Vodafone opens its door to Nokia's Ovi

The "world's largest mobile operator by revenue" and the world's largest handset manufacturer have agreed to launch an integrated suite of Vodafone services combined with Nokia Ovi services. Nokia will provide some of its top-end models, which allow access to 3G, high speed broadband networks, exclusively to Vodafone.

Customers will get faster and easier access to all of Vodafone's Internet and entertainment services as well as all of Ovi from Nokia services on a wide range of handsets. Vodafone customers will be able to access the widest and most attractive choice of Internet services.

This is an evolution that has seen operators' desire for all out control of the content value chain lessening as they move away from an operator controlled walled garden.

A great milestone for Nokia as this partnership will Vodafone will certainly open up a world of opportunities for Nokia to be working with many other mobile operators worldwide as this is an indication that Vendor-led portal like Ovi may not necessarily be hostile to mobile operators.

"We're pleased do be working with Nokia in leading the industry to bring customers a complete suite of Vodafone communications, browsing, content and Internet services," said Frank Rovekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Group. "This is a logical step for Vodafone to make, further improving our customer experience with many of the services already launched with leading Internet partners."