Long time announced Ovi store has been launched worldwide. Is it enough to bring Nokia back to the trone?
In my opinion it’s not only Nokia to play the main role in this “come back”. It will depend even more on software developers. Currently the average price of a game on Nokia store is about 10 US$. Compare that to average iTunes game of 1 US$ and you’ll understand my point.
As I wrote before, it is difficult to maintain the business case for Symbian development where one may count on pricing the application at 1 US$ and counting on short-term return on investment. Unless Nokia simplifies further the licensing and testing costs and times with their accredited test house partners and improves device interoperability.
It will also take some time to get to the market. Have all the average Nokia users known that Ovi store is being launched? Don’t think so, while all iPhone and iPod users know about iTunes even before buying their device. Also, what about already known and well established application distribution Web sites and mobile operators? Will they continue to distribute applications? Will average user then visit them all to check for the featured application, and to compare the price? Will operators still charge less then developers?
Too many questions to confuse a phone user…
Tags: Apple iTunes, Nokia Ovi