Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo praised the mobile phone on Friday as a history-changing tool and challenged developers to create programs for poor countries.
“These little devices have done more to improve people’s lives than perhaps any technology in history,” the head of the Finnish mobile phone giant said in a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Nokia CEO said relatively cheap mobile phones had done much to improve the lives of people in developing nations.
PHOTO: AFP
“Here is the Nokia 1616, nothing to get too excited about,” he said. “[But] it includes a built-in flashlight, a dust resistant keypad, an FM radio, a speaking alarm clock.”
“Farmers in India and Indonesia can use it to get the latest information on crops,” Kallasvuo said. “The mobile device has become a necessity for upward mobility. For the majority of the world’s people, their first and only access to the Internet will be through a mobile device — not a PC and this access is spreading very, very fast.”
Kallasvuo said there were 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions among a global population of 6.8 billion people.
“We are near the day where we can talk about the whole connected world,” he said.
He also announced that Nokia was putting US$1 million behind the first “Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge” to encourage developers to design mobile products or services that raise the standard of living in poor nations.
“We want you to come up with new and innovative ways to help people,” Kallasvuo said.
“We’ve seen what the tech community can do when it focuses on problems that are also opportunities,” he said. “We want to channel that energy toward improving lives in the developing world.”
Nokia said the Venture Challenge is not limited to software or hardware that uses its devices or software platforms. The million dollars will be invested in the organization with the best idea with the winner announced in June.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS