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Nokia updates N97 with free Ovi Maps, just as promised
It was only a week ago when Nokia shook us with its free turn-by-turn navigation update, but the poor old N97 got left out in the cold. Not any more though, folks! In fact, the new Ovi Maps for N97 was delivered one day earlier than promised, and can be found "through the software update client in the device." Thanks, Nokia, but don't forget your N900 fans, too. [Thanks, @old_no_7uk]
Nokia Ovi Maps with free turn-by-turn navigation hands-on
Now that we've heard the big news from Nokia's London press event, it's only natural to get our hands dirty with the upgraded Ovi Maps. The preloaded map does indeed load much quicker than its old network counterpart, and hey, did we mention it's free too? Enjoy the photos and video after the break with your breakfast. %Gallery-83599%
Nokia Ovi press event this Thursday, 'big news' promised
If you're a Nokia lover who is currently jealous of all the Apple fans and their current state of delicious expectation, we're happy to say that now you too can savor a little anticipation. Nokia is sending out invitations to an event this Thursday, January 21, indicating it will "share some big news with you." Well, not with you exactly, but rather with us media-types, and you can be sure we will then pass it along posthaste. But what will Nokia be sharing? We hate to spoil the fun, but we can't imagine it'll be anything other than the revamped Ovi Store the company has been talking up lately -- that said, we're always up for a surprise.
Nokia's Maemo Ovi Store looking rickety, 'beta' label well-deserved
Bugs are to be expected in brand-new apps and platforms -- particularly when they're clearly marked with a "beta" sign -- but it starts to get a little hairier when there's money involved. One of the early crowd favorites in Nokia's Ovi Store for Maemo appears to be the game Angry Birds, which is available with a €3 level pack -- problem is, plenty of folks have discovered a way around actually paying the cash, which becomes a big problem for the developer very, very quickly. The level pack has since been removed, probably the best move until Nokia can figure out what's going on here and issue a patch. In the meantime, looks like it's back to the ol' repositories.
Nokia's Ovi Store now available on AT&T, still not competitive
As revealed by Ralph de la Vega at AT&T's CES Developer Summit this morning (liveblog here) and singled out by CNET, Nokia's flailing and heretofore not-available-on-AT&T Ovi Store is finally available on Ma Bell, complete with direct billing. As of today, Nokia users can snag the usual assortment of apps, games, and ringtones and have the purchases billed directly to their mobile carrier. CNET reports that Nokia devices like "E71x, the Surge, the Mural, the 6650, the 6555, and the 6350" are working today and that "more [Nokia] devices soon coming to AT&T's network will be able to access the Ovi Store." Next step: Make it an experience worth visiting!
Nokia taking Ovi Store criticism to heart, planning revamped version to rival App Store
Not quite sure if you've noticed, but some pretty significant shifting is going on in the heart of Espoo. Just days after Nokia announced that it would be closing up its flagship shops in London, New York and Chicago, in flies this: a new Ovi Store is already in the works, and if all goes well, it'll be available for public use as early as next Spring. For those keeping tabs, that's right around a year after the (admittedly tumultuous) launch of the existing platform, which has yet to live up to the firm's own expectations according to George Linardos. In case you're wondering (and c'mon, you're wondering), Mr. Linardos is the head of products at Nokia's media group, and in speaking with the Financial Times, he confessed that the Ovi Store "had been outpaced by Apple." He also admitted that the chorus of complaints from end-users were driving the next version, noting that his company has "screens up in [their] offices running Twitter feeds [of gripes] all day long." In fact, he likened the act to "sitting there and getting punched in the face." As for the next go 'round, he's looking to take a "tortoise and hare" approach when it comes to competing with Apple, who he himself claims "radically changed" the world around us when the App Store was introduced. As it stands, George sees the Ovi Store as a "jambalaya" of services, with Ben Wood -- an analyst at CCS Insight -- proclaiming that "none of those [work] properly." In the future, Ben has confessed that Ovi needs "to get all their ducks lined up, including hardware, software and services." So, what exactly will said ducks look like early next year? We're told that new features will include "in-application payments, a redesigned user interface that makes apps easier to discover and faster operation," and beyond that, the outfit is also looking to toss in recommendations based on the app purchases of their friends. This is definitely stirring stuff to hear from someone deep within Nokia's lairs, and it certainly makes us all the more excited to see what the next generation will bring. Nothing like a little competition in the market place to really light a fire up under someone's posterior, right?
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.
