Nokia are proud of the Ovi Store, it’s gaining traction, there are more downloads every day, and I don’t begrudge them the right to shout about any  success whenever they want. So the list of “Top Ovi Store Games” on the Conversations Blog is exactly what I’d expect. And hopefully Nokia are fully aware that we're going to look at this post and ask the question “nice list, but how about some context?”

So what do we have? It's little more than a list of the top ten games on the Ovi Store, ranked by downloads. Notably, all the titles are free to download, and the big brand names of Need for Speed and Angry Birds are at the top. With no disrespect to the three games at the foot of the list, Cube Touch, Air Hockey and Soccer Bounce would not be the first games that spring to mind if I wanted to show off the Symbian^3 platform. It’s surprising that they are this far up the list (or perhaps there’s a really big drop-off after the first three titles).

They’ve also stressed that this is the list of free titles, and mentioned the top selling game (the full version of Angry Birds) but have left everything else in the 'paid for' category to speculation.

In the vicious smartphone world, Nokia can’t actually win. When they don’t release the numbers, they get called out for meaningless relative comparisons (ahem, see above). At some point, numbers are going to come out, and they’ll be pored over to find statistical (comparative) “facts” that may well be negatively 'spun'.

So they’re in a lose-lose situation. Given that choice, I’d probably be using the same approach that they are, but have a couple of high profile stories loaded in the cannon and ready to go, with one goal in mind.

When it’s time, Nokia need to be ready to show developers where the money is. Maybe they’re holding that back for an big splash at MWC?

-- Ewan Spence, Jan 2011.