very proactive approach to tackling the challenge of counterfeit products, says Jussi Hinkkanen, Head of Government Affairs for Nokia Middle East and Africa. “This approach targets government and government agencies, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and consumers.”
In several countries, Nokia is working closely with customs officials on training and tools to help them more effectively identify counterfeit goods at the port of entry. We are also working with local organisations such as consumer protection bodies and anti-counterfeit collaborations to lend support to their efforts, as well as collaborating with other brand owners in country to form coalitions that are more effectively able to lobby the government on legislation that enables more severe penalties for crimes associated with counterfeiting.
Nokia has adopted a hard line policy with its authorized distributors and retailers with regards to counterfeit products. Through our dedicated field force, Nokia is able to monitor which outlets are selling counterfeit products and these retailers can be penalized by not receiving rebates, incentives or marketing support. They may also lose their license as Nokia authorized dealers. In the same way, we are working to reward our loyal distributor and retail partners who deal only in genuine Nokia devices. Our marketing efforts will also encourage consumers to purchase from these genuine Nokia outlets for peace of mind.
“However, at the heart of all our efforts, remains our commitment to the consumer and to providing consumers with the true Nokia brand promise,” adds Hinkkanen. “Only genuine Nokia products bought through authorized dealers offer consumers a full 12 month warranty. Genuine Nokia products are manufactured to the highest quality standards and undergo stringent testing to ensure peace of mind. Our product promise also extends beyond devices to accessories, services and solutions, after sales support, responsible end of life – the full consumer offering”.
It is important for consumers to understand the risks of buying counterfeit mobile phones. Not only are these not manufactured according to stringent quality standards, they also do not offer the consumer any recourse in terms of after-sales service. At worst, these devices can even be harmful and potentially dangerous. There is no standardization on the materials used nor on the quality checks conducted during their manufacture. Manufacturers of counterfeit devices do not adhere to accepted practices in terms of factory conditions, radio wave emissions or environmental sustainability.
So, when purchasing your next Nokia device, the question to be asking is not “Was this phone manufactured in China?” but rather “Is this a genuine Nokia phone manufactured to the highest gold standards?” If not, it may be worth thinking twice about that purchase.
