Mail.ru Group and Nokia announced yesterday the launch of a special version of Nokia’s web browser for Nokia Series 40 mobile phones. These mid-tier feature phones, which inlude the Nokia 2700, X2-00, 5130, C3-00, 6700, 6303 and 21 other models, enjoy strong popularity in Russia, notes Telecom Daily, a Russian online publication covering telecom and IT issues.
The browser integrates the popular mail, social networking, and news aggregation services of Mail.ru Group. Among its strong points are a convenient interface optimized for small screens as well as a data compression technology that reduces data traffic and related expenses.
This latter feature has been responsible for the popularity of Opera Mini, another mobile web browser used by 17 million Russians monthly.
“The mobile Internet represents the future. This is a strategic direction for us,” commented Mail.ru Group’s Strategic Projects VP Anna Artamonova.
The London Stock Exchange listed Mail.ru Group operates a variety of Internet sites, but had not previously affirmed itself strongly in the mobile sector.
