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Nokia closing Ovi Files service on October 1st 2010
Published by Rafe Blandford at 23:12 UTC, September 1st 2010
Nokia Experts reports that Ovi Files, Nokia's remote file access and cloud-based file mirroring/storage solution, will be discontinued on October 1st. The announcement is a set back to Nokia's Ovi service ambitions, but with relatively few users and low awareness, the long-term impact is likely to be small. A number of third party services, such as SugarSync and DropBox, provide a similar service for those who need to move from Ovi Files.
Nokia has starting sending out the following email to Ovi Files users and has also posted a copy of the notice on the Ovi Files website:
Dear Ovi Files user,
Nokia is discontinuing the Ovi Files service, effective October 1, 2010. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please make sure to uninstall the Ovi Files Connector installed on your personal computer. To do this, execute the standard Windows or Macintosh uninstall procedure that came with your computer. You will not lose any files as a result of this service discontinuation. Ovi Files simply creates an 'online mirror' of the files saved on your Windows PC or Mac, so your original files will remain intact. The files on your computer are always treated as the master version, even if some are selected as 'Anytime Files.'
You will still be able to share content between your phone and PC using another Nokia product, Nokia Ovi Suite. With Nokia Ovi Suite installed on your PC, you can do the following: sync your contacts and messages; transfer videos, photos, and music; back up your Nokia; and update your device software. Please note that this is not a direct substitute for Ovi Files as Nokia Ovi Suite requires a wired connection between your PC and mobile device. For more information visit www.ovi.com/suite.
Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience and hope that you will continue to enjoy our most popular services.
Ovi Files and the Ovi strategy
Ovi Files, which was previously named Files on Ovi, opened in beta in July 2008. A year later it changed from being a paid for service, to being an entirely free service. Nokia also provided a widget-based client for mobile access to Ovi Files (effectively a shortcut to the mobile web version) and this was shipped pre-installed on a number of Nokia Eseries devices. However the browser-based client had limited functionality and the service failed to gain much traction amongst users.
Ovi Files was the result of Nokia's acquisition of Avvenu, one of Nokia's early, and, in hindsight, perhaps misjudged, service acquisitions. In its early days, Ovi Files was an early trend setter in the remote file access space, notably with the development of its PC Connector software. However, Ovi Files was always something of a peripheral part of the Ovi service offering and little functionality was added after the Nokia acquisition, which meant it struggled to compete with third party services.
Given the lack of consumer uptake and poor competitiveness with third party offerings, Nokia's decision to discontinue the service is therefore, perhaps, not surprising. However, it is also emblematic of a tightening of Nokia's service strategy in general, which has seen a shift away from being a complete service provider model towards a content delivery provider model. Nokia is continuing to focus on improving and delivering its core service offerings: Maps, Music and Store.
Ovi Store, Ovi Music and, less obviously, Ovi Maps are, essentially, delivery platforms for third party content and services. Going along with this, in the last 12 months, Nokia have been more actively engaging with third party service and content providers, in order to persuade them to make their products available on Nokia devices, through the Ovi platforms. Good early examples of this are the recent addition of TripAdvisor to Ovi Maps and the Tecso application in the Ovi Store. This initiative is part of a wider developer push, is an on-going process and will take time to bear fruit. The full impact is unlikely to be felt before the second half of 2011.
Rafe Blandford, AAS, 2 Sept 2010
News Discussion
This is and was a very good product, but poor marketing and awareness has caused the problem. It is offering 10gb of free space man!
Dropbox offers only 2GB free space, yet people use it and want it.
I thought that Nokia would improve this service, as it can be a major selling point for their mobile ecosystem. I think, they just needed to do proper marketing.
Why are they dropping an arsenal one by one from their portfolio, yet spend millions on stupid marketing with film-stars and models.
It's a real pity it's going. I use DropBox as well but it's a bit of a CPU hog whereas Ovi Files wasn't.
I wonder what's to become of Contacts and Agenda (+ notes and todos) because I use that too. It has improved a lot lately, it works fine for me and I would recommend it without hesitation.
Would be a shame if it also had to go, because combined with ovi mail it really is an alternative for the google suite of services, if you don't feel like using that.
Besides consolidation to core services, I'm sure this is also a way for Nokia to save money. From what I've read the Nokia -Siemens Networks side is a giant black hole of a money pit and both parties are looking to exit the partnership sooner rather than later."
