Nokia CES Keynote: Focus on people. Empower people to take care of themselves. Focus on doing good business and doing good.

Nokia’s CEO  Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo gave a keynote and CES. I attended the second half and I included my live tweets below. Overall, I was very impressed with the keynote. It really differed from the other keynotes I saw which focused on products. Nokia really focused on people, their needs, and Nokia’s solutions to those needs. One strong theme was focus on people and use connectivity to “empower people to take care of themselves.” Another strong theme was focus on “doing good business and doing good.”

Kallasvuo took a global perspective and focused on the needs and opportunities in emerging markets in developing countries. He showed the real problems that people are facing in underdeveloped countries and he showed how connectivity can improve their lives. He really took things back to the basics, like using connectivity to provide people with email and mobile banking, give farmers knowledge of floods, and give people knowledge to stop diseases from from spreading and becoming epidemics.

An interesting point Kallasvuo made is how the deployment of 3G wireless in emerging markets is much slower than they hoped, but despite that, quite a lot can be accomplished with the combination of texting and location, using SMS and GPS that are already available. Imagine shopping for your goods in streetside stands. One simple SMS+GPS service that Nokia Life Tools offers is where Sellers broadcast their goods and Buyers broadcast their needs. Then the service does a matching based on the sellers and buyers locations. This shows the simple yet powerful services that can be provided with the SMS+GPS networks that are deployed today.

Finally, Kallasvuo announced the Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge which will award $1M venture funds to the winner of the challenge.

Without further ado, enjoy the live tweets!

• I’m at the Nokia CES Keynote. Got here 30 mins late… will tweet from here.
• Nokia is really taking an global perspective, stressing their work to enable connectivity in emerging markets.
• Talking about improving people’s lives, especially in underdeveloped countries.
• Nokia approaches this with Nokia Life Tools.
• Travel journalist from Lonely Planet is on stage now. Nokia approached Lonely Planet about doing a joint project.
• The joint project was about traveling to different location and asking how people use connected devices.
• She was not excited b/c she thought it was a cell phone project, then became excited because:
  1) It was about people, not technology.
  2) It took a global perspective.
  3) The project was not only about a mobile phones.
• Nokia had a project to use mobile devices to detect diseases and get them under control before they become epidemics.
• Mobile phone technology is allowing people to overcome environmental problems and empowering people to take care of things themselves.
• Sociologists say that two things are required for human progress: the Will and the Means. Progress Project http://TheProgressProject.com
• Nokia CEO is up. Discussing the push towards pushing connectivity to emerging markets. In reality, deployment was slower than expected.
• In emerging markets, 3G did not get much deployment/use. But, SMS use is very high.
• The combination of SMS+GPS were enough to provide some very compelling services.
• SMS+GPS: Sellers advertise what they have and where they are. Buyers express what they want and where they are. Matches are made.
• SMS+GPS: “Such simple technologies can make a difference in people’s lives.”
• Nokia Money: Mobile banking is a huge opportunity. It means people can securely manage their money anywhere. People don’t have to wait in lines to deposit checks and get money.
• Nokia Money will launch early this year. It is independent of bank and independent of country.
• 75% of the world still does not have email. It’s a big opportunity. It should be global.
• Nokia Ovi email services. In one year, Nokia established 5 million email accounts in one year. Countries: China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Chile.
• Nokia’s efforts to Democratize the smartphone. The potential is staggering. The demand for apps is growing as well.
• Need to establish apps & services for developing markets. While Nokia LifeTools cost a customer only $1/month… multiply it by 7.5M customers
• Nokia has 1.2 B customers around the world.
• Ovi: Developers in Palo Alto develop an app/service. Ovi deploys it to its 1.2B customers around the world.
• Nokia Ovi Competition called Calling for Innovators. This year’s theme: “Connecting apps that make a difference.” Partnered w/ Sesame Street
• Nokia allow Sesame Street to develop and deploy services to children around the world.
• Nokia CEO announcing the first Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge. Winner will receive a $1M investment from Nokia.
• That was a big announcement. More info at Nokia’s http://CallingAllInnovators.com .
• Nokia’s Theme: Doing good business and doing good.
• What a great keynote. That’s all folks!

What do you think of these points?

Did you see the keynote? Do you have any points to add?