China Gets ESL Material via Mobile Phone, Thanks to Pearson, Nokia

Publishing group Pearson and phone maker Nokia (News - Alert) know a good opportunity when they see it. They're partnering to sell English-language learning materials to mobile phone users in China, the country with more English learners than in any other country, according to Reuters (News - Alert).

“The new joint venture, named Beijing Mobiledu Technologies, builds on a service that Nokia launched in 2007, providing content from a variety of publishers, which so far has about 20 million subscribers and 1.5 million active users each month,” Reuters officials said.

Pearson owns the world's largest education publishing business as well as the Financial Times (News - Alert) and Penguin books. Last year, it bought Wall Street English. This is what's known as “one heck of a beachhead” in the Chinese ESL market.

According to reports at the time, in April 2009 Pearson acquired Wall Street English for $145 million in cash from parent company Wall Street Institute, majority-owned by global private equity firm The Carlyle Group.

Wall Street English was launched in 2000, and at the time of purchase taught approximately 35,000 students at 39 company-owned training centers in seven cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Pearson entered the English language training market in China in 2008 through the acquisitions of Learning Education Center and Dellenglish.

The delivery system of mobile phones makes sense: There are 720 million mobile subscribers in China, more than double the number of Internet users. 

Recently, Softpedia has reported that Nokia N97 has received a software update.

“The high-end Nokia N97 has just been updated to v21.0.045 (RM-505), or 21.2.045 (RM-507), depending on the region a user lives in,” but that “N97 owners in China won't enjoy the new software just yet, it seems, but it shouldn't be too long before it arrives on their devices too,” company officials said.