It’s a difficult time for feature phones, with smartphones fast becoming a viable option at the low-end of the market. On the one hand, most users are expecting smartphone features such as touchscreens and WiFi from their feature phones. At the same time, some folks still want an affordable, solid device that focuses primarily on making calls and sending text messages, with the occasional foray into entertainment and data-based communication. The Nokia X3-02 Touch-and-Type (not to be mistaken with the other Nokia X3) attempts to be that device, by adding a dose of touch and WiFi to the venerable Series 40 platform. Does it succeed? Read on.
Whether you knew it as Comes With Music or Ovi Music Unlimited, the sad fact is that pretty soon you won’t know it all — Nokia’s subscription music service is being shut down almost universally, with the exception of a few select markets like China, Brazil and South Africa. Reuters reports that the use of DRM to lock down content to less-than-cutting-edge devices was a major stumbling block in the rollout of what was originally supposed to be a major iTunes competitor. Those who are already signed up will continue to have access to their music libraries indefinitely, but won’t be able to access new tracks once their current subscription expires. From then on, you’ll only have the DRM-free Ovi Music store to keep you warm during those long Finnish nights.
After a private alpha, Nokia has loosed a beta of its refreshed Ovi Suite client — now at version 3.0 — on visitors of its Beta Labs site. Seems like most of the improvements revolve around simplifying common activities, but the biggest change would have to be the addition of tight Ovi Music integration, including playback controls, store access, and Ovi Music Unlimited support — in other words, this product is now officially the Zune / iTunes of the Nokia world, and in this case we’d say that’s a very good thing. Installation is said to be faster and simpler than before, too, so come on, hesitant N8 owner — what the heck are you waiting for? Follow the break for the official video intro of the new build.
After a private alpha, Nokia has loosed a beta of its refreshed Ovi Suite client — now at version 3.0 — on visitors of its Beta Labs site. Seems like most of the improvements revolve around simplifying common activities, but the biggest change would have to be the addition of tight Ovi Music integration, including playback controls, store access, and Ovi Music Unlimited support — in other words, this product is now officially the Zune / iTunes of the Nokia world, and in this case we’d say that’s a very good thing. Installation is said to be faster and simpler than before, too, so come on, hesitant N8 owner — what the heck are you waiting for? Follow the break for the official video intro of the new build.
Nokia’s chatting up the fact that it just broke the 3 million download per day milestone in its Ovi Store, backed up by 400,000 new developers in the last 12 months alone and a total of 92 developers who’ve crossed the 1 million total download mark. Interestingly, the download rate pales in comparison to Apple’s App Store, which is raking in over 17 million downloads a day at last count — despite the fact that Nokia still dominates market share and boasts Ovi Store compatibility with some 126 (yes, 126) models. We’d probably chalk up the disparity to the fact that Nokia users still aren’t used to getting content from the Ovi Store alone — S60 was brought up in a world where .SIS files came straight from developers or one of several third-party app stores, not from a central source — and it seems that some of that philosophy continues to live on in the Nokia community. On a high note, the company says its Qt toolkit has now been downloaded over 1.5 million times, a critical fact considering that both Nokia’s MeeGo and Symbian offerings going forward will be rallying very, very hard around the Qt ecosystem. Follow the break for the full press release.
Nokia has announced that Ovi Store downloads have reached 3m per day, while more than 400,000 new developers have signed up in the past year. Among the downloads, 92 developers have each seen their apps downloaded more than 1m times; altogether, Nokia is seeing more than 1 billion downloads per year.
Meanwhile, Qt adoption – the runtime system which has been adopted for cross-platform use on both Symbian and MeeGo devices – is also strong, with Nokia seeing 1.5m downloads of the Qt SDK. According to BLStream CEO Anton Gauffin, the coders responsible for gaming title Crazy Hamster, “without any promotion or marketing dollars, in a few weeks we’ve hit 200,000 downloads in Ovi Store faster than we did with App Store.”
More than 250,000 users sign up to Ovi every day, Nokia reckons, which makes for a considerable audience. The real worth of Qt won’t be seen until high-end MeeGo devices arrive in 2011, however, where it will debut to an established ecosystem of titles rather than having to build a software base from scratch.
Press Release:
Nokia’s Ovi Store Downloads Hit 3 Million a Day as Developer Support Surges
More than 400,000 new developers in past 12 months; 92 developers each top 1 million download mark; 1.5 million downloads of Qt software development toolkits
Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that its Ovi Store has reached 3 million downloads per day, a milestone spurred by overall global demand and a recent update that gives users of Nokia’s new Symbian smartphone family a friendlier look and feel as well as more popular apps and games. The company is also gaining significant software developer momentum with more than 400,000 new developers joining Forum Nokia in the past 12 months, and 92 surpassing the million download milestone for their apps.
In related news, the Nokia Qt Software Development Toolkit (SDK) and the Qt SDK combined have been downloaded 1.5 million times as developers discover this approach can improve the speed and efficiency of creating apps for mobile devices, including smartphones such as the new Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01, which are shipping, and the recently announced Nokia E7. In a strategic move last month, Nokia announced unified application development around the Qt framework to simplify creating apps for Symbian-based devices and products that will be powered by the new MeeGo operating system. Developer video testimonials for the Qt framework are available at Forum.Nokia.com.
Examples of popular and creative new Symbian smartphone content on Ovi Store include:
• Swype: With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the keyboard, Swype ’s technology enables users to input words faster and easier.
• NHL GameCenter™ Premium: Keep up with your favorite hockey team by listening to live radio, checking stats and scores, or by watching highlights and condensed games.
• WhatsApp Messenger: A smartphone messaging app that uses 3G or WiFi to connect with friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages at no cost.
