Last August, I, along with a few other bloggers, was invited to London for Nokia’s Go Play event. This was a massive ‘product launch’ (if you can call it that) where they dropped the Ovi bomb, as well as the new Nokia Music Store, demo’d the Nokia Music Player, a new desktop application that was to rival iTunes, and Ngage. They also announced two new handsets, the N95 8GB, the N81, and a few S40 handsets.
It’s now the end of January, roughly 6 months later, and what’s new? Well, the handsets have all made it to market, but Ovi is still technically vaporware, given that they’ve had Nokia World 2007 in Amsterdam and CES 2008 in Las Vegas, and not really given us any more information on what it is. I personally have not heard anything else regarding this new Nokia Music Player desktop application that was so beautifully demonstrated at the Nokia: Go Play event. The Nokia Music store has only been launched in the U.K., and Ngage has been delayed several times.
Nokia, who claim they want to be an ‘Internet Services’ company, can’t seem to actually *launch* any internet services….
What’s the deal, Nokia? You’ve announced such COOL services. Ovi sounds positively hard-core cool. The Nokia Music Store shows promise, and Ngage STILL has a loyal following from the first debacle who are ready to give this second attempt a run.
Nokia, you’re talking all this stuff up, and you’re doing great at releasing devices, but currently you’re ‘oh-for-three’ in the releasing of these newfangled Internet Services that we’re supposed to be all jazzed up about. Meanwhile, more and more people are becoming entrenched in other music stores such as Amazon’s DRM-free offering, and Windows Media Player and other desktop players that allow us to easily manage our growing music libraries and sync them to our devices. More and more people are getting their mobile games elsewhere, all the time learning to ignore the useless Ngage icon on their new Nseries handset. Ovi’s door is still closed, and we’re beginning to forget it’s there to begin with.
Here’s hoping that Mobile World Congress sees some actual launches, as opposed to more smoke and mirrors around these new Internet Services that are supposed to be coming. We’re ready for the Next Episode, Nokia, so stop showing reruns.
hehe, true indeed :-)
This is so true… Love the title for this post!
I appreciate that Nokia want to drive interested and create a buzz, but they should at least wait until they are a month or two from launch, not 6 months!!
Having said that, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I don’t really care how long they take with N-gage, if they bodge it up this time they may never get another shot at gaming. They absolutely have to get it right this time.
“Ovi’s door is still closed…”
Love that line!
But yeah, this waiting is starting to get worrying. We haven’t even had a “___ will be delayed for a few ___” in a while!
True true (à la Budweiser ad)
They continue to be a hardware company. The internet services have not been properly launched, and you see, all the announced handsets are there in the market, in time. I think even if they launch N-Gage or Music Store (worldwide) soon, their focus is gonna be handsets at least for 1 more year or so, until the Ovi services have gained popularity. This is reflected several times in their remarks regarding N-Gage games. On the fans’ rant over too many casual games and not using the hardware acceleration, they have always said, “Wait for some days, the platform will evolve, blah blah blah…”. They probably want to increase their userbase as far as possible before they BRING Ovi out.
@Sandy – then why announce Ovi and all this other stuff so far ahead? It just seems silly and self-defeating to make an announcement more than 6 months before you plan to actually DO something.
sad but true
It seems a shame that Ovi was the thing that got us excited when we were there and there’s not a sign of it.
Yeah, I also condemn them silly. But, alas! Ranting can’t change the whole policy of a multinational giant, the most our rant can do is correcting the flaws of N95 Classic to produce a better upgrade to it. The whole situation is shitty, with respect to the users and will be so for them also in future. And regarding N-Gage, I don’t think they are in any good position. Even after so many delays, very few people (other than the geeks and blogosphere) know about N-Gage. I think they were panicked by news of Sony Ericsson branded PSP phone and made a hasty announcement about N-Gage. Now the said phone doesn’t seem to materialize, and they are taking their time to iron out bugs. Competition DOES help users.
The “release” of Ovi was premature. I ascribe most of the discord between ATT and Nokia to ATT feeling like Ovi is treading on their turf. Pure speculation on my part.
Mosh is useful, though….
It’s good that Nokia does not rush with launches. Better late than sorry. Quality must be there or the people turn their backs…
@Guru: Have you considered that the announcement back in August wasn’t for you, but for the market, investers and partners ??
I used to hang around at Symbian-Guru a lot, but this kind of posts are beginning to bug me. If Nokia launces to early, you comlain. If Nokia launces to late, you complain. If you don’t need what Nokia launces, you complain. If you don’t get it, you comlain. If it’s not what you expected from looking at the leaked images, you complain. Complaints, complaints , complaints … If that’s what is like to be making a living by blogging, I am indeed glad that I never chose that route …
It always amazes me when people think they (as individuals) know more than a 50.000 people organisation with precense in more countries than you though existed … an organisation who pionered the whole industry …
Be fair – and be real … It’s too easy to point the finger all the time.
… and Go Play – you *know* with what ;-)
Respectfully,
MaBuse
“Ovi's door is still closed…”
Love that line!
But yeah, this waiting is starting to get worrying. We haven't even had a “___ will be delayed for a few ___” in a while!