Nokia's Ovi Software Development Kit released to invited and excited Javascripters
Nokia's Ovi Store launched in late May -- and then promptly crashed. The company has long-since gotten everything working smoothly and so is now so confident about its stability that it's letting other developers in on the party. Coders proficient in HTML, CSS, and Javascript can apply for access to the beta SDK, invitations for which are being doled out right now. The navigation-focused kit includes a number of UI widgets and controls that will help any 'ol app sport the clean, understated Nokia look, as well as things like the Ovi Navigation Player API, which makes nav-related apps much easier to get up and running. Nokia's not giving any indication of just how long the line at the door is or what criteria it's using to judge who gets past the red velvet rope into this shin-dig, but we'd recommend at least a shave and a clean shirt before applying. Vids excitedly discussing this wondrous new world are embedded below.[Via Nokia Conversations]
Ovi Files magically metamorphoses into free service
Originally priced at $80 a year for a 10GB bucket, Nokia's online storage venture -- Ovi Files, formerly Files on Ovi -- has now converted into a free service. Presumably pressured by a variety of free services that operated in the same vein, Nokia's move gives phone users (and not just those on S60, either) a particularly economical way to get back to files stored on their PC and store a whole bunch of stuff in the cloud that can be accessed even when the PC's off. Existing users who had paid are apparently having their subscriptions refunded, so yeah, high-fives all around -- we know better than to bite the hand that's feeding us 10 free gig.[Via Symbian-Guru]
Ovi Maps graduates from beta
Following a beta kickoff late last year, Ovi Maps -- the latest iteration of Nokia Maps -- is now final and ready for download. It's a pretty big upgrade from the product it replaces, bringing 3D landmarks, higher-resolution satellite imagery available in both 2D and 3D modes, a wider variety of point-of-interest information for destinations, integrated weather forecasts, enhanced pedestrian and automotive turn-by-turn navigation modes, and -- a biggie for yankees -- real-time traffic information for the US. It's a big, worthwhile spec bump, and by our count, it's currently compatible with 26 S60-based Nokia devices; owners of some recent phones (the E51, for example) will be disappointed to see that they're being left behind in the old Nokia Maps realm, but who knows -- maybe some sweet-talking (or fit-throwing) would help the situation.
N-Gage trials make the leap to the Ovi Store
Nokia's Ovi Store duplicates one of N-Gage's main lots in life -- to serve as an over-the-air distribution channel of paid and trial apps -- and in the long term, it certainly seems to make sense that Espoo would be looking to merge the two initiatives into one. The company hasn't announced anything to the effect just yet (and even if it did, it'd have to find some creative way to duplicate N-Gage's social aspect), but it's now taken one small step by porting game trials over to the Ovi Store. If you want the full game you'll still need to buy it using the N-Gage app, so the maddening duality of Nokia's software strategy still basically continues as-is for the time being -- let's just hope this is a promising sign of things to come.[Via Phone Arena and ZOMG its CJ]
Nokia's N86 8MP now shipping worldwide
Just under two months. That's how long it took Nokia's N86 8MP to go from FCC to store shelves here in America, as the cats in Espoo have just announced to the world that the aforementioned cellphone is now shipping globally. In case you've forgotten, this 8 megapixel slider touts variable aperture, a mechanical shutter and automatic motion blur reduction, not to mention 8GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot. There's no official mention of price, and as of right now, the phone's not even listed on Nokia's American e-store; still, based on early estimates, we'd say you best break out the bank just in case.
Nokia's Ovi Store overwhelmed at launch, apology issued
Where's the fail whale when you need it, right? Early yesterday morning, Nokia flipped the switch on its Ovi Store, claiming that it's app market would potentially reach some 50 million users around the world. Unfortunately for Nokia, it seems as if all 50 million attempted to check things out at the same time. Web-wide, users were griping that things just weren't working out, and we're not talking about small packets of flustered users. In fact, Nokia was forced to admit that "shortly after launching, it began experiencing extraordinarily high spikes of traffic that resulted in some performance issues," and judging by reactions, we'd say "some" is now a front-runner for understatement of the year. Have things smoothed over for you today? Are you even bothering to check? Update: Nokia has apologized for the gaff and has reportedly added server capacity to handle the demand. Question is: is the fix working?
Nokia Ovi Store now live everywhere
We've just gotten word that Nokia has officially flipped the switch on the Ovi Store everywhere, which means you lucky Aussies, Irish, and Singaporeans just lost your coveted exclusivity. Nokia recommends that you hit up store.ovi.com from your phone's browser to start pumping thousands of euros into Espoo's (and, of course, developers') pockets, so get to it, won't you? Seriously, the economy isn't going to stimulate itself.
