A while back, the Nokia Beta Labs launched a desktop Download! client, which was only available for Windows based computers. After apparently quite a bit of feedback, the team went back to the drawing board and have re-launched – sans the Beta Labs – a web-based Download! client, available through any web browser (not just Internet Explorer – kudos to the Download! team).
To start using the new web-based Download! client, you choose your country….wait. Strike one – The U.S. isn’t listed. Cool, apparently we don’t exist to Nokia. Good thing they’re putting more emphasis on their presence in the U.S. Continuing on, you then choose your phone and provider, and have a selection of applications – free and commercial – which you can then download to your PC and install through PC Suite.
It’s a decent solution, but still very fragmented and unintuitive. When you get to the download, there’s only an option to download to your PC. What about a mobile barcode? Why not a ‘send download link’ button to send an SMS? Strike two.
Another glaring issue is the pricing. If you just read the site, you’d think everything was free – every app has a price of ‘Try for free.’ Cool, but THEN how much is it, after this generous free trial? Strike three, we need to know these things, I think (and a few commenters on the Beta Labs agree).
In any case, I’m a big fan of the web-based approach, and the ability to use whatever browser *I* want to. However, the missing U.S. support is a big fat downer, and the pricing practices suck, and are rather misleading. What do you think? Is this more convenient than simply shopping on your phone directly?
