The BBC World Service provides news content to more people across the globe, and has launched a series of new apps tailored for Nokia devices, allowing mobile owners to receive news updates in 11 different languages. So, not everyone using an iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy SIII then? hardly surprising given one of these devices could cost you a large chunk of your annual income in some countries! The story is a reminder of taking into account local market requirements and using a toolkit to develop solutions for them.

The article tells us

The BBC World Service apps will feature content from the following BBC websites: BBC Arabic, BBC Brasil (in Portuguese), BBC Chinese, BBC Hindi, BBC Indonesia, BBC Mundo (in Spanish), BBC Russian, BBC Turkce, BBC Ukrainian, BBC Urdu and BBC Vietnamese.

Users of the Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic apps will receive news content but will also be able to listen to radio bulletins.

It’s a big move for the BBC, particularly as Nokia has sold more than 675 million Series 40 handsets to date. While the company’s smartphone sales dwindle, its feature phone business has continued to prop up its balance sheet.

Ah, feature phones. Remember them? You should! Don't forget that Oracle Application Development Framework solution for feature phones too: Mobile Browser. So, don't ignore a huge market segment and opportunity to grow your business by disregarding feature phones when Oracle makes it easy  for you to develop mobile solutions for a full range of devices and users! Let's remind ourselves of the different mobile toolkit solutions offered by Oracle or coming soon that makes meeting the users of global content possible.

Mobile Development with ADF Mobile
(Oracle makes no contractual claims about development, release, and timing of future products.)

All that said, check out where the next big markets for mobile apps is coming from in my post on Blogos: Where Will The Next 10 Million Apps Come From? BRIC to MIST.