08 May 2009

Nokia Is Planning To Launch Gigantic
App Store With A Catalogue Of 20,000 Items

According to Forbes' Elizabeth Woyke, Finnish mobile phone giant is planning to launch gigantic application store with a catalogue of whooping 20,000 items while Apple and RIM launched their stores with ‘just’ a few hundred applications, as a comparison!

From other hand, content will range from applications, games and videos to widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalization content for both S 40 and S60 devices so the total amount of the applications and games for S60 devices may not be as impressive as it sounds!

The store will also represent a wide range of languages and cultural content making it, potentially, the most global app store yet. Nokia typically ships products in more than 60 languages. So far, U.S. and Asian companies are providing most of the content, but many countries, languages and cultures are represented, Savander says.

Nokia is baking in other innovations. One is a custom-built "recommendation engine" that will recommend content based on users' preferences and those of their friends and family. Savander says such software will lend the Ovi Store a social dimension similar to a social networking site.

Thanks to the GPS chip in most Nokia phones, the store will also find content based on users' locations. Fly to London, for example, and your handset can highlight the most relevant apps, such as a video travel guide of the city. (Privacy-minded users will be able to opt out of this feature and the recommendation engine.)

Unlike traditional mobile storefronts, the Ovi Store, if enabled by the consumers, will target those consumers with tailored content based on Nokia's unique ability to take advantage of and learn from the consumer's location and social connections. From this point on, the media you consume is no longer just about "what" you're buying, but also now about "where," "when," "why," and "who" bought what.