Nokia Will Shut Ovi Email Service In Mainland China

Nokia has announced that starting from August 19, 2011, it will terminate its Ovi email and chat room services on the Chinese mainland.

Nokia said in emails sent to users that their mobile Ovi email accounts will be shut after August 19 and they will not be able to visit their Ovi emails or send new emails via these accounts. In addition, their history information in the Ovi emails will be deleted. For Ovi chat room users, they will not be able to use the chat room or the contacts application after August 19.

Nokia launched the Ovi email service in December 2008 and it mainly targets users in developing countries and regions. The service is reportedly open in over 180 countries and regions and it offered a Chinese-language interface from the beginning of 2010.

In September 2010, Stephen Elop replaced Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo to become the new chief executive officer of Nokia, and a series of adjustments were announced targeting Nokia’s company structure, smartphone operating platform, and mobile Internet strategy. On May 16, 2011, Nokia announced that it will give up its Ovi brand and all mobile application services named under Ovi will be renamed under the Nokia brand from July 2011.

Prior to this, Nokia announced plans to relocate its Ovi email service to the web email platform of Yahoo in April. In regards to users in China, Nokia said they will provide users with three ways to maintain their email records, including moving their emails and contacts to Tom Online with newly-registered @tom.cn email accounts; moving Ovi emails to other email accounts designated by users; or downloading these emails to the PCs of users.