Nokia turns to chat to entice Indian consumers

Finnish phone maker Nokia is using the Nimbuzz chat app to engage with Indian mobile phone users, build its brand awareness and offer prizes and special offers to those wanting to upgrade from a feature phone to their first smartphone.

Nimbuzz-Windows-Phone-8-app-Photo-AFP

Finnish phone maker Nokia is using the Nimbuzz chat app to engage with Indian mobile phone users, build its brand awareness and offer prizes and special offers to those wanting to upgrade from a feature phone to their first smartphone.

For those that don't know, Nimbuzz is like a host of other messaging apps available on smartphones -- such as WhatsUp and Facebook Messenger -- however, it's built to work within the confines of the feature phone (but is also available as an Android and Windows Phone app) and, as such, it already boasts 150 million users globally and 25 million in India alone where it also has one of the most easily recognized brands in consumer technology.

The reason for the app's massive success is that it allows feature phone users to access a huge array of content, such as reviews, sports results, weather forecasts and horoscopes via 'chat'. Users simply subscribe to the 'chat buddies' that offer the information and the info that would appear on a smartphone graphically, either within a specific app or via the device's browser, appears in Nimbuzz like a text message. According to TechCrunch, which has been following the app and the company behind it for a number of years, there are even chat games such as Hangman.

Starting this week, Indian users will notice that they have a new Chat Buddy -- Nokia Lucky Sunday, who will be asking them quiz questions. Users with the most correct answers will enter a leaderboard system. Every Sunday the highest-scoring users will receive prizes with the top spot winning a smartphone. In order to take part in the competition, users need to opt into receiving advertising from Nokia and then hope that their general knowledge is up to scratch.