Nokia and Pearson have formed a joint venture, Beijing Mobiledu Technologies, to help grow Nokia?s mobile device-delivered education service in China.

The two companies partnered to help the Mobiledu education program appeal to more consumers. Nokia said that it believes the combination of Pearson?s content and its Mobiledu service will offer an even more compelling proposition for customers and partners in the future.

?There is a strong demand for education services in China and Nokia believes that building a world-class mobile education service requires a combination of world-class mobile application skills and world-class education assets, which Nokia and Pearson together can bring to the new company,? said Eveliina Linderborg, a spokeswoman for Nokia, Espoo, Finland.

?Nokia is proud to have developed the Mobiledu service and is now excited to link up with education specialist Pearson to help develop Mobiledu to the next level of content,? she said.

?Now that mobile devices are connecting us in many ways beyond calls, Nokia has been leading and encouraging innovation around how mobile communications can help people solve everyday challenges, enhance learning opportunities and connect them to what matters most.?

Nokia is a manufacturer of mobile devices.

Pearson is a worldwide provider of educational services and technology. The company's brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Benjamin Cummings and the Stanford Achievement Test series.

On-the-go students
Mobiledu launched in China in 2007 as a mobile service that provides English-language learning materials and other content directly to wireless devices.

Consumers can access the content through an application preloaded on new Nokia handsets, or by visiting the service's mobile Web site, as well as other WAP portals in China.
 
Since its launch, Mobiledu has attracted 20 million subscribers in China, with 1.5 million people actively using the service each month.
 
Beijing Mobiledu Technologies, the new joint venture company, will combine Nokia and Pearson?s assets to deliver services to meet the high demand for education in China.

The new company will be headed by Angela Long, formerly head of Mobiledu at Nokia.

The Mobiledu service is targeted at young professionals between 20 and 35 years old who are seeking further career development.

Learning curve
Charles Goldsmith, head of corporate communications at Pearson, London, said mobile technology has a role in many forms of education, from delivering video to rural classrooms around the world to providing tutorials online to students on the go.

?Pearson believes in making its educational content available to people whenever and wherever they want it, so delivering such content through mobile telephony is an important part of that,? Mr. Goldsmith said.

?Pearson is device-neutral as to how consumers access its material, so our educational content is available through a variety of means,? he said. ?If consumers prefer to access our content through mobile phones, we will provide it to them in this way.?