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MWC: Ovi app store opens for business - soon
Published: 16 February, 2009
Tags >> App Store
Announcements from Mobile World Congress, which kicked-off this morning in Barcelona, are coming through thick and fast. One of the first off the press is confirmation from Nokia about its much-predicted application store. The "Ovi Store" will open in May and act as a one-stop shop for consumers to discover, purchase and install content for their Nokia/Symbian devices. This content will range from applications, games and videos to widgets, podcasts, location-based applications for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices. The Nokia N97, available in June, will be the first device to include the storefront - presumably as a pre-installed, dedicated application.
Keenly aware of the existing app stores already in the market from competing handset platforms -like the iPhone and Android - Nokia is differentiating Ovi Store by highlighting the strong personalisation credentials. This includes the user's ability to activate social discovery so that content enjoyed by their social network can be automatically 'surfaced' and made available for download and repeat consumption. While this is an undeniably cool feature, more interesting is Nokia's attempt to introduce a new definition of the verb 'surface': apparently meaning in this context to position more prominently within the application deck.
Sticking with the personalisation features, content will also be presented based on location so that consumers can access the most relevant applications wherever they are in the world.
Ovi Store will accept payment for content with a credit card or through operator billing; the latter method no doubt allowing the mobile operators to enjoy a share of the transactional revenue flowing over their network.
The store is expected to launch with an existing addressable device base in the tens of millions and Nokia hopes to grow the service to hit some 300 million consumers by 2012.
