The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said on Tuesday more than 1 million of its Ovi email accounts had been opened since the service started in December last year.

Nokia, which controls close to 40 percent of the global cellphone market, is targeting first-time email users, mostly in emerging markets, with its Ovi email service.

It said the top five countries for subscribers were India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.

Blackberry-maker Research in Motion created the market for mobile email, and its dominance has thwarted Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

Research in Motion said it had 28.5 million subscribers at end May.

(Reporting by Eva Lamppu, editing by Will Waterman)

Mexico Russia South Africa India