Nokia today has joined forces with New Alliance, an investment company which is part of the Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd, to form a 50/50 joint venture company designed to offer a range of mobile services in China and support the local developer ecosystem.

The joint venture company will be called Nokia Alliance Internet Services Company Limited.

According to Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President of Services for Nokia, "China is the world's largest mobile and internet market. As Nokia is entering the services business in China, establishing this joint venture is a natural step to help us bring locally relevant mobile services to Chinese consumers. "

"Joining forces with New Alliance gives us the right platform and expertise to offer a suite of selected Nokia Ovi services - as well as work with local content developers to help bring their applications to market," Mr. Savander said.

Mr. Qu Liefeng from New Alliance said, "We are delighted to form this venture with Nokia. Given our wealth of local knowledge and experience, we believe that we are well placed to help develop the next level of mobile content and services in China."

The joint venture will open for business in January 2010 and involve approximately 80 people.