Nokia's Ovi Store said to be launching with 20,000 'items,' unknown number of apps
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 8th 2009 8:51AM
posted May 8th 2009 8:51AM
posted May 8th 2009 8:51AM
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I'm not paying $6.7 for tetris.
It's only 4.99 on the Apple APP store. Again, the iphone wins.
And your face loses....
i think 20,000 is a BIG number for ovi... since Symbian doesn't need apps to enable basic functions such as copy/past within apps (like iPhone)
looking forward to the content at ovi
most of 40,000 iPhone's apps are nothing when it comes to real application. enabling a function that iPhone should have is no big deal. any how if it means something to others. we'll be happy to have 20,000 coz we have every basic function that we require (copy/past, mms, bluetooth)
Attracted Rhyme:
Although somewhere around 90% of all the apps on the App store are worthless, the top 500 or so are great, and the best couple dozen are very unique. The iPhone does not need apps to enable regular features. All the primary features like Copy/Paste, MMS, Bluetooth, etc are all native in the new OS.
As a former winmo developer turn iPhone user, I'd have to say that although Nokia may not have the dough like Microshit, they do have the experience and the practical know how. Their software platform 'just works' and like Apple, many API features have been thought out and vetted. They might have a chance if they don't get side swiped. Then again GEOS was way ahead of Microshaft compared to Windows 3.1 as was Netscape to IE and we all know what happens there... :(
Erm, what? Netscape was ahead of IE? Not really.
Yeah really. I guess unless you were a developer you may have missed it. There was this thing in the news too under the headline if antitrust lawsuite. Then there is debacle of M$ crippling Java. That sucked for developers too, cost us dearly in time, effort.
Believe it or not, we developers still struggle with non standards issues with Microshaft (png support, javascript DOM issues, the list goes on).
You need to upgrade from at least IE 3 or 6 to 7... Please!!!
@dfg: He's referring to the time before IE4, when Netscape was dramatically ahead of Microsoft's crappy browser (which wasn't really Microsoft's at that point, having been bought from some crappy little company).
I had a summer job at Microsoft and most of the employees used Netscape.
It was then that Microsoft rewrote most of it with a new browser engine; the combination of not being crappy, and (by that point) being pushed on every new PC, ensured they were finally able to take a massive lead.
Ah, the nostalgia... To remember when you could use phrases like 'not being crappy' (relative to the competition) about *any* Internet Explorer version... and that was about IE 4...!
Exactly sam, that's what I meant: IE did *not* kill Netscape because MS used some evil tactics, but because starting from 4.0, IE was just better. I am aware that this only lasted until Firefox was released.
Ah the nostalgia of netscape :) Remember back in the late 90s using netscape at school. It was number one browser in our school PCs here in Finland. Opera was second choice.
"Microshit" "M$" "Microshaft"
Steveorevo, this is why your opinion doesn't matter.
symbian sucks shit
@dfgddfgdfg
IE killed netscape because it was not only FREE, but it was the default installed browser on all new computers.... Clearly can't compete with that in those days..
Ok, but how many of those 40,000 iPhone "apps" are fart noise makers, screen blankers ("flashlights"), repackaged websites and ebooks?
yeah, and besides, no matter how many apps you have, that iphone still cannot multitask like symbian OS...
Seriously, no multitasking = saving battery? Facepalm apple...
Haha, yeah. How many of the games on the Apple App Store are just reskinned Mafia variants?
40,000 apps and most of them are utter shit.
Hey come on, apps which fart are awesome, noooooooot.
Have you ever tried remote desktop with pinch and squeez and two finger tap for right clickng? That alone is a sys admins wett dream, sorry but that Apple app alone makes the entire platform worth it. WinMo's implementation is like reading moby dick through a microscope slide... Total joke.
Why do you keep jabbering about WinMo? Because you were stupid enough to be a developer for the platform? Too bad. No one cares. This has nothing to with WinMo. The post is about Apple and Nokia!
Agree. Totally.
but you know that the Iphone is so much better then... well everything.. right? /endsarcasm
Where Apple have the edge over everyone else - beyond the slickness of their whole platform - is the fact that developers only need to worry about one screen resolution - and even if Apple drop an iPhone 'Nano' this summer, chances are, it will retain the aspect ratio of it's larger brother(s). If I develop an app that looks great on the N97, how will it fair on an E71 or an N95? Or to be more realistic, on any forthcoming devices from Nokia that differ in spec from the N97. For developers, quantity of installed units counts. If Nokia sell over 10 million N97s, then it will be worth developing for either way as a stand alone platform.
