Microsoft announced late September 2 that it would be acquiring Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia’s handset division in a $7.2 billion deal. Most of ThemeReflex followers worry about the future of Nokia Asha series and other feature phones. ThemeReflex providing themes for Nokia Asha series and Series 40 devices. We have changed the low-level Series40 devices look and feel to high-level style and widgets. Mostly, we designed flash lite enabled theme with different stylish and beautiful clocks, weather widgets, battery and signal indicator and device information themes.
Unfortunately, from last one year now Nokia has dropped the Flash lite support on their Nokia Asha and other Series40 devices, so we are still working on interactive theme and also providing the static themes for non-flash lite screensaver phones.

Asha, feature phones and the future

Timo Toikkanen, the head of Mobile phone said regarding the Microsoft-Nokia deal “It’s important to realize that this is not just big news for Nokia, but this is big for Microsoft, too. It is bringing in a new strategy and creating a family of devices and services designed to succeed in today’s marketplace.”

“Nokia Mobile Phones is an attractive asset to Microsoft in many ways.” Mr. Timo Tikkanen said in a interview with Nokia Conversation. “Nokia is in fact the word people use to say “mobile phone” in a lot of countries, and Microsoft has purchased the license to the Nokia brand for the ten years.” he added.

Recently Nokia introduced an elegant addition to the range, the Nokia 515. The Nokia 515 is a classic mobile phone made with premium materials and offering high performance. “The device has received a very warm welcome by the media and consumers alike. The same goes for the super affordable Nokia 105, which is real hit with consumers; just last month, we sold more than a million 105s in India alone. In the Asha family, devices like the Nokia Asha 201, Nokia Asha 200 and Nokia Asha 205 hold the first three positions in India, Middle-East and Africa. And the Nokia Asha 201 has been the top-selling phone in South Africa for past five months.” Timo Toikkanen said.

Nokia 515

The big question in the interview is that “Why developers should continue developing for the new Nokia Asha platform and Series 40?”

Timo Toikkanen replied “Today, there are 1.3 billion people using a Nokia phone, many of them benefiting from applications created by thousands of developers around the globe. We don’t plan to change that, as the need for apps will continue. It’s also proven to be successful: in fact, more than 400 apps developers have surpassed the one million download mark through Nokia Store.”

He said “This is a fantastic opportunity for developers. When we launched the Nokia Asha 501 last May, we said it was the first of a family of devices that will come to the market based on a new user interface, based on what we call FastLane. This will continue and we will see more innovation coming from that front, so stay tuned.”

Nokia Store have billing agreements with more than 160 operators in over 60 countries. That is a tremendous advantage for developers, where their apps can be bought quickly and simply, charged directly to people’s monthly phone bill. This is particularly important for markets where credit cards are not widely used.