Nokia says new mobile email offer doing well

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia is looking to challenge Blackberry-maker Research in Motion's (RIM) dominance in mobile email as corporates cut spending amid economic slowdown and the market focus shifts towards retail consumers.

RIM created the market for mobile email and its dominant position in the corporate sector has protected it from Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

But a Nokia executive told Reuters the firm was seeing a good take-up of its new messaging service aimed at consumers.

"Clearly, things are heading towards the consumer market and that's where Nokia has its strength," Tom Furlong, head of Nokia's consumer messaging services, said.

RIM has lately focused on developing its consumer offering.

Nokia -- which controls close to 40 percent of the global cellphone market -- last month opened its Ovi email offering, targeting first-time email users, and a messaging service, which enables the user to combine many different emails into a cellphone.

"The service is up, people are utilising it, we are getting good traction and good follow up," Furlong said, adding the company expects to announce its first revenue-sharing agreements with operators for the messaging service within few months.

"With the Nokia messaging service, we are going after consumers, we are not going head-to-head with enterprise e-mail. We are trying to put mobile email to the masses, masses of people around the globe," he said.