The first thing I started seeing on Twitter and other online places when Nokia announced its new Ovi Store was, ‘they’re copying the Apple App Store.’ For starters, that’s a rather absurd notion, since Nokia has had software ‘markets’ for years, including MOSH, Download!, the Nokia Software Market, and even Widsets, to some extent. However, rather than me going back and forth, I wanted to point you to an excellent article on NokiaExperts.com that pitches the Ovi Store against the App Store with actual facts, and a layout of what’s different between the two.
NokiaExperts chatted directly with George Linardos, VP of Product Management for Media at Nokia, who gave some insight to the smaller details of the store. Here’s some of the main details that were missing in our original announcement:
1. The Ovi Store will not be only applications – it will also include themes, games, wallpapers, even podcasts. Pretty much anything you might want to have on your phone can be submitted.
2. Symbian Signed is not going away – apps submitted to the Ovi Store will still need to be Symbian Signed. However, there is not any sort of confusing approval process. Once submitted, content is run through a virus scanner, then manually checked for pornography, hate speech, and that type of stuff. It is then checked for quality on a few devices, and then approved (or denied, pending those tests). All in all, Nokia intends to maintain a week, tops, of time from submission to approval/denial. Not bad.
Also, one thing in particular that stood out is where Linardos mentions a ‘Maven‘ feature that is on the Ovi Store roadmap. The Ovi Store typically watches what your contacts download, to make recommendations to you. However, the Maven feature will allow bloggers and others to make their Ovi content downloads public, so that you can check out ‘Symbian-Guru’s Suggested Ovi Downloads’ right in the store. Now that’s something I like!
You should also check out AllAboutSymbian’s piece on the 7 reasons the Ovi Store is big news. I’m definitely pumped to see it launched. What about you? What do you think is the most significant part of the Ovi Store?
