Apple App Store vs. Nokia Ovi Store – A Quick And Dirty Comparison
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, the central application marketplace for iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
This is evidently not really a fair comparison, since Apple’s App Store has been around for almost a year now, while Nokia is still getting started. Still, it’s worth noting that a lot of the big names on the Internet – whether we’re talking about social networks, search companies or game developers – are still missing on the Ovi Store.
A quick and dirty comparison (note that my top lists for the App Store may differ from yours depending on your location, mine being Belgium, Europe):
Social networks
Ten popular apps in the App Store (free and paid mixed together):
– Facebook
– Skype
– TweetDeck
– Nimbuzz
– fring
– LinkedIn
– Truphone
– AIM
– Tweetie
– BeejiveIM
Ten popular apps in the Ovi Store (free and paid mixed together):
– Gravity (a Twitter client)
– Insy
– Friendster
– ThumbDive
– Hi5
– GyPSii
– IM+ For Skype
– See-Fi
– Twittix (another Twitter client)
– Facebook for Nokia
News and information
Ten popular apps in the App Store (free and paid mixed together):
– BBC World News Live
– NY Times
– AP Mobile
– France24
– Thomson Reuters News Pro
– CNN
– Wall Street Journal
– L.A. Times
– The Telegraph
– USA Today
Ten popular apps in the Ovi Store (free and paid mixed together):
– Daily Star
– Daily Express UK
– France24
– AP News
– Reuters
– The Straits Times (daily newspaper, popular in Singapore)
– The Star (Malaysian newspaper)
– The Guardian
– CNBC
– Breaking News
Music
Ten popular apps in the App Store (free and paid mixed together):
– Sirius XM
– Pandora Radio
– Shazam
– Y! Music
– imeem Mobile
– PocketGuitar
– AOL Radio
– Last.fm
– KCRW Radio
– Ocarina
Ten popular apps in the Ovi Store (free and paid mixed together):
– Mundu Radio
– NME
– MusAic
– Midomi
– Nokia Internet Radio
– Tunerific
– Bandfan
– MixPack
– Mozart Killer
– MyRMX
I could go on with a number of other categories, but I think you’ll agree the trend is clear: Nokia so far hasn’t attracted many familiar names on the Internet to develop and/or submit applications to the Ovi Store.
If the company wants to catch up and make its mobile marketplace a success, that needs to change.