Finally, after several months of testing, Nokia has finally opened its Ovi Store. And we don’t have to tell you that this online app store is a direct competitor to the very successful iPhone Apps Store. The question is, does it have what it takes to beat Apple’s iPhone apps store?Like the iPhone apps store, Nokia Ovi Store houses (or will house) both free and paid apps supported by Nokia’s Symbian phones. Currently, Nokia listed around 50 Nokia mobile handsets that could use and access the Nokia Ovi Store. If we are to consider the huge userbase of Nokia phones, you would think that Nokia wouldn’t have a problem at all. But then, since Symbian supported apps are readily available on various unofficial sources, Nokia phone users who are into mobile apps might hesitate to get their apps from Nokia Ovi Store, especially the paid ones.
But for those loyal Nokia fans who would rather have the originally published Nokia apps, the Ovi Store would certainly be a great service. If only all of Nokia Symbian phone users would download free and purchase paid apps, then Nokia could easily surpass the recently achieved feat by the iPhone Apps Store of 1 billion apps download.
To do this, Nokia should be prepared with the influx of users that would be visiting the Ovi Store. Unfortunately various reports said that it seems to be not prepared yet as some users couldn’t access the site. This is the beauty of Apple’s iPhone Apps Store. iTunes Desktop application integrates well with the iPhone apps server giving us a seamless interface.
Going back to the question, can Nokia Ovi Store defeat the iPhone App Store? The answer is a resounding NO. Nokia can beat iPhone in phone sales and usages, but the Nokia Ovi Store does not have what it takes to beat the iPhone App Store.