Ovi Store loosens the leash a bit, allows re-downloads
One of the purely theoretical benefits of an on-device app store is that you don't need to worry about archiving and managing apps you've bought in the past -- your download and purchase histories are magically managed up in the cloud, and if you need anything again in the future, it's there waiting for you. After all, you've already bought and paid for the goods -- the least they can do is let you grab the software at your leisure, right? Well, Nokia's Ovi Store has suffered more than its fair share of growing pains as it seeks to take the unified app management strategy to S60 and Series 40, and one of the biggest pain points has been the Store's iron-clad unwillingness to let folks download their stuff a second time; that's finally being fixed, though, and it seems that the new policy has apps tied to a user's account rather than the device itself, which is exactly how it should be. Things seem to be a bit wonky at the moment -- not all content can be re-downloaded and getting the re-downloads to even work at all requires a delicate balance of "right" software and hardware -- but it's a step in the right direction.
