Club Nokia was a mobile internet digital distribution portal, similar to an
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
,
operated by
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
to provide special offers, paid-for ringtones, picture messages and game content directly to members.
Following resistance from its mobile operator customers, Nokia partially closed the service and the brand became solely a consumer service and loyalty portal.
History
Club Nokia was originally launched in 1997 to provide detailed product information and support about Nokia products.
In 1999 Club Nokia was developed into an integral multi-channel personalised service accessible by WAP
WAP or Wap may refer to:
Music
* "WAP" (song), a 2020 song by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion
Organizations
* Weatherization Assistance Program, for US energy costs
* Western Australia Party, a political party founded in 2016
* Western A ...
, SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
or the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, spawning a new industry for the provision of mobile content. Consumers could join Club Nokia after buying a new Nokia device. To download content, users were required to purchase credits obtained from authorised Nokia dealerships. Content included additional game levels for e.g. ''Space Impact
''Space Impact'' is a mobile game series that was published by Nokia and its games usually came bundled with several Nokia devices.
The first Space Impact appeared on the Nokia 3310 in 2000 and later included in other models released throughout ...
''. The picture messaging service was launched in Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
in December 1999. In 2000, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
partnered with Nokia to enable purchasing of books from Amazon's catalogue via Club Nokia with WAP enabled mobile phones.
In August 2000, Nokia signed a deal with music publisher EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
to provide EMI-owned songs as ringtones, available from the Club Nokia website or by sending an SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
message. By November 2001, over 10 million consumers were subscribed to Club Nokia, and the enterprise was forecast to yield €1 billion in revenue by 2004. However, the EMI deal proved controversial as it placed Nokia in direct competition with the mobile operator
A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...
s' own branded portals, who relied on the booming ringtones market for revenue and were wary of Nokia gaining a mobile content monopoly through Club Nokia as Microsoft had done in computing software. Nokia argued customers used the carriers' mobile data to download content, but network operators remained resistant. As a result, Nokia announced in September 2004 that the service for selling ringtones would close down, never having become the commercial success it was forecast to be, and Club Nokia became solely a customer service, loyalty and news portal. On the back of investments made into Club Nokia, Nokia launched a new service Preminet
Microsoft mobile services are a set of proprietary mobile services created specifically for mobile devices, they are typically offered through mobile applications and mobile browser for Windows Phone, (operating system), platforms, Binary Runt ...
to its operators, designed to distribute certified Java- and Symbian-based mobile software to make cell-phone applications easier to buy, sell, and distribute.
In late 2007 the Club Nokia service was rebranded "My Nokia". Nokia launched a new direct-to-consumer service in 2006 called Nokia Content Discoverer. The term "Club Nokia" was since re-used as the name of a concert venue in Los Angeles, which has now been renamed The Novo by Microsoft
The Novo (formerly Club Nokia) is an indoor club located at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, California. The club's seating capacity is 2,400.
History
The venue opened on November 8, 2008, as "Club Nokia" with shows held by the musician Beck ...
.
See also
*Nokia Ovi
Ovi by Nokia ( fi, ovi, translation=door) was the brand for Nokia's Internet services. The Ovi services could be used from a mobile device, computer (through Ovi Suite) or via the web. Nokia focused on five key service areas: Games, Maps, Media, ...
References
{{Nokia
Nokia services
Mobile software distribution platforms
Wireless Application Protocol