Nokia's Ovi store makes soft landing in a few markets, might be headed to your neck of the woods soon
With that May launch window closing fast, it looks like Nokia might get Ovi Store in under the proverbial wire: it just went live on Vodafone in Australia, which was soon followed by other carriers, and then Ireland and Singapore. According to a post that was subsequently pulled from Nokia's Conversations blog, Nokia confirmed the rollout and said that it was progressively moving the Ovi Store to "production servers," and that we could "expect a broader announcement and consumer availability soon." Unfortunately, since that post has been pulled, we're not really sure what to expect, but at least the lucky few with Ovi can beam back important missives on their Twittix apps about what life is like in the future. Above are shots of the store live on an N97.
Nokia responds to Ovi Share rumors, service effectively on ice
There's been some chatter today that an earlier Reuters report -- stating that investment in Nokia's Ovi Share service has been halted -- was false, so we reached out to Nokia for an official comment. In essence, it looks like Reuters was correct; a Washington-based office working on Ovi Share services is set to be shuttered, and while the media-sharing system will continue on in its current state, no further development is planned. It can be a little tricky to read through the corporate-ese, but the bottom line appears to be that Nokia's preferring to drop time, energy, and cash into building out its third-party APIs that allow more established sharing services to plug into Ovi rather than trying to pimp its own service; makes sense, really, since there are plenty already in the game and there's not much sense in Nokia trying to win. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, as they say. Follow the break for the official statement.
Nokia loses carrier billing for US Ovi Store launch
Nokia needs to pull out all the heavy artillery -- major device launches, carrier support, impressive software, and a seamless user experience -- if it wants the Ovi Store to succeed on a grand scale, and by all accounts, they're serious about making that happen with the recent integrations of MOSH and WidSets. Here's the thing, though: for many, direct carrier billing could be a big part of that "seamless user experience" thing, and recognizing that, Nokia had planned to offer it from the get-go in the US (along with eight other countries) when it launches next month. That's now been called off for the States for an undisclosed reason -- carriers around here are notoriously finicky in their relationships with manufacturers and we wouldn't be surprised if it all came down to a few heated boardroom discussions with the big wigs -- but whatever the cause, users will need to roll with a less-integrated payment option to start. Of course, alternatives from RIM, Apple, and Android aren't offering carrier billing here either -- but this was a cool opportunity to get a leg up, so here's hoping they end up getting this one worked out.
Nokia rolling WidSets into Ovi Store
If you want to talk widgets, Nokia's been rocking its Java-based, platform-agnostic WidSets project for years now, offering a wide variety of bite-sized apps, games, and feeds that work on a whole bunch of phones from all sorts of manufacturers. It's not going away, but Nokia has now announced that the initiative is being rolled into the Ovi Store alongside MOSH (and the notorious Download! app S60 owners are all too familiar with). It makes a lot of sense for Nokia to finally be consolidating a lot of its offerings into Ovi, but here's our concern: with WidSets going into the Nokia-centric Ovi ecosystem, will it entirely lose the platform independence that helped make it great?[Via All About Symbian]
Nokia's Ovi Store to get carrier billing in US?
We know that the Ovi Store is coming in May, but what exactly does that mean? Plenty of details about the launch remain to be shared, but here's one we didn't see coming: US-bound devices might have carrier billing. CellPassion is citing sources attending the Forum Nokia Code Camp in Jakarta as overhearing that devices launched in the UK, Italy, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Spain, Australia, and the good ol' US of A will all get billing systems integrated with operators, suggesting that there could be one (or more?) US carriers champing at the bit to launch an Ovi Store-enabled device this year. The rest of the world will be relegated to credit card billing, but it's a mixed blessing -- will unlocked US devices get locked out of the store, much as they're locked out of the Nokia Music Store presently?
Nokia set to shutter MOSH, direct thrashers to Ovi
Nokia never put an awful lot of marketing dollars behind its MOSH (MObile SHaring) initiative, but it still managed to reach millions. By and large, it was completely unchecked and unmoderated, enabling users to share all sorts of positive and negative content without Nokia poking around to see what was what. At long last, the mostly underground service is scheduled to be shut down, and it'll be a much more scrutinized Ovi taking over. As of now, there is no definite end date for MOSH, but there's no question that it'll be canned soon. So yeah, you should probably head on over and get one last fix while you still can -- who knows if Ovi will satisfy the same way.
