All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
Seven reasons why Ovi Store's launch is a very important event
Published by Tzer2 at 14:12 UTC, February 18th 2009
Summary:
Ovi Store has been announced, and many people just saw another smartphone applications shop. But it's actually a lot more than that, and its launch could be the most significant thing Nokia has done since entering the mobile phone business.
Seven reasons why Ovi Store's launch is a very important event
Nokia's announcement that they are launching an applications shop was long expected, and the general consensus seemed to be that there were no real surprises in the MWC press conference.
But actually there are some details which are very significant indeed. Ovi Store could radically change the way people think about Nokia, their devices and their services:
1) Ovi Store isn't just an apps store, it's a general content store
If you look on the publisher site for Ovi Store they are accepting submissions for selling applications, games, music, videos, podcasts, themes, wallpapers and ringtones. It could well be that non-app content will dominate the service, especially if the content is easy to navigate and purchase.
2) Ovi Store will be available on both smart and non-smart devices, including Nokia's cheaper Series 40 phones
A lot of people have talked about how Ovi Store will be available on Symbian S60 devices, but many have missed the point that it will also be on Nokia's cheaper Series 40 range, which costs as little as 30 euros per SIM-free phone.
The reason this matters so much is that Nokia's smartphones sell approximately 60 million units a year, while their non-smart phones sell about 350 million a year. Series 40 could well become the main userbase for Ovi Store, which would give it a global reach far beyond smartphone-only app stores.
And of course in the midst of a recession more and more people will consider buying Series 40 "dumb" phones instead of S60 models, so this is a good way for Nokia to hedge their bets on how the phone market will move.
3) Owners of existing S60 and Series 40 phones will be able to install Ovi Store onto their phones
Tucked away in the Ovi Store publishing FAQ is an intriguing statement: "(Ovi Store will) be available on a wide range of new and existing S60 and Series 40 devices, either by clicking and updating the Download! client found on the device, or via download from the device web browser."
...so it sounds like anyone with a Download! icon on their device (which includes all S60 and many Series 40 models) will be able to put Ovi Store on their phone themselves. They will immediately be able to access Ovi Store content without having to buy a new phone.
4) People will be able to buy content through phone bill payments as well as credit cards
A lot of people (this writer included) do not have credit cards. If you look at Nokia's global userbase of approximately 1 billion, it's possible that the majority of their customers do not have credit cards.
Ovi Store will allow people to pay for apps, games and other content by charging it to their phone bill, which should greatly increase the number of people able to buy content online.
Some mobile developers will be upset at the lower revenue share from phone bill payments, and may prefer a credit card-only system. But that kind of attitude is missing the point completely: a lot of people simply cannot pay by credit card, so the only way to get a sale from them is the option of paying by phone bill. A lower-profit sale is surely better than no sale at all.
5) MOSH and Download! are being replaced by Ovi Store - will other Nokia services merge with it too?
Nokia's announcement implied that Download! and MOSH will be replaced by Ovi Store, but are they the only services that will disappear? For example, will Nokia carry on selling N-Gage games separately or will they be on sale in Ovi Store? Will Nokia Music Store tracks be available in Ovi Store? What about Nokia Maps subscriptions?
Conceivably Ovi Store could become the single distribution and purchase method for all of Nokia's services.
6) Could Ovi Store become the main way of obtaining digital content in the developing world?
Most of Nokia's sales are in developing countries, where people may not have access to a traditional computer at all. A mobile phone may be the only form of computing device available, and if Ovi Store is built into that phone it could become the main way to obtain apps and other content.
7) Ovi Store will include freeware and open source applications
One of the most frustrating things about Download! was the inexplicable absence of brilliant freeware like Y-Browser, Frozen Bubble etc. By allowing freeware and OSS authors to make their software available on Ovi Store themselves, it should become very easy indeed to distribute open and free-of-charge content.
Discussion
In theory bill payment should be possible both for prepaid and monthly bill customers, though whether the networks allow it to happen is up to them.
The only other way of avoiding credit card payments would be an Ovi voucher system, of the kind used by skype, habbo etc. where you buy a physical voucher for cash in a physical shop. Again, this is available for N-Gage in some parts of the world, so we might see it on Ovi too.
Paypal etc aren't going to help because they require a credit card to join, and the whole point of bill payment is to offer an alternative.
Though, "Surprise, surprise" comes to mind about Nokia opening a Store is "Huge" news and can change everything on AllAboutSymbian...
And PLEASE can you stop going on about how Nokia has sold a Bazillion devices as if it means something. How many of those devices are used by your typical Mobile Phone User who sends txts and makes calls? Not bothered in one way or another that they can bury deep into a Nokia Device and find the Ovi Store to buy a new ringtone *Face_Plain*
Hell, my mum has a Nokia, not that you can ever reach her on it though as she hasn't a clue how to use it....loves my iPhone though ;-)
Uh Oh, mentioned the i-word, now i'm gonna be classed as an Apple boy...
| Though, "Surprise, surprise" comes to mind about Nokia opening a Store is "Huge" news and can change everything on AllAboutSymbian... |
Or do you criticise articles you haven't bothered reading?