Since Nokia began shipments of its new Symbian smartphones, starting with the Nokia N8 on Sept. 30 of this year, the top downloaded free app globally was Q Torch, a utility app that turns your device into a flashlight, by CellApp Technology of India (also among top three in Europe, India and Southeast Asia/Pacific); the top downloaded paid app was Angry Birds, the smash hit game, by Rovio Mobile of Finland (also among top three in North America, Southeast Asia/Pacific and Europe) and the third most popular item downloaded globally was Need for Speed Shift HD, a game that delivers the thrill of high-performance racing by EA Mobile of the U.S. (also among top three in Central and South America, and Southeast Asia/Pacific).
Break-out information on the most popular regional apps and their developers is available at Forum.Nokia.com.
Quotes
“The rapid growth on Ovi Store to pass the 1 billion annualized downloads mark demonstrates that Nokia is a competitor in both scale and size when it comes to its services,” said Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and consumer connected platforms at IDC. “With Nokia’s stronger focus on the Qt platform and improved developer ecosystem, Nokia should continue to see its developer numbers increase as developers see profit from new revenue shares, operator billings and the ever-growing user base around the world.”
“Without any promotion or marketing dollars, in a few weeks we’ve hit 200,000 downloads in Ovi Store faster than we did with App Store,” said Anton Gauffin, CEO of BLStream, creator of the game Crazy Hamster. “We’re very positively surprised with what we’ve seen on Ovi, and we’re on track to exceed our App Store performance even though we’ve been there longer.”
“Ovi Store is on a strong trajectory fueled by new apps and games from a growing number of partners and more than 250,000 new consumers signing up for Ovi every day,” said Tero Ojanperä, executive vice president, Services, Nokia. “The number of daily downloads has increased from about 2 million to 3 million since September. We anticipate our progress will continue as we have just begun shipping our new Symbian smartphones.”
About Ovi
By combining Ovi by Nokia services with smartly designed Nokia devices, the result is a uniquely enriched mobile lifestyle. More than 250,000 new users sign up for Ovi every day, joining 165 million people in virtually every country worldwide who already experience Nokia services. Ovi comes to life with experiences such as: a rapidly growing content store for the easiest access to popular apps and games; the world’s best maps; millions of music tracks; and great messaging capabilities to connect with people who matter most. A collection of health, education and agricultural information services called Ovi Life Tools are available in remote areas of China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria. In addition, Ovi Mail is popular among those without PC access, and a commercial mobile banking service, Nokia Money, has been created with India’s Yes Bank.
The first time Nokia’s N8-00 popped up on our radar was way back in early February of this year. On that chilly, misty morning, we learned of a mythical being capable of shooting 12 megapixel stills, recording 720p video, outputting via HDMI, and — most importantly — ushering in the promised Symbian^3 touch revolution. It’s been a long road of leaks, teasers, hands-ons, and previews since then, but at long last, the legend of the N8 has become a purchasable commodity. All the early specs have survived, including the 3.5-inch AMOLED display, but the key question today, as it was at the beginning, relates to that all-new software within: does Symbian^3 succeed in elevating Nokia’s touchscreen experience or does it drag down an otherwise stellar combination of high-end parts? For that verdict and much, much more, join us after the break.
Nokia is being coy this morning by revealing a trio of pictures of what it only describes as its “new device.” Of course, being a devoted Engadget reader, you’ll instantly recognize the visage above as that of the Nokia 5250 — the already leaked successor to the 5230 ( aka the Nuron). Specs are promised for later today, so contain your excitement until a more civilized hour. For now, you’ll find one more pic — of the bodacious, camera-adorned back — after the break.
[Thanks, Adam B.]
Update: That wasn’t a long wait. Nokia Conversations has the scoop on the 5250, including confirmation of the name. The real headline here is the eminently frugal price of €115 ($146) before taxes and subsidies. For that handful of change, you’ll get your old favorite S60 5th OS with a mobile version of Guitar Hero 5 pre-installed, along with an FM radio and a media player slap bang in the middle of your 2.8-inch homescreen, all to underline this new phone’s musical inclinations. The touchscreen panel fits 640 x 360 pixels (16:9 display ratio), and battery life is rated for 18 days of standby, seven hours of talktime, or 24 hours of music playback. Not bad at all. Shipping in Q4 [Thanks, Keith!].
It already kicked off this process in India a while back, but it looks like Nokia is finally ready to bring its faltering Comes with Music brand and service under the reign of the Ovi mothership on a more global scale — or in markets where Comes with Music has launched, anyhow — now that UK customers have started getting the news. There doesn’t seem to be word yet on exactly how this is going to work, but it would make sense to see Nokia structure this the same way Microsoft does with Zune — Ovi Music for a la carte purchases, Ovi Music Unlimited if you want to pony up a monthly fee (or, if they keep the original Comes with Music model, you pay more for the phone upfront). Seeing how the service still hasn’t launched in the US, this would be a good opportunity, it seems — particularly with the N8 launch around the corner.
Been wondering about Nokia’s strategy for conquering the rapidly expanding app space? Great! So were we, which is why we joined up with a recent dev event carried out by the Finnish company for an update on how and where things are going. It’s a familiar narrative by this point: Qt is all set to become the way that Nokia-friendly apps are made — whether it be for Symbian smartphones or MeeGo-powered mobile computers, coffee machines or infotainment consoles. Nokia did stress that its developer workflow has also been streamlined dramatically, and promised coders a better distilled experience that treats their time and money like the valuable commodities that they are. It’s an encouragingly frank discussion of where things have gone wrong in the past and how Espoo intends to remedy them in the future, and we’ve got it all on video for you after the break — no reading required!