An app developed for Nokia N97 will work on both the n97 and 5800 because they are both s605th devices, if you want support for n95 and e71 which use s603rd, then you'll have to develope for s603rd devices first and then port to s605th which is as simple as renaming few API's. Infact S605th features backward compatibility for s603rd apps.
Scalable vector graffics?
That's a valid point, yet the N97 has the same OS and screen res as the 5800 (with near 5 million sold). So around mid-summer it will have the 10 million devices w the same platform.
Pictures like that make me want to like the N97. But I can't, I just made a rather lengthy post on some random blog, so I'll spare everyone here the 1000 word diatribe.
Why is Nokia releasing a high end phone with a lackluster processor/gpu combo, resistive touchscreen, mediocre camera, and somewhat flaky Symbian S60 5th edition? Now I know on the OS they don't have a choice, and their Symbian Foundation OS is likely a ways off, so 5th edition is their stop-gap solution, but the other three seem somewhat inexcusable.
I mean, is it any wonder you can pre-order one right now unlocked for 450 dollars? Nokia knows they don't have a killer product, and will likely be outsold in the US market by the Samsung model that runs S60 with better hardware and more features, not to mention the Pre and 3rd gen iPhone. I no longer trust the future of Symbian as a platform or Nokia as a high end phone manufacturer.
Why the CPU? Battery life.
Why the resistive screen? Asian character input (big market for Nokia) and ability to use it whilst wearing gloves (important in Finland!)
Why the 5MP camera? It's main competitor has a 2MP camera, possibly 3.2MP in the unannounced new version.
Of course it will be outsold in the US. That's not their primary market. Will it be outsold by the likes of the Pre worldwide? I doubt it.
Nokia is building up its services, not so much its devices. They have actually been doing this since before the iPhone's App store. A few years ago they bought that company that wrote the software enabling synchronization of Nokia phones with PCs and Yahoo! contacts/data services. N-Gage game service is another leg of the stool. Their music content delivery service is a 3rd leg. And a Symbian app store would be a fourth leg. That makes a 4-legged stool.
Anyway, I personally think it's a good strategy to take for Nokia. I think people underestimate the importance of the iTunes Store in the success of the iPhone OS 2.0+. All that work put into the iTunes Store, not only technically and in terms of the user experience and cultivating a relationship with consumers, really helped Apple make the App store and the app purchasing / installation process work pretty much flawlessly. Where Apple has had a hard time is in the areas where they didn't have prior experience: online data synchronization (push e-mail, MobileMe), updating the entire user base's cellular data networking firmware at once, and the app approval system.
If anything, the success of the iPhone shows that you don't need cutting edge hardware to make a successful phone, but rather an optimized UI, functional content delivery and networking services, and if possible a large pre-existing user base (like iPod owners) who are familiar with all of that.
It also seems worth mentioning that the primary hardware feature on the N97 is the thumb-board. As long as Apple insists on the all touchscreen design, there's a way to nudge into the mobile services market with a hardware keyboard design. There is absolutely no doubt that a well designed hardware keyboard will always work better than a touchscreen keyboard and that a significant number of people will prefer it, IMO.
Look it's a nice phone, it just isn't really stacking up in the US for end buyers who have to pay unsubsidized prices. I don't care if a phone works well in China, because I don't write in Mandarin. I hate to be a jerk, but if Nokia becomes a non-starter in the US, they lose their ability to compete in other first world nation because all the applications that people need are made for other platforms. We're already starting to see companies that used to recommend Blackberries and WM let employees use iPhones because they have apps those people want to use. I'm really not trying to be mean and if you like the phone ignore me and buy it, but I feel like Nokia is betting on their ability to produce a good platform to combat Palm/Apple/Microsoft, and I'm sorry, they just are not going to be able to do it.
"Look it's a nice phone, it just isn't really stacking up in the US for end buyers who have to pay unsubsidized prices."
The only people who think a $200 iPhone is cheaper than a $500 unlocked Nokia are the ones who don't know the massive difference in pricing for AT&T's data plans depending on whether you get an unsubsidized phone vs. a subsidized one.
This is probably due to their parents paying for their data plans.
