The Ovi Store - Nokia's answer to Apple's Store for the iPhone

The Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to Apple’s offering for the iPhone – obviously Nokia hopes that the Ovi Store will tempt non-smartphone users away from the latest iPhone to be released in July. Will Nokia be successful? Time will tell, but judge for yourselves what you think about the new Ovi Store by clicking here, or on the above icon. Enjoy!

….a great overview of some of the capabilities of the N97. Roll-on June

Mobile Phones Direct - the first UK company to post details of Vodafone tariffs for the N97

Although there’s no release date yet, Mobile Phones Direct is offering the N97 for £39.15 on an 18-month Vodafone tariff. What’s interesting is that they’ve released this information on their website before Vodafone have any details of costs. By the time you read this, things might have changed, of course!

…but it’s fascinating that Mobile Phones Direct has the ’scoop’ on being able to pre-order the N97 on a tariff before the likes of CarPhone Warehouse & the other major distributors of contract phones.

I phones Vodafone to ask them if they had any details of their business tariffs for the N97 – all they could tell me at the moment is that the business tariff will roll out sometime in July. Presumably they’re awaiting the final release date from Nokia themselves before committing themselves, which is sensible.

The Nokia N97 represents the first high-end multimedia, web2.0 and business phone all in one package. It’s specifications show that, whilst it’s not at the top end in terms of hardware, the simultaneous release of the N97 alongside Nokia’s OVI store shows that the Finnish company is attempting to muscle in on Apple’s current dominance in the smartphone arena.

Obviously Nokia isn’t the only company to try and get slice of this still-in-the-oven pie: Samsung & Sony Erricson have both released high-end smartphones this year, and the battle for market dominance of this emerging technology is only in its early rounds, as mobile phone manufacturers bring on board ever-more sophisticated syntheses between new microprocessors, software and web integration. The Nokia N97 will certainly take centre-stage if Nokia is successful in its marketing (and it stands a good chance if it gets it right with the Ovi Store) – but don’t forget, there are three more digits before we reach the magic 100, so it’s obvious that Nokia still has plenty up its sleeve to compete with the specifications of the higher-end Samsung Omnia that was released earlier this year.

Nokia is planning to release the Ovi store (ovi fittingly means ‘door’ in Finnish) at the same time as it showcases it’s giant leap forward, the Nokia N97. This conincidental and planned dual release of both hardware and software/media services will surely create a much larger and longer lasting media buzz than just the N97 alone ever could.

The Ovi store is arguably the surf board with which Nokia will ride forward with speed to attempt catch-up with the as-yet unchallenged ubiquitous iPhone. Whilst it’s true that touch screen mobiles are now , Nokia’s latest addition will undoubtedly be enhanced by Ovi.

Perhaps the biggest step forward for Nokia isn’t so much the wide range of 3rd party application that will be available, but much more the huge range of movies that will be viewable (presumably on a pay-per-view service structure), alongside a Minority Report style ultra-targeted aGPS-based advertising model.

Let’s not forget the N97’s ultimate configurability, too, however: customizable widgets, the integration of social media & business applications, multimedia capabilities – truly, this promises to live up to the Nokia claim It Becomes What You Are.

Roll on June/July