Nokia and Pearson Form Wireless Educational Venture in China

USA - English

• USA - English
• USA - English

LONDON and ESPOO, Finland, February 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world leader in mobility, and Pearson, the world's leading education company, today announced the formation of a joint venture, Beijing Mobiledu Technologies, to accelerate the growth of Mobiledu, the premier mobile phone-delivered education service, developed by Nokia in China.

Launched in China in 2007, Mobiledu is a mobile service that provides English-language learning materials and other educational content, from a variety of content providers, directly to mobile phones. Customers can access the content through an application preloaded on new Nokia handsets, or by visiting the service's mobile website and most other WAP portals in China.

Since its launch, Mobiledu has already attracted 20 million subscribers in China, with 1.5 million people actively using the service each month. Mobiledu will continue to be delivered to customers in China through a range of channels, including Nokia's Ovi Store.

The new joint venture company will combine the world-class expertise of Nokia in mobile devices and services, and Pearson's industry- leading assets and expertise in education, to deliver a wide range of services to meet the high demand for education in China. Headed by Angela Long, formerly head of Mobiledu at Nokia, the Beijing-based company will begin operations immediately.

Robert Andersson, Senior Vice President and head of Corporate Alliances and Business Development at Nokia, said:

"We are proud to have developed a service which is already highly valued. We believe that through this partnership with Pearson, a global industry leader in education, we can offer an exciting future for this service and its customers."

John Fallon, Chief Executive of Pearson's International Education business, said:

"China is the world's largest mobile phone market and the country with the largest number of people learning English. This is a great opportunity to combine Pearson's English language learning and wider educational services with the mobile technology capabilities of Nokia to meet this demand and help a larger number of people achieve their aspirations."

About Nokia

Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world's leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different ways - fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About Pearson

Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the global leader in education and education technology, reaches and engages today's digital natives with effective and personalized learning, as well as dedicated professional development for their teachers. This commitment is demonstrated in the company's investment in innovative print and digital education materials for preK through professional learning, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher development, career certification programmes, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Benjamin Cummings, the Stanford Achievement Test series, the Wechsler family of assessments, SuccessNet, MyLabs, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student at every level of education. Pearson's commitment to education for all is supported by the global charitable giving initiatives of the Pearson Foundation. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For more information, go to http://www.pearson.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

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"Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

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SOURCE Nokia Corporation