Ovi Life Tools is a first step toward extending the advantages of today’s digital economy to the whole world. Running on affordable handsets (currently the Nokia 2323 classic and Nokia 2330 classic), Ovi Life Tools helps to empower rural people with valuable information and skills to help improve their everyday lives.

The SMS-based subscription service is split into three areas: agriculture; education and entertainment. For example, 60 rupees a month (about £0.02 a day) buys Indian farmers daily weather updates, agriculture news and advice, plus the latest market prices for three chosen crops. The education texts provide English language tips, exam preparation hints and career information, while entertainment keeps users up to date with cricket scores and the latest ringtones.

Nokia Life Tools has launched in India, and is already available in ten different languages. Plus, it recently launched a specially tailored version for Indonesia, keenly designed with the territory’s unique needs front of mind.

What they say

“This should allow farmers to save money and time by reducing the need to physically travel to the market place for the same information or relying on intermediary agents”

Tech2.In

If you only do one thing

Farmers can time their selling trips by getting up-to-date information on the prices their crops will earn, gathered from nearly 300 local markets. There’s also accurate, daily information on the cost of pesticides, fertilisers and seeds.

Miscellany

Despite the flexibility of email and the ever-so-fashionable Twitter, SMS (text) messages remain the most popular messaging choice of mobile phone users around the world. Here are five textual facts:

• The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992 using the UK’s Vodafone network. It read ‘Merry Christmas’.

 

• Six per cent of texts are never read by their recipients.

 

• Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology found that texting was addictive as smoking, with around a fifth of people suffering increased heart rate and anxiety levels when deprived of their phones.

 

• Around 2.5 trillion text messages were sent worldwide in 2008 – a 20 percent increase from 2007.

 

• The phrase used in Guinness World Record speed texting attempts is “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” Time to beat? 41.4 seconds.