Beijing Mobiledu Technologies to provide English-language learning and related services
London and Espoo, Finland – Nokia, 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."
