[Mobile World Congress] Nokia has announced the content store called Ovi Store that will serve not only applications, but also content in general to S40 and S60 users. There are two goals: the first is to make it easier for consumers to find relevant content. The second is to allow developers to have a good publication/distribution mean. The Nokia N97 (avail. In June 09) is currently the first phone to have access to the store, and we guess that Nokia will work with wireless carriers for the potential upgrade of existing phones. As usual, the carriers will be the ones deciding and announcing any updates.
There’s also a social and a geographic element in Ovi Store. In order to show you the most relevant content, Nokia will use your geographic location, but will also scan what your friends (on Ovi) like. For example, if you are in London, you might not be presented the Paris Subway application (this is our own guess). This might work, but we also hope that the regular “search” option is still there.
It might work: the more people find what they want, and the more they’ll consume, making the platform successful for everyone. The social aspect will tend to work better if Ovi reaches a critical mass – right now I have no friends on Ovi, so there’s not much the system can use to guess what I like. We can’t wait to test it for ourselves. Ovi Store will go live in May 09.
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