Nokia World is finally over, and all I can say is that I have been highly impressed, probably as much as with the Touch UI + Sensor Framework announcement. If, like most of us, you couldn’t enjoy the show live, you can check out this page on the Nokia site for a rerun of all webcasts and some downloadable pdfs.
You must know by now that the two major announcements made during the sessions were Ovi details & Comes With Music (read the press release here, watch the webcast here or see the presentation pdf here). In this post I will discuss my first impressions of the Ovi Dashboard. Hop on after the break for the juice.
Ovi’s First Impression
When Ovi was first announced at the Go Play event, I was torn between feelings of desperation and frustration. My first thought was “yeah great, one more way of doing things that will complicate my life and many others’! I sure won’t use it but it will be there to annoy me!”. You should understand that the reasons behind that feeling were: – the existence of the LifeBlog and the PC Suite application for the PC, which could and should be joined into one service – the fact that there were 3 versions of PC Suite for devices running the same platform (S60 3rd) – the Download client and the Nokia Software Market and the S60 application shop and the Nseries application shop : different places to get software from. Just too many reasons that explain the diversity and decentralization of Nokia’s services and solutions and why I wasn’t bouncing all over the floor after they first announced Ovi.
Ovi’s New Details – Nokia Brightens Up The Scene
When I read that Nokia shed more details on their Ovi gateway in Nokia World, I clicked on without further anticipation or excitation while saying to myself “this will bother me even more”, and what a surprise I was greeted with! Ovi has finally taken shape and it’s the exact shape I would have given it if I had any chance. Really, they couldn’t have captured my thoughts any better.
I just love the fact that Ovi will be available on the device, the internet and the computer: with the life we are leading today, this is the right solution. I wouldn’t want my information stuck on one computer, I would want it accessible on every computer on the globe, hence the internet Ovi. I would want to be able to access it offline, at the convenience of my home, hence the computer Ovi. I want to have it with me in my car, in my work place, on the street, everywhere, hence the device Ovi. Can you think of ANY place Ovi won’t be accessible from? Apart from Antarctica and 2000ft under the Atlantic ocean? I didn’t think so.
I also love the fact that once I update my information on one portal, it will be updated on the others. Would you stop for a second and think of how easy that will be and how many minutes/hours of work it will spare you over a week or a month, or a year?
Ovi’s Letdowns – To Take Into Account?
Yes Ovi will be available in fractions and not in one full release, yes we have to wait to get it. Yes it’s not perfect yet because there is no mention of applications being integrated in it. Yes the device gateway still has flaws. Yes we still haven’t seen it so we can’t judge on its quality yet. But can we deny that if there was one direction to be taken to integrate our whole life together, Nokia has taken THE right path?
Final Word
I just can’t express how extremely delighted I was when reading about the Ovi details and I think I emphasized on my joy enough throughout the post. I do know this service has limitations, but highlighting them isn’t the goal of this post. As I said, these are just my first impressions and I can say: Nokia finally gets it : Integration.
We lead a hectic life at amazingly high speeds. The least we need is more services that could complicate it. We just need one source to manage it all, photos, music, games, contacts, internet communities, maps,…and what source is more powerful, more accessible, more present than our mobile phones? We take them everywhere. With Ovi and Comes With Music (which has tremendous potential btw), we can now also take with them a great way to share our past life, a great tool to store the present and an amazing solution to prepare for the future.
