As a welcome tribute to the holy month of Ramadan this year that would start a few days from now, Nokia - a world leader in mobile communications - has launched in Saudi Arabia a range of mobile applications and content tailored for the season. Building on the success of last year's Ramadan offering, Nokia Saudi Arabia disclosed at a press conference on Sunday a package of new applications which can be availed of free-of-charge. The 2008 Ramadan offering from Nokia includes the Holy Qur'an, which allows users to read, search, bookmark and listen to Qur'an recitation. Other applications include Imsakia (timings for fasting and breaking the fast), Ramadaniat (Ramadan greetings) and Mozakker (daily prayer timings). It also features greeting cards which are available in four languages, namely English, French, Arabic and Urdu. Developed by ASGATech, the only Forum Nokia Premium Partner in the Middle East, all content of the Ramadan applications has been reviewed and approved by Al-Azhar Al-Shareef in Egypt. Developing on Nokia's existing Maps platform, the new mobile services also feature locations of major mosques in Saudi Arabia, such as the Two Holy Mosques - Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and Masjid Al-Nabawi in Al-Madina. Additionally users can also navigate locations of major mosques in UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Pakistan using the Nokia Maps service. In MENA region, the Ramadan applications are already preloaded in certain Nokia models, to include: N78, N70 Music Edition, E51, 3120 Classic, 6500 Slide, 6300 and 2630. However, existing users of Nokia models N73, N95, N95 8GB, N82, E90, E71, 6210 Navigator and 6220 Classic will be able to download the Ramadan applications, content and services globally from www.nokia.com/ramadan, which is available in English, Arabic and French. Nokia mobile contents also include wall papers (in Arabic only), ring tones and Anasheed (Islamic songs). The introduction of new Ramadan applications was a result of the “overwhelming response and feedback that we received from last year's offering,” said Mohammed Hassan, general manager, Nokia Saudi Arabia. In 2007, 14 percent of Nokia's global net sales came from the Middle East and Africa (MENA), he added. Mohammed El Sheakh, business manager, Services and Software, Nokia MENA, told the Saudi Gazette on the sidelines of the conference, that Nokia took 40 percent of the total mobile phones sold globally last year, and the latest offer of the company is just another gesture of “serving the best interest of our customers.” “And we will continue to do so,” he added. __
