Hi, My name is Eric John. I’m based in the US and I head up product marketing for Ovi Store. I’m excited to tell you that it’s official… the Store is now open! Thanks to a dedicated, admittedly over-caffeinated team of Nokians and the creative efforts of hundreds of developers big and small from around the world, we are now open and the shelves stocked with apps, widgets, ringtones, videos and more.
Ovi Store is – at the end of the day – all about what’s inside. Our number one goal is to enable you to discover all that’s possible on your device. Below you’ll find highlights of some of my favorite content and apps currently installed on my own Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. But first, a couple of quick tips on how and where to get Ovi Store on your Nokia.
Start by opening your Nokia device browser and go to store.ovi.com. Once there, you can immediately browse content, and begin downloading and personalizing your device with games, tones, videos, location-based apps and more. If you live in one the following countries – Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain, the US or the UK – you can also update your device with the Ovi Store mobile application by selecting the Ovi Store icon in the Download! folder on your device. You can purchase content with a credit card globally from our mobile website as well as from the mobile client in the US. Operator billing is available in all countries except the US, where credit card billing is available. In the US, AT&T will be offering Ovi Store to its customers later this year.
More countries, languages and devices will be added in the future! And now, here’s just a few of my favorite apps available today on Ovi Store, and running on my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.
Gravity: If you tweet, this is a must-have app! With its wonderfully intuitive interface, Gravity lets you quickly login and manage your Twitter posts, track and stay connected to the fast-moving world of Twitter. (search Ovi Store: Gravity)
Trapster: For the lead-footed drivers amongst us, here’s a handy app to help you avoid another speeding ticket. On a GPS-enabled Nokia, like my 5800, I can give it a quick view before I jump in the car to see where the hot spots are. It crowd sources the information from other commuters and is 100% legal (no radar required). Try it out and you may find as I have, that the process of looking for hotspots encourages you to slow down in general, (good for the gas budget). (search Ovi Store: Trapster)
AP News: The world’s largest news network, the Associated Press, fits in the palm of your hand! When you need a chuckle, choose the “Wacky” category for the best in “strange but true” news. (search Ovi Store: Associated)
WorldMate: This Swiss Army Knife for the road warrior just got better. The version for the Nokia 5800 is nicely designed with all the features we love: flight schedule and tracking, weather monitor, currency converter and world clock. Lots of great features even without the upgrade!
Fodors: This widget by Mippin offers a deep-dive into the world’s best travel destinations with articles, guides and pictures optimized for your Nokia. (search Ovi Store: Fodors)
EarthComber: Should I end up vacationing in North America, this app will use the GPS on my Nokia to help me find great things to do from restaurants, movies, nightlife (great band listings!), events, and stores. (search Ovi Store: Earthcomber)
Be sure to check back for updates on future roll-outs of operator billing supported countries as well as more devices with Ovi Store pre-installed. If you have recommendations for content we should know about or thoughts on how we should improve the service, please let us know in the comments. And if you’re a developer and are inspired by the apps I’ve highlighted above, head to Forum Nokia forum.nokia.com for tips on how to develop applications on Nokia. When you’re ready, go to the self-serve publishing tool Ovi Publish at publish.ovi.com
We look forward to hearing from you and working together to evolve the Ovi Store experience!
Enjoy! – Eric
So does this mean the AT&T Nokia E71x won’t get access to the Ovi Store for a while? Can we use the web version of the store to buy and download apps to our PC/Mac and then transfer them to the E71x via sideloading?
It would be outstanding to get the Ovi Store on the E71x as soon as possible since it is a great device that could be even better with the Ovi Store.
Why is Nokia ignoring developer emails regarding issues with OVI?
In particular why is Nokia ignoring my request for a refund of the registration fee due to the misleading and inaccurate publicity material Nokia produced which did not make it clear the considerable problems and barriers that small developers, like myself, would have publishing to the OVI store.
Look forward to its availability in China!
Well, since you highlighted Gravity, our application enables receive/reply/upload pictures to Twitter as simple as SMS. Thus in countries that Twitter does not work with SMS, our application makes Nokia Symbian phones work the same way as it is in USA, and even better!
Hello Guru, what enticed you to post an article. This article was extremely interesting, especially since I was searching for this subject last Thursday.
If you could get worthwhile app’s and a log-in system that works it would be great.
Unfortunately Ovi store fails on both counts. For me, it has been an annoying and frustrating waste of time.
I really do not want to join the Apple herds, but unless Ovi evolves at lightening speed, Nokia is going to lose once contented customers by the ship load
Can you update us on when the E71x will be getting the Ovi application? I can go to it through the browser but would love a native application.
Also, what’s the the three star rating system? That’s too course to know if an app is good or not, plus you can’t see the number of ratings, reviews, downloads from the list view. We need more ways to sort, search, and order the applications to find them easier.
Do you guys at nokia truly think that I am gonna buy an application for $15 just by reading the description? Download! used to have a try and buy option with operator payment option which was so much better. I use the app, if i like it, i buy it. With ovi, i like the description of the app, i go to download it, i get asked for my credit card. I say – buzz off.
Trust is built on a relationship and what better way to earn the trust than by offering free goods and services.
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I do like this blog. Keep on your great work, I will subscribe. What do you think of the new Nokia N97?