Nokia Ovi Store Launches 64
Kensai7 writes "The much-awaited Nokia Ovi Store opened for business yesterday. By following a business model similar to that of successful rival Apple for the iPhone, Nokia is trying to provide developers and customers a vast portfolio of Symbian OS applications, games, widgets, etc. TechCrunch took a look at some of the more interesting applications available at the start, but was disappointed by the launch itself. The Ovi Store team acknowledged some difficulties due to high levels of traffic."
Re:Bloody Java bloody applications (Score:1, Interesting)
Linux distros repositories are 'something similar' for desktop computers and I think a better model for selecting and distributing applications than browsing web sites.
That said, the interface for Apple's store beats repos and this Ovi store and everything Microsoft has tried, both for mobile devices and desktops. It does a better job of categorizing apps, explaining their features, providing screenshots, integrating user comments, etc etc. It is easy to navigate and reasonably fast, even on an Edge connection. It doesn't lose much functionality when used from an iPhone/Touch (I actually prefer the mobile versions of both the App Store and iTunes).
Re: Ovi is short for door (Score:2, Interesting)
Is this Ovi short for Ovine?
No, Ovi is short for door in Finnish.
Re:Nokia vs Apple (Score:3, Interesting)
Nokia ought to be shouting from the tops of the trees about why their products are far superior to the competition, but all I hear are crickets chirping...Any clue as to why? Does Apple just do a better job marketing and thus enjoys a greater market share? Or is it that the somewhat limited functionality of the Apple devices appeals to people who don't want the complexity of a more capable device?
Is there some other reason?
Qt support for Symbian/S60 (Score:3, Interesting)
One major boost for Ovi applications development is the coming Qt support [qtsoftware.com] for Symbian/S60 porting.
Old Symbian C++ programming was a real pain, now porting desktop or mobile applications, games, widgets, etc across a range of different devices should be really easy. I see many productivity advantages for the developers who opt for Symbian/Ovi, something Apple won't have for its iPhone.