Emerging countries are ripe opportunities for smartphone application developers. That’s the word from Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (News - Alert), who is trying to drive innovation on that front through the Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge.

 

In a speech this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Kallasvuo explained the challenge is aimed at spur those who develop services, hardware and software to target markets in which incomes as $5 of less per day. Nokia (News - Alert) pledges to make a $1 million investment in the business idea of the winner of the Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge.

 

Nokia has already made clear the importance of emerging markets to its strategy. It has developed a $32 phone, the Nokia 1616, aimed at this space. It’s also created applications such as Life Tools, which enables farmers in India and Indonesia to access crop prices and weather forecasts wirelessly. Nokia Money, meanwhile, is a mobile banking app the company is just getting off the ground that lets users send, spend and store money on their mobile.