More Filipinos will soon use mobile devices, rather than personal computers to access the Internet, new Nokia Philippines Inc. General Manager Benoit Nalin predicted.

Over 20 million Filipinos use the internet at present, versus more than 70 million Filipinos who own mobile phones. The gap is just too huge. Definitely, mobile devices will overtake the PC as the favored mode of accessing the internet, according to Nokia executives.

Hence, Nokia Philippines is already positioning itself for this shift. “I see the convergence of mobility and the internet creating big opportunities for us and a bright future for the Philippine market,” the new GM pointed out.

Already, 2 million Nokia users worldwide actively use the company’s free email service, ovimail , launched in May this year. A couple of months ago, Smart Communications Inc. signed a deal with Nokia to offer Nokia Messaging for its post-paid users with Nokia E75 handsets.

Now, over 1 million Smart post-paid users are accessing the internet via their mobile phones, says Jerome V. Almirante, head, Smart Value Added Services and Data Services, Wireless Consumer Division.

The Nokia Messaging service is currently available to Smart’s 300,000 to 400,000 post-paid users, on 40 Nokia handsets. They can subscribe to the service for up to 2 email accounts at the cost of P299 per month.

The service will be extended to all of Smart’s 39 million pre-paid subscribers by early 2010, he revealed.

Smart was the first operator to partner with Nokia for the service. “More and more customers, even non-business users are blooking for a reliable service that allows them to have e-mail pushed automatically to their handsets while on the move,” explained Danilo Mojica, Head of Smart’s Wireless Consumer Division.

“With just a single application on a mobile device, our customers can manage multiple email accounts, anytime, anywhere. They will enjoy a superior mobile email experience and remain connected easily,” he added.

Nokia Messagibing mobilizes email from thousands of internet and email service providers globally. Customers can have their personal email accounts pushed directly to their Nokia device such as Ovi, Yahoo.Mail, Gmail and Windows Live.