Nokia Ovi Store launches to mixed reviews

The Nokia Ovi Store launched today to a number of mixed reviews. It is an important step for both Nokia and the mobile industry. While almost everyone I know talks about the iPhone, the fact is they remain a very small (but massively influential) player in the mobile industry, as this is a direct response to the success of the iTunes app store for the iPhone. Personally, the OviStore launch is not a big deal to me. I'm not what one would call a Normob, rather, I'm a power user and have no problem seeking out and installing apps on my phone either directly on the phone or via the computer using PCSuite.


A change I would make would be the addition of more categories or sub-categories. There are only four real categories at the moment, with a couple additional ones for the apps you have downloaded and the ones that are recommended for you. Browsing could be made more efficient if there were either more categories, or the ability to drill-down into more specific categories. I don't want to create a giant nested tree like you get when calling a credit card company, but a little more differentiation would be welcome.

The client itself is pretty nice; it is fast enough for me and is smart to load the app names and descriptions before loading the images, allowing me to quickly jump to new the next screen if nothing piques my interest. They could have hired @janole from mobileways.de to do the interface. If it were as smooth as Gravity, the experience would be more aesthetically impressive. In the Symbian-Guru's review, he said the app did not remember his user credentials and did not save to the specified location. I have logged in multiple times without having to re-login, and most (but not all) apps have installed seamlessly without further input from me. Some did ask the location (like Skyfire), and I suspect there is a reason for this in the specific app, though I don't know this for sure.

If you prefer to browse on your computer, you can head to the store on your browser, login, and fire apps to your device. A good alternative perhaps when getting your feet wet with the store. Remember, today is the launch, and for more information from one of the primary architects of the Nokia Ovi Store, head on over to MocoNews and their interview with George Linardos.

The reviews are easy to create right there on the device, and I found the ones written by other users very helpful in that it saved me from purchasing a demo of an application. I hope the store works to take that kind of thing off there, as it definitely leaves a bad taste in a person's mouth. No one wants to pay twice for an application.

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