Nokia has announced that it has signed sports broadcaster ESPN, games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) and children’s educational content provider Sesame Street as app partners for its Windows Mobile phones. The tie-ups are part of the company’s attempts to make up lost ground on competitors in the smartphone space.
At its annual Nokia World event in London, the handset manufacturer announced a partnership with ESPN and unveiled a new feature for its newly-launched Lumia Windows Phone devices: the ESPN Sports Hub. The hub, tailored specifically for Nokia’s Windows devices will provide sports fans access to football, tennis, racing, athletics, cricket and rugby data through their device. The application also provides real-time sport updates including live scores, news, statistics, schedules and results.
The tie-up with EA builds on the games manufacturers existing relationships with both Microsoft in the PC space and Nokia in the handset space. As a result of the deal, EA will tailor titles to the Nokia Windows Phone devices and plans to offer free games and demos, alongside paid-for games, on the platform as new titles are released.
The handsets will also contain a games hub, allowing users to access and edit their Xbox Live profile and play XMA-based Xbox Live Arcade games. However, the selection of games available for Windows Phone is still far fewer than iOS or Android, although Nokia said it plans to change that as more titles are released.
And Nokia is also targeting children as the launch of its Windows Phone devices sees a tie up with Sesame Street. Although it is famed for producing the much-loved children’s TV show since the late 1960s, Sesame Street’s core business is actually as a not-for-profit children’s educational charity. The deal with Nokia’s Windows Phones will see an array of apps aimed at helping kids read and write using the devices.
Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone devices at Nokia World on Wednesday, when it introduced the Lumia 800, targeted at the upper market segment with its 3.7 inch AMOLED curved display, 1.4 GHz processor, 16GB of internal user memory and a more affordable model for the masses, the Lumia 710.