“Vespa Rider” Races for Nokia against Androids in Beijing

Adam Guli, a 35-year-old social media entrepreneur who commutes across Beijing on a Vespa scooter, is giving Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) a ride in its race against Android handsets and Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone in China.

With a directory of a million restaurants, clubs and other consumer businesses in the country, Guli’s Let’s Powwow is among content providers Nokia is counting on to attract users in the world biggest wireless market. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is paying the two-year-old startup to create a Windows Phone application that Guli says is on a recommended software list as Nokia’s Lumia handset made its debut in China.

“We have, I’m quite sure, the largest force of people who work with developers here in China over any of the other ecosystems,” Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said yesterday in Beijing, where he unveiled versions of Lumia based on Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s software.

Elop added “We have been focused on making sure the locally relevant applications get a lot of attention.”

As many as 140 million smart phones will be sold in China this year, an increase of more than 80 percent, pushing the country past the U.S. as the world’s largest market for the devices, according to researcher Gartner Inc, as Bloomberg stated.

Local directory services integrated with maps are among applications that may give Lumia phones an edge and justify a higher price, particularly in sprawling cities such as Beijing.