The grandiose product launch, held at Silvercity in Ortigas complex, was attended by top officials of Nokia Philippines and Smart Communications, particularly MediaQuest officials Orlando "Doy" Vea and Benjie Fernandez.
Though technically a Nokia event, the glitzy launch was co-hosted by Smart since the operator will be the first to offer the N96 to subscribers for its mobile TV service.
Smart launched its mobile TV brand, dubbed MyTV, in July last year but has been offering it for free up to now because the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) hasn’t released any guidelines yet on mobile TV in the Philippines.
At the launch event, brochures were distributed bearing the words "mobile TV subscription to be billed separately." But Fernandez clarified that this provision will take effect only upon the NTC’s issuance of the rules.
The N96, successor to the highly successful N95 "mini-computer," is the third mobile TV model that Nokia has rolled out in the country after the N92 and N77. These phone models are all offered by Smart, with its subscribers having the extra benefit of having mobile TV as a free value-added service — at least for now.
As the Finnish firm’s new flagship phone, the N96 is also being positioned as a high-end model with a price of R40,800.
The new unit has a 2.8-inch screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory, and is compatible with a range of video formats, including Windows Media.
It also features a five-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, integrated Wi-Fi support, assisted-GPS navigation, and preinstalled N-Gage application.
Source : http://www.mb.com.ph/
