Nokia gearing up the market for OVI launch, believes 250 million will have Internet capability by 2010

Nokia’s OVI service which was supposed to be launched in Q1, 2008 has been delayed to Q2. But Nokia is trying to gear up the audience by throwing interesting numbers:

As per Nokia India head, India will have 500 million mobile consumers by 2010, out of which:

• 60 million mobile users will have video capability,
• 100 million music capability,
• 200 million radio capability,
• 250 million camera capability and
• 250 million with Internet capability.

[via BS]

What’s interesting to note is Nokia’s belief that 50% of Indian mobile users will have Internet capability by 2010.

But the basic qn. I am trying to understand is how many of them will have active Internet usage; and is that audience monetizable (by ovi?).

As of now:

• 50% Indians are still on ULCH (i.e. ultra low cost handsets) and the only app that works is sms.
• There are only 6.1mn GPRS connections out of 240mn+ mobile subs in India and as per another study, mobile Internet subscription is 14 times the broadband penetration.
• Prepaid connection comprise 85% of total subscriber base [via Future of Mobile VAS in India report]

Nokia has a clearly defined strategy in terms of it’s target segment and their distinct needs, i.e:

• 3 clusters of users – one, who will pay more and get more (50 million), second, value buyers (150 million) and third, will pay less and get less (the rest of the consumers).
• Consumption will largely be governed by ETC – E for entertainment and education, T for transport and C for communication.

What’s your take? Do you really believe in these numbers (i.e. 250 mn with Internet capability?)?

To add to the context, Airtel is testing 3G services at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.