Nokia Ovi Store Accessed in USA via Nokia N95 8GB - A first look
Written by Glenn Letham (@gletham)
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Yes indeed, many Ovi Store sightings have been made today - as luck
would have it I managed to find Ovi Store using my Nokia N95 8GB right
here in the USA (via T-Mobile) and downloaded several free apps. Read
on for more as well as some Twitter feedback on the launch
In traditional manner, Nokia has made this somewhat of a treasure hunt,
with many unknowns floating around out there... what geographic regions
are currently supported? Which devices are supported? What carrier is
required? etc... FYI,currently the following devices are supported:
Nokia 5800 Express Music, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia 6300, Nokia E71,
To locate Ovi Store
on my handset I had to venture to the dreaded "Content Download" area
(see Applications / Download) and then refresh your content. If luck is
on your side (and your device, carrier, and region are supported) you
should notice a new icon for Ovi Store. Simply click on the icon and
follow along to download the service.
Where it did get a bit simpler was when I accessed the Ovi store
online using my PC. Apparently the site has been up and down today
(likely due to huge traffic). I finally managed to get a "hit" on the
store and then logged in using my Nokia account - if you don't have an
account already you can easily create one. One created users will then
need to verify their account creation and then can start the search and
discovery process.
Once logged in I began to browse the collection of applications
(free apps are always in huge demand! To test things I selected a few
free apps including, the Star Trek ringtone, Cellspin multimedia
blogging app, and BuddyCloud (social networkign app).
Selecting an app is very simple, simply browse then send the
application to yoru mobile. After a moment a text message whould appear
on yoru device where you can then download the application directly OTA
(data charges may apply)
Currently, only select devices are supported by Ovi Store
Browse the catalog using the PC app to locate applications
I'm currently attempting to download the Ovi Store application via
Nokia Content Download service but it appears the download may be hung!
I'll keep on trying!
So far on Twitter today, the comments have not been great regarding Ovi. Here's a few items that were spotted:
@pr_entrepreneur Nokia OVI Store - What a Disastrous Launch
@pgaspar I think is over reacting... Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
@Ew4n I am a dev. Ovi Store's UI should be setting the standard for apps, but is horrible instead
@albertpoon I guess copying the App Store is harder than it looks.
@xMichaelSFx just did a short post regarding the Ovi Store on Symbian Freak .. wasn't really positive either
@tweetmeme Nokia's Ovi Store day one: why aren't the best S60 apps being promoted?
@bensmithuk: Ovi store is a fail today because it's a geek interface with mostly non-geek content
I must say, I had some up and down time and unpleasant experiences with Ovi on my first several attempts, however, I'm now up and running using Ovi Store on my PC and via mobile.
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