Nokia’s Ovi store gaining worldwide momentum

With a global reach of 140-million service users worldwide, Nokia today announced that more than 200 000 people are signing up daily to Ovi and that the Ovi Store is delivering 2.3-million downloads per day. Available in 190 countries, Ovi is predominantly discovered through Maps, Music, Messaging, Apps Store and Ovi Lifetools.

Earlier this year, Nokia South Africa introduced operator billing for consumers purchasing applications from Ovi Store in South Africa, making it possible for more consumers to purchase their favourite apps without having to use a credit card. Since the implementation of operator billing, there has been an increase in the purchasing of apps from Ovi Store, which is encouraging for local developers.

The growing popularity of the Ovi experience on a global scale has also led to 70 developers and publishers surpassing the million download mark for their content in the Ovi Store. Developers and publishers reaching and moving past this milestone include Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, HeroCraft and Offscreen Technologies.

HeroCraft, a publisher of content that includes the game Farm Frenzy, has received more than 10 million downloads, and Offscreen, a developer of a variety of touchscreen apps, has more than 45 million.

Gerard Brandjies, general manager, Nokia South Africa, says that “Today people discover Ovi through Maps, Music, Messaging and Ovi Store. With a new generation of amazing devices, like the Nokia N8, developers are looking at Ovi as a good business decision and a chance to innovate and create next-generation mobile experiences for our family of new Symbian devices.”

Other Ovi milestones include:

More than 7 million tracks are now available on Ovi Music South Africa which includes a mix of local and international artists. In total, 11 million Ovi Music tracks are available in 38 markets and complemented by the popular interconnected GigFinder app that uses personal music preferences to find relevant entertainment venues. Nokia is the largest single source of music revenue in South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, India and Finland.

An updated Ovi Store experience – debuting on the newly available Nokia N8 but coming to the full range of new Symbian smartphones – giving a friendlier look and feel, faster content discovery and more popular content choices.

Improvements for developers include new development tools and benefits such as free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase and beta in-app advertising programs, improved revenue share and advanced developer analytics.

Significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK) have resulted in a 70 percent reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the company’s family of Symbian smartphones.

Continued expansion of Ovi Maps around the world and the integration of more new features. Walk and drive navigation is available in 78 countries and 46 languages and includes public transit details in more than 80 cities, and features such as check-in that supports location as the new social connector.

Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat have surpassed 17 million accounts, Nokia Messaging currently delivers push email and instant messaging to 4 million people, and new social networking features on the Nokia N8 and other new Symbian-powered devices that enhance Facebook and Twitter with a more seamless experience.