With the news that Apple have (unsurprisingly) had 10 million downloads from their on-device AppStore in the first weekend of operation, I can't help but reflect back on the continuing disaster that is Nokia's Download! system - read my rant below and see if you agree!
Read on in the full article.
I would have liked a web version as well, being able to view using a monitor (and using mouse, keyboard etc) would make browsing all these apps much much easier.
Tbh I dont want to use my phone for browsing for apps. The function needs to be there of course - in case I need something on the fly, like translation software or the like.
Maybe with OVI we might see something worthwhile.
Wasn't there something about the download service on the mysterious www.openatownrisk.com webpage?
"A secret that can now be found within Nokia Download service, allowing the public � you, to find the key to break the seals."
Isn't that a hint for a Download service redesign?
Have none of you been on to http://www.download.nokia.com/ ??
You can browse all the apps that way.
I do agree though, it's a pretty poor service 😡
bartmanekul wrote:I would have liked a web version as well, being able to view using a monitor (and using mouse, keyboard etc) would make browsing all these apps much much easier.
Is this what you're looking for?
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5868_Download_for_PC_now_available_.php
Tim
Ah, thanks Tim, didnt even know that existed (which says a lot about things).
I'll have a look at that now.
Have none of you been on to http://www.download.nokia.com/ ??You can browse all the apps that way.
I do agree though, it's a pretty poor service
Been there, and its the worst way of doing it possible. Theres no search, no way to list or sort the apps, and there seems to be an extremely small selection. Many good apps I know of are not in there.
Although Nokia have developed various PC versions of Download, the on-phone version of Download hasn't really been updated at all in the past few years, and that's just ridiculous.
Even the structure of the Download menus is ludicrous, with some organised by publisher while others are organised by software type, and frequently the title of a folder gives you no clue as to what is inside it.
Nokia could make Download a lot better simply by reorganising the folder structure (so for example all the games would be in a single folder called "Games"😉. That would take no time at all to do, and it would make it much easier to navigate. There's also the bizarre choice to make some software visible on some phones but not others, so people can't rely on Download to find particular games or apps.
It's even more frustrating because the new N-Gage application does a very good job of handling phone software sales. It's not perfect, but it's much faster than Download, better organised, looks more attractive, has more features (including user reviews), displays all games on all phones and is more intuitive to navigate. You can even browse N-Gage without an internet connection, and use it to launch software which you've already installed, or use it to restore software you've bought but uninstalled.
Selling N-Gage games is technically no different to selling any other phone software, so why is it that N-Gage gets a fairly good interface while Download (with its much larger audience) stays rubbish for so long?
And why is there a parallel "catalogues" system running alongside Download with a totally different interface?
Why bother with Nokia download, when Handango is excellent.
timsalmon wrote:Is this what you're looking for?http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5868_Download_for_PC_now_available_.php
Tim
Unfortunatly, its not available anymore. Online nokia download appears to have replaced it, according to betalabs.
Which is a huge shame, as I said, theres absoloutly no way of searching or even looking in categories for an app. Unless Im missing something on that page?
All you can do is choose between top downloads, new downloads, Applications and games! They dont even seem to be in any order.
8 pages of 'applications' with no sort or search option - its not suprising people wouldnt use it.
Oh, and it also doesn't give any prices, it just says 'try for free'.
Couldn't agree with you more, Steve. In the few days that I've been playing with the App Store on my iPhone, I've been very impressed by it's implementation (less so by the apps but it is early days). Searching by "Featured, Category, Top 25" or just a name search is so quick and easy, with a further split for Paid and Free apps. Downloading to either iPhone or iTunes for later sync is simple and more to the point, works. As does the payement method of linking to your iTunes account. I couldn't count the number of times Nokia Download gave me errors while clicking trhough the various levels.
Definitely one of the plus points of my new iPhone 3G, and I've already bought a couple of Apps just through browsing around.
