T-Mobile to Ditch Several Nokia Handsets - Report
T-Mobile is reported to be planning to dump all Nokia handsets which can access the company's Ovi mobile internet service as it would compete with their own in-house content platform. German magazine, WirtschaftsWoche reported the story without naming sources.
According to the report, T-Mobile will offer only 10 Nokia phones to customers, which are all incompatible with Ovi, compared with 15 phones five weeks ago.
A T-Mobile spokeswoman did concede that the company currently does not carry any Ovi compatible Nokia handsets, but did not confirm that there was a blanket ban on the handsets.
"We are currently in negotiations with Nokia about the Ovi service and are pretty confident to find a solution soon," she said.
The report did not say if the decision affected T-Mobile only within Germany, or internationally.
Last November, Vodafone agreed to work with the Finnish handset giant to integrate a number of Internet services, including Nokia's Music Store, on to devices that will begin selling early next year. Vodafone, which is increasingly trying to offset declining voice call prices by launching new Internet-based services, will combine its own software services, with Nokia's Ovi portal and will launch a number of exclusive "premium" Nokia handsets in 2008, the company said at the time.
On the web: WirtschaftsWoche
Posted to the site on 2nd March 2008