@Jimmy1: As usual you're talking bullshit. To prove my point utterly, read the Q2 reports here, before talking anymore nonsense:
http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/fin...al-information
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Originally Posted by hary536
It's unfortunate that they are closing Ovi Files.
This is and was a very good product, but poor marketing and awareness has caused the problem. It is offering 10gb of free space man! Dropbox offers only 2GB free space, yet people use it and want it. I thought that Nokia would improve this service, as it can be a major selling point for their mobile ecosystem. I think, they just needed to do proper marketing. Why are they dropping an arsenal one by one from their portfolio, yet spend millions on stupid marketing with film-stars and models. |
I now use SugarSync and bite the bullet re costs.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
"Jimmy1
Besides consolidation to core services, I'm sure this is also a way for Nokia to save money. From what I've read the Nokia -Siemens Networks side is a giant black hole of a money pit and both parties are looking to exit the partnership sooner rather than later." @Jimmy1: As usual you're talking bullshit. To prove my point utterly, read the Q2 reports here, before talking anymore nonsense: http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/fin...al-information |
On a side note I wish all these folk whinging about iPhones, Androids and the release date of the N8 would see what a tiny part of the big picture it is - there is so much more going on in mobile and Nokia are FAAAAAAAR bigger players than Apple or Google could ever dream of being.
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Originally Posted by Hurlley
Oh damn is that was it is, I remem ber go to ovi.com but could never work out what it was, I thought it was just a browser upload storage thing. If I had known it was a dropbox with 10GB I would have used it but how was it connected to mobile though, is there a mobile app for it?
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Seconded. Jimmy1 you're talking utter nonsense I'm afraid. Nokia-Siemens just won a $7 billion contract to build the LTE network in the States, and LTE is the future of the telecom network, and will give Nokia a very strong hold in the States apart from anything else.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U2YS20100831
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...-interest.html
Yeah, because Reuters and Bloomberg are anti-Nokia U.S. gadget blogs.
Please.
However it's all very reminiscent of Ngage - years and millions (billions in this case) messing around whilst the rest of the market actually executes. Quite how Nokia decided they were going to be an internet company and step into Google land whilst ironically standing by and watching Google push Nokia off it's own hill, we can only speculate on. But saf to say it's not gone well and the disintegration of their share price reflects this sorry muddle and misdirection and waste of time, resources, capital and most importantly perhaps market opportunity (early mover).
Sure we may see the fruit of the developer push in 2011 but isn't that always the case with Nokia - "always Jam tomorrow never Jam today". Weren't we meant to be seeing the fruit of their services push arriving in 2010? Instead of which they appear to be cutting them due to (unsurprising to those watching on) low take up. So apart from dropping cloud sharing what's next for the chop? as none of their service strategy appears to be producing revenue. Ovi Music, Contacts (seriously are they trying to rival established social networks) Calendar?, the list of what they've cobbled together over the last couple of years goes on. Meanwhile Apple make millions of gaming - that Nokia no longer support (not even the hardware until new units arrive later this year). Their shares are stuck amongst the worst performing tech companies over the last few years and it's not just analysts ignoring or undervaluing them they really have made a fist of it.. It's like a train crash happening in slow motion and only the passengers (Nokia, Symbian and their acolytes) can't see it coming.
For example, Ovi Maps is a cornerstone of our strategy to provide contextual services to the more than 17 million people who already use it. It's a a free, constantly updated navigation service that has the most global footprint of any of our competitors.
In addition, we currently host a digital music service that is #1 in 6 markets and an apps store that gets 1.7 million downloads daily. Nearly 14 million people in emerging markets have accessed the Internet for the first time using Ovi Mail and we will enable millions more our browser that is to come.
So we've got momentum in services...we're not going away...and forums like this one will continue to be absolutely important for us to talk with you about what you'd like to see from us in the future. I welcome your comments and suggestions, my email is below.
Shane McLaughlin
shane.1.mclaughlin(at)nokia.com
If Nokia is going to kill some of its services and in my opinion, its best that Nokia just focus on making and improving their handsets.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
an apps store that gets 1.7 million downloads daily.
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What's the daily gross revenue out of that number?
How much of that are applications or games, and how much is wallpapers & such?
What's the average number of content per device model?
What's the average split between apps/games and other content types per device model?
Exluding a handful of the top sellers (so that they don't skew the result too much), how much revenue on average does a single content item generate to its publisher (after taxes, and Nokia's share and sales costs if Nokia does not absorb them directly)?
In other words, the number of worldwide downloads per day across close to probably a hundred phone models is not telling that much regarding how successful the app store is, or isn't.
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