Honestly, you're just throwing vague abuse without any real thought put into it. :-)
| Not bothered in one way or another that they can bury deep into a Nokia Device and find the Ovi Store |
| And PLEASE can you stop going on about how Nokia has sold a Bazillion devices as if it means something. How many of those devices are used by your typical Mobile Phone User who sends txts and makes calls? |
:-)
What point are you trying to make?
Maybe you meant to say that not everyone wants to buy extra content on their phone?
Well, maybe not, but even if it's only 10% of Nokia users that's still something like 50 to 100 million people.
And, as I said in the article, even if you don't buy a thing you'd still be able to use Ovi Store for downloading freeware, free ringtones, free themes etc.
I'm basing my opinions on when I had my N95 (Before I got my iPhone, so sometime in 2007 to June 08)
The Download Icon on that was buried in some menu (Tools?) can't remember much but I know it wasn't intuitive at all.
Why do I disagree with you? As a tech user (I had programs such as Peerbox, a P2P program and Emtube etc) I also created an account with Mosh.
This program was badly designed and looked terrible (Black and green?!) finding content was ok, but finding content that was worthwhile was beyond frustrating! (Kind of like getting anything for Symbian then I guess) Everything was either cracked programs/games or rubbish ringtones/wallpapers that had logos or watermarks on them.
Call all you want but using the App Store was a breath of fresh air, I had no Idea it could be that easy to browse and purchase content on a mobile device (I use a Windows PC, not a Mac) and I laugh at the times of using my archaic N95 (Which my GF now has and loves, weirdly) and trying to find anything for the phone that was fun or worthwhile (Think that Python Beer app was the last thing that I got and wowed me, then I found iPint...)
Dunno if i've really answered any of your questions mind, been alt+tabbing this window for a while now and haven't really put any cohesion into my thoughts :-p
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I'm basing my opinions on when I had my N95 (Before I got my iPhone, so sometime in 2007 to June 08) The Download Icon on that was buried in some menu (Tools?) can't remember much but I know it wasn't intuitive at all. |
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Originally Posted by Sizzers
[...]but to be honest I can't say I have great confidence seeing what a fractured mess they made of Ovi.
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| I'm basing my opinions on when I had my N95 |
Maybe you could read the article, then comment on it?
| Why do I disagree with you? |
You haven't expressed any specific opinions about the article.
| As a tech user (I had programs such as Peerbox, a P2P program and Emtube etc) I also created an account with Mosh |
Maybe... crazy idea... you could READ THE ARTICLE? :-)
| Everything was either cracked programs/games or rubbish ringtones/wallpapers that had logos or watermarks on them. |
Comparing MOSH to Ovi Store is like comparing Limewire to Amazon.
| I laugh at the times of using my archaic N95 ( |
| The Download Icon on that was buried in some menu (Tools?) can't remember much but I know it wasn't intuitive at all. |
Anyway just looked back and didn't really answer any questions, ha.
Oh well, least I had a vent :-)
| Oh well, least I had a vent :-) |
I wrote two long articles for AAS talking about how terrible Download is:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/featu...x_Download.php
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/featu...to_step_in.php
...but I think Ovi Store could put things right. Time will tell.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
[...]I laugh at the times of using my archaic N95 (Which my GF now has and loves, weirdly) and trying to find anything for the phone that was fun or worthwhile [...]
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Download! definitely is inadequate, woefully so, but there still are some useful applications there.
I'm saying that Nokia did a terrible job with Download and MOSH so I don't have any hopes for this OVI store either, but hell, if it's the next best thing since sliced bread (Which it most likely will be on this site, it's from Nokia after all) then i'll hold my hands up and say foul, truce? :-)
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Originally Posted by Iain 117
I dunno then, on my old one even now (Just rang the missus) running V30 it's not on the main Menu page?
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http://www.filesaveas.com/images/nokia_n95scr02.jpg
Again, it may be a regional thing, and probably it should have been on the home screen in any event.
Again, it may be a regional thing, and probably it should have been on the home screen in any event."
My bad everyone, she's just called back to say she moved it because "It didn't have anything useful in and it charged me for using it". So i guess she must've moved it.
Women...
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Originally Posted by Iain 117
How many of those devices are used by your typical Mobile Phone User who sends txts and makes calls?
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Apple's App Store was launched with a great hullabulloo and was generally well received, so what's wrong with Nokia doing the same and others welcoming the change?! And if it helps those less-experienced users gain access to 3rd party applications, so much the better...
Starting w 50 million userbase is enourmous (although conversion rate could be low at start) and with each device it will grow. Just this year Ovi Store could reach 20-30 million users and become the largest store itself.
I would gladly take a bet with anyone that items in the store will surpass 50 000 this year.
Maybe one addition to the post: it will serve Maemo also. :-)
How about innovating something for change.
This will turn out to be a complete and total disaster. You heard it here first.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
How come Nokia didn't of this BEFORE apple, eh? ....Copycats!
How about innovating something for change. This will turn out to be a complete and total disaster. You heard it here first. |
The Apple AppStore has shown that it is possible to sell lots of software if you do everything right. In particular it has shown that the user experience is very, very important, as has been said by a number of people (not me, unfortunately) in this forum repeatedly.
I expect the Ovi Store to be a success if Nokia gets the same things right as Apple with their AppStore. It can be an even bigger success if Nokia manages to leverage their bigger userbase, and if they manage to get non-credit card payment to work with out lots of friction.
