PayPal has quietly released a mobile application for Nokia devices on the Finnish mobile phone maker’s Ovi Store marketplace, a tipster points out.
Indeed, while I can’t find the app from where I’m searching (Belgium), other TechCrunchers in the United States can find the app just fine (see screenshots after the jump). → Read More
How big a business are mobile apps? In a new report, market research firm Gartner forecasts that global mobile app store revenues will triple from $5.2 billion last year to $15 billion in 2011, and keep growing to an astounding $58 billion by 2014. As with any forecast of a hypergrowth market, you can be sure this one will change in six months, and the further out you go the more guesswork involved. (Remember, less than a year ago nobody was even able to predict how many iPads would be sold this year). But here is one prediction you can count on: you will be hearing these numbers thrown around a lot all year long until a better forecast comes along.
Gartner breaks down the forecast into advertising revenues and paid downloads (including in-app purchases), as you can see from the chart above. Paid downloads and other direct purchases make up the majority of the expected revenues, but mobile advertising is expected to grow nicely over time into a multi-billion dollar market. → Read More
Big numbers coming out of Nokia land this morning. The company says its application store Ovi Store continues to gain traction, this week reaching the 3 million downloads per day milestone, up from 1 million downloads per day in the beginning of this year and 2.3 million downloads per day last month.
In addition, Nokia revealed that the total number of users of Ovi now exceeds 165 million people across more than 190 countries. Furthermore, Nokia says it is adding some 250,000 new Ovi users on a daily basis, which means roughly 7.5 million new users per month. → Read More
Nokia has declared its Ovi suite of service and the Ovi Store a roaring success.
The Finnish mobile giant says 200,000 people are now signing up to its services per day, and that the total number of active Nokia service users across the globe has reached 140 million (Ovi is available in more than 190 countries).
Nokia further claims its application store (Ovi Store) is a hit on its own, with 2.3 million apps now being downloaded to phones worldwide on a daily basis. → Read More
Although I haven’t signed up to the ‘Nokia is doomed‘ story, I’m the first to recognise that the Finnish handset giant is facing many challenges, having been wrong-footed by the iPhone’s success and the subsequent shift to touch, followed by the the rise of the app store. Or, more specifically, the growing importance of third-party developers and the perception of an app eco-system amongst brands and consumers.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, I’m not overly concerned about the need for an iPhone killer or a refreshed touch-based UI. It’s apps where Nokia faces its biggest challenge. → Read More
Web and mobile instant messaging (IM) aggregator service provider eBuddy, based in Amsterdam, has announced that its Mobile Messenger app has zoomed past one million downloads in less than three months on Nokia’s Ovi Store.
The app has been downloaded by users in more than 203 countries, the company adds – a testament to the global footprint of Nokia.
The app has garnered over 930 reviews on the Ovi Store and a 4/5 star rating. Alternatives on Nokia’s Ovi Store include Nimbuzz and fring. → Read More
Pretty huge news in our book: Skype has published a free mobile application for Symbian in the Ovi Store, basically enabling over 200 million Nokia handset users to easily download the program and start making free Skype-to-Skype calls from their phones.
If I were a carrier, I’d probably be feeling rather nervous right now – and / or infuriated.
Skype for Symbian, which you can also download the app straight from the Skype website, will run on any Nokia smartphone using Symbian^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. → Read More
Popular location-based social network Brightkite has simultaneously released mobile apps for some Nokia as well as Palm smartphones.
The release of the apps follows earlier launches of Android, BlackBerry and iPhone applications. → Read More
Buried in Nokia’s earnings release from this morning (PDF) is an interesting revelation about the Ovi Store, the centralized application shop for programs fit for Nokia devices that the Finnish giant debuted – not so stylishly – in May 2009.
The company now officially acknowledges that the Ovi Store is seeing more than 1 million downloads a day on millions of handsets around the world, after cautiously mentioning that it was approaching that milestone earlier this month at CES. → Read More
When Nokia launched its Ovi Store for mobile applications a month ago, it was clear that – despite its less than stellar launch – it would be a mistake to simply dismiss the Finnish mobile juggernaut’s efforts as meaningless. The company may be struggling to stay relevant on the software and services side, but with a reach like Nokia’s on the handset distribution level I think it goes without saying that a lot of eyes are firmly fixed on Nokia’s initiatives in the field.
There was some criticism about the lack of content on the Ovi Store at launch day, particularly because of the fact that a lot of big names were lacking, but I figured I should give it at least a month to see if and how many developers would flock to the platform. Now, I think it’s time to take a look at where they stand after that month, and I thought I’d start by comparing the content offering to that of Apple’s App Store. → Read More
This was supposed to be a glorious day for mobile phone giant Nokia. The Finnish company got out-innovated by Apple a couple of years ago with the introduction and subsequent success of the iPhone and the iTunes App Store, and has been desperately trying to catch up with Cupertino’s disruptive initiatives ever since by launching a couple of new devices on one hand, and consolidating its software & services business on the other hand.
Today sees the worldwide roll-out of Nokia’s Ovi Store, the company’s response to Apple’s App Store (and other centralized content stores for mobile phones and OS’es), and no doubt the company is watching the launch unfold on a global scale with watchful eyes. Here’s the thing: the launch is an utter disaster and I assume (hope) Nokia executives are outraged with the way things are going.
Update: the Ovi team posted a response to the recurring problems, see below. → Read More
Nokia’s very own central application marketplace, dubbed Ovi Store, today officially made its way to the public arena as we expected.
We’ve browsed the online store extensively and hand-picked 10 applications we think you should download and install first. Note that the available content you can download depends on which device you’re using, we’ve selected the option ‘any phone’ to increase the chances of these being available for you as well:
(after the jump) → Read More
Nokia is planning an app store that could explode your head out of your ears and make your bladder explode in delight. Called the Ovi Store, this amazing app store will have 20,000 apps on launch, enough for all the men, women, and children in Scranton, Pennsylvania to enjoy an app a day for fifteen years. I’m not quite sure why Forbes sees the Ovi Store as the second coming of the Jesusphone but I’ll accept that 20K apps out of the box is pretty good. However, there have been Symbian apps for almost a decade now, which mind of makes the claim of the biggest app store on launch disingenuous. → Read More
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