Nokia has plans to roll out Ovi Store on other platforms, the manufacturer told Mobile this week.
Head of software, services and Go-To-Market Rupert Englander revealed plans
‘in the medium term’ to launch Ovi on other platforms. The store is currently exclusive to Nokia devices.
Englander remained non-committal over whether Ovi might become a standalone applications store open to devices outside the Nokia portfolio. He said: ‘At the moment, our focus is on ensuring a great Nokia experience in Ovi Store.’
However, a Nokia spokeswoman said: ‘We have not ruled out Ovi being used by other platforms in the medium term.
‘Access is possible in the future by other parties and partners so long as agreement is reached between those parties and Nokia.’
Englander also revealed plans for a host of new Ovi applications. He said: ‘There are some exciting applications arriving early next year from the developer community, who use our core mapping infrastructure and web through Ovi to provide context enriched applications.’
Englander said Nokia’s aim to transform itself into an internet services provider and increase its users to 300 million by 2012 is making good progress. ‘We have some interim targets that are well on track to hit this year.
‘We are absolutely transforming into a services business but it is also about bringing wonderful, compelling devices and services to market that work seamlessly with handsets. We have done a lot to break those barriers.’
Nokia Forum’s recently launched ‘Calling All Innovators’ competition, which is looking for new Ovi Store applications from developers, has received strong interest. ‘We have not drawn the finalists yet but we have had a great response,’ Englander said.
Finalists will be revealed in December.