Nokia to Conduct World's First Chinese Character Short Message Demo

A customised Nokia 8110 handportable phone will be used as the receiving terminal in the demonstration. With a large dot matrix screen, it is ideal for Short Message handling. In the future top-end Nokia GSM phones sold in China will have Chinese Short Message Service - in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese- as a standard feature.

The user activates the Short Message Service by keying in a code. They then key in the message, and send. The short message will appear in the recipients phone if they have access to the service. The Short Message Service allows a more discreet transmission/receipt of information than a fax and also provides a much greater element of immediacy and mobility.

“The development of the Chinese Short Message Service underlines Nokia’s commitment to develop products tailored to the needs of the Chinese market. There is a huge potential for the service in China. There is already a large base of text pagers and services built on text paging so the usage pattern already exists. With the introduction of the latest innovation we are confident we will drive a dramatic growth in the use of Short Message services in the PRC,” said Mr Folke Alhback, Chief Representative, Nokia Beijing.

The Short Message Service can also be the source of a wide range of information. In other countries it is used for news updates, weather reports, banking applications and stock information, voice mail alerts and even sports results. In addition, there is vast potential for new business uses to be added around the service in the future.