@nick
The 450 $ deal was a glitch. The cheapest you can get it is 630 before tax and shipping. I WISH I had jumped on the glitch bandwagon because they are honoring those that purchased it at the time.
Tim, it's definitely a good question, but let's look at this with the Jamsters et al. in the mix -- if Ovi Store is truly a one-stop shop for apps *and* ringtones, wallpapers, videos, music, and pretty much anything you'd want to add to your phone, this is going to be great platform for users. Well, as long as the categorizations are clear and easy to use.
Wow!!! my life after Apple is really gonna be exciting. I pre-ordered the Nokia N97 earlier on today for under $500 thanks to Engadget and a guy named Lee, my Dell Studio Xps 16 would be knocking on my door next week, Windows 7 would soon be released and Nokia Ovi Store is gonna be launched with 20,000 items... WoooHooo am the luckiest guy in the world... w0000000000t!!!!! am so excited. Am also feeling horny...
If only you could just order a women?
There is multitasking in iPhone, iTunes, mail, text messages, and now 'push' in 3.0. it's just mostly reserved for Apple apps. in 2.0, Instead of poorly written viruses, err 'applications' that would otherwise degrade the phone, crash the phone, and or take away from the 'it just works' functionality. Apple goes further with this thing called 'developer guidelines'. It's not something you'll find as refined in WinMo. The plus is faster development, less rules and quality control to follow, you (will soon) get alot of apps for WinMo when M$ starts a App store knock off. Right now you have to get all your crappy apps from shady third parties. Soon there will be the same poorly written apps but you get to pay a percentage to M$ and get the same award winning quality. But you'll get slot of 'shit' for your money! Hackers will love it, it's so easy to modify (think tripped out hyndai with neon lights). Users with taste, not so in love -they still like BMWs... Err, quality.
if it can do this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px9qFqgv7zc), then its bullshit!!!
It's said to be 8.000+ applications with about 80% free or below 5€, so I would say this is looking really good, also for existing Nokia owners.
I've heard something like that too. Doesn't sound bad for a start imho...
I have the e71-1 which btw is the best phone I've ever had imho. And yes, I've had iPhone 3G, and my girlfriend has the blackberry 8900 and the e71-1 imo is better than both. so I'm looking forward to this, I just hope they get it right this time, I don't want to see another "download" variant.
I wonder can all third party apps created for the apple store be resold on this platform? Do the apple dudes make you sign something to prohibit this? Bet they dont now but "will"! Steve www.call15.com
I think the bigger issue is that I doubt Symbian and iPhone OS (crippled Mac OS X) are compatible software-wise.
Nothing stopping app developers from recoding their apps for multiple platforms, of course... it happens already, there are apps that are available for both iPhone and WinMo or whatever.
how desperate n weak .
Nokia including songs as part of 20000?
Pathetic ,they r seriously hurting.
Their app store knock off is a fail!
which version of symbian will the apps support?
Hopefully, if they include the aps from MOSH days, they will go through them and remove the once that is not to great
Have high hopes for OVI though
As a former symbian developer, NOKIA said it pretty clear :"WE DON'T WANT YOU APP". Truly, Symbian Signed process is really awful, the evaluation proccess can take many months (in some cases 6 months), it is not for free... and you can be rejected then must start all over (and pay again).
The Nokia Store is only for Nokia and their very best friends.
Seems like Nokia has a ton of friends then...
I hope they dont screw this up, first they should give away a few freebies , maybe a few free games.
The current store is horrible, they just recently changed it to the know difference from free apps and trial apps.
All of the apps are horrible, nokia tries to charge for everything , all of this Jamster stuff, remember them? screaming over your tv set to get cool new ring tones on your phone? yeah never in my life. Guess who owns jamster? Verisign, the security company.
Quality of apps? Irrelevant - all stores will end up with the same percentage of "crappy" apps, no matter how you define "crappy".
Number of apps in store at launch? Somewhat important, but only in the short term, for creating an impression that your device has been "accepted" by consumers.
Number of device buyers? Number of devs? Pricing structure? Not that important.
Monetary returns to dev - ah, now *that* is the important thing. All modern smartphone platforms are going to live or die based on third-party software, and the quality and amount of third-party software hinges totally on the returns to devs. If a platform can't show devs good returns at the start, then watch the platform stagnate and die.
Er, "accepted" by *devs*, not consumers. Monday morning typo.