Nokia announces Ovi app store

By Marguerite Reardon on 16 February 2009, 4:36pm

Nokia is taking on smart-phone rival Apple with its own version of an application store.

On Monday, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, which has been losing market share at the high end to devices like Apple's iPhone, announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it will follow Apple and a few other handset makers in launching a virtual storefront where developers can upload applications and consumers can easily download them.

News of Nokia's Ovi Store hardly comes as a shock. Several news agencies had reported that the company was expected to announce the store at the show.

Nokia said at the press conference that the store will be open for business starting in May. Nokia's flagship smart phone, the N97, will be the first Nokia device to have the application store software pre-integrated. The N97, which was announced in December, goes on sale in June. The company added that other Nokia phone users, including those using S40 and S60 phones, will be able to use the application store starting in May.

Developers, who will get a 70 per cent cut of revenue from the store, will be able to start loading applications to the Ovi.com Web site from March. Several content owners have already started working on applications for the store, including AccuWeather, Facebook, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Electronic Arts, Fox Mobile and MySpace.

Nokia said it will eventually make the application store available to all of its Nokia phones, and will begin rolling it out globally in the autumn.

Nokia's announcement follows the success of Apple's App Store, which provides applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Other smart-phone makers have also jumped on the bandwagon with their own application stores. Google has launched one for its Android phones and RIM plans to have one up and running for its BlackBerry devices. Microsoft, maker of the Windows Mobile operating system, is also expected to announce its application 'bazaar' at Mobile World Congress this week.

Niklas Savander, executive vice president of services and software for Nokia, said at a press conference on Monday that the Ovi application store is different from all the others.

"This is not just a place to find applications," he said. "It's a smart store that's not just for smart phones. It actually suggests things you might like and adds social location dynamics to show you relevant applications; and it shows you what your friends have bought; and it changes the inventory based on where you are."

"It's not only about smart phones anymore," he said. "We must address the range of devices we have in the market, from the high end to the low end. This is not necessarily about getting the two per cent of mobile users who are already using applications to switch. But it's about addressing the 98 per cent that will soon start using applications."