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icrosoft Device Indonesia, the local arm of the Nokia smartphone maker, is collaborating with several local retail and services companies in order to improve services for its users and lure more customers.

The collaboration will give customers easy access to the services and products of different companies through the Nokia Store application.

Companies such as Citilink airline, food delivery service Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD) and web application service Domikado are among those currently developing apps to be made available in the Nokia Store.

PHD marketing manager Riri Hassan said that PHD'€™s upcoming Nokia Store app will offer a great service for hungry Nokia users.

'€œNokia understands the food delivery process, especially regarding time [efficiency]. That is why the company asked us to develop an app to improve and expand our service,'€ Riri said on Monday.

Additionally, local service Domikado is developing a World Cup app set to be available in the Nokia Store soon, which will provide users with updates on the upcoming international soccer tournament.

Other local companies that will develop apps for the Nokia app store include retailer 7-Eleven and state lender Bank Mandiri, with its eCash electronic payment.

Microsoft Device Indonesia'€™s president director, William Hamilton-Whyte, said that the Nokia Store app had received applications from more than 5,000 local developers, making the Indonesian market favorable for the smartphone maker.

'€œWe saw a 142 percent growth in locally made apps since our first Android-operated Nokia X phone launched in Indonesia in April. From there, we had no more doubts that the Nokia X series would do well here,'€ Hamilton-Whyte said on Monday at the public launch of the Nokia XL smartphone in Jakarta.

The Indonesian Nokia Store experienced a surge in the number of applications after the X series was launched, totaling 65,000 apps. Hamilton-Whyte commented that the X'€™s Indonesian launch was positively received and that it had generated '€œan enthusiasm that [Nokia] has not seen for a long time'€.

Elaborating on the XL smartphone, Hamilton-Whyte said that the phone is equipped with several Microsoft features, including an updated version of email service Microsoft Outlook, the company'€™s communications service Skype, as well as Microsoft'€™s cloud storage service, OneDrive.

Hamilton-Whyte described the company'€™s goal as '€œconnecting [...] Indonesians to the internet'€.

He emphasized that the recent purchase of Nokia in April by software giant Microsoft would not affect Nokia'€™s production and development, as the company will continue to create its line of feature phones and smartphones.

According to Microsoft Devices Indonesia'€™s product marketing manager, Wirda Haryany, the XL received a tremendous response and sold out when it was debuted at the Indonesia Cellular Show, which ran from June 4 to June 8. It will be available to the public from June 13.

The Nokia X series is Nokia'€™s first line of smartphones to use Android operating software. Two models from the series, the X and XL, have been released on the Indonesian market so far.

A third model, the X Plus, has yet to be released. (dyl)