LinkedIn comes to full-touch Nokia Asha devices

This morning, Nokia Asha owners have one more reason to use the phone today. Nokia has announced that the popular professional networking site LinkedIn has just released an app for the full-touch versions of its Asha smartphones, making it even easier to stay in touch with colleagues and coworkers.

"LinkedIn for Nokia Asha essentially brings the most popular features of LinkedIn to an app built specifically for Asha touch devices," said LinkedIn's Giovanni Iachello, responsible for international product management. It's made up of four main features:

• Update Stream: Keep up to date with your network and access information about your industry. You can like, comment and share updates to stay in the loop with what's going on.
• Inbox: Accept connection requests and communicate with your contacts.
• Search: Search through the global network of over 225 million LinkedIn members. There's also a People You May Know feature, which suggests professionals you may know and want to connect with, based on your current contacts.
• Profile: Check out your own profile, and see who's been viewing you. You can reach out to them with a message or an invitation to connect.

We really wanted to design something for ambitious people on the go. What we always try to do with mobile applications is design something that's consistent with the user experience on the website itself, but something that's really useful for people in transit as well. If you're going into a meeting with somebody and want to look them up, it's easy to search and find out all about them from your Asha touch device. It's a way to reach our members in emerging markets, by offering a feature-rich app on devices that are readily available and affordable in many markets. It allows us to work where our members work.

LinkedIn for Asha smartphones is not just about existing members though, but also about attracting new members to the site. "If you're not a member you have the option to sign up and get started right away," adds Giovanni.

The app is compatible with Asha 305, 306, 308, 309, 310, and 311 devices, and is available in six different languages, including: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Asha owners can head over to Source #2 for the free download.