I wrote about this last November and had some ideas how it could be improved..
http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/495
Simon
I agree with pretty much all the above, apart from the praise for Handango. Even though they're the dominant force in mobile software downloads, I won't be using them anymore. Final straw was when they wanted a fee for a repeat download after I'd reflashed my phone several months after first paying for the app. And the way they don't tell you the VAT until you're almost finished with the buying process is very close to breaching UK consumer law.
The shame is, they saw it all coming. They just sat there, doing nothing. They had the edge...years of experience in the mobile phone industry and a massive customer base. Instead they postured, claimed their industry wasn't easy to get into and that the iPhone would struggle...lauged at the concept of a fully touch interface and pointed at all the features they had that the iPhone didn't that people easily shrugged off.
Poor effort.
I followed the link to the Europe nokia page for download from the PC.....Go figure, not available on the US version of the website. Another place where I believe Nokia fails. They deliver content uneaqually to consumers. And don't get me started on availability of phone models here in the US!!
All this and I still love my phones.
bartmanekul wrote:<snip>Oh, and it also doesn't give any prices, it just says 'try for free'.
Which is also pretty close to breaching UK consumer law.
Given that there is "absolutely no excuse" it would be well worth you AAS guys exploiting your Nokia contacts/goodwill and getting an interview with, or some response from, the appropriate person(s) at Nokia for this. It would certainly give you an exclusive, and I'm sure given Nokia's deployed handset base and market share, many users and analysts would be interested in just what they're thinking on this one.
Go on AAS, make the effort - get some feedback!
Remember too that we are not just talking about S60 here, why shouldn't the vast numbers of S40 users also enjoy an app store that gave access to Java and Web based software, particularly given S40's increasing focus on Web capability?
Finally, will Nokia's Ovi strategy not play a part in replacing the incompetencies of "Download"?
Alex
phonething.com
bartmanekul wrote:Unfortunatly, its not available anymore. Online nokia download appears to have replaced it, according to betalabs.
Ah. Apologies.
Tim
We develop applications for iPhone. Not only the AppStore is much better than Nokia Download, Nokia Softwaremarket or Handango but the Cocoa application framework simply blows away everything available on Symbian. After 5 years of Symbian development experience I can say that developing for iPhone is a dream. We stop further development process for our Symbian applications (no further upgrades) and focus our resources to the iPhone. I'm sorry to say this because I somehow emotionally connected to Symbian but now it's time to move on.
After 5 years of Symbian development experience...
We stop further development process for our Symbian applications
May I ask who 'we' are?
Tim, no worries. But with that link I saw that in organisation at least, it was vastly better than the web service that replaced it.
We stop further development process for our Symbian applications (no further upgrades) and focus our resources to the iPhone
I'm not sure who you are or if you're being genuine, but I have noticed this trend anyway with a bunch of the apps I use, some of who have all just released iPhone/iPod touch apps. I could see it was going that way when iPhone specific websites started popping up even though there was no reason the s60 browser couldn't render the exacts same page.
I can't see a lot of killer apps being developed for s60 phones in the long run from here on. I'll be considering a windows mobile for my next handset.
I had a terrible n-gauge experience.
You have to manually install the client, When you click "download N-gauge" it pops up a box saying you need to download the client and you can't even click the url so you need to write it down and then go to a web browser.
Buying apps just plain did not work. I coul'nt find a link to buy the game I was interested in ("Brain challenge" by Gameloft) and when I tried to buy it inside the game I got "account not authorized."
In the end I went to gameloft's website and bought it there. Kudos to gameloft for making it as simple as possible and it just worked.
Nokia are not the only people best by poor customer experience
http://gizmodo.com/5019516/classic-clips-bill-gates-chews-out-microsoft-over-xp
Buying apps just plain did not work. I coul'nt find a link to buy the game I was interested in ("Brain challenge" by Gameloft) and when I tried to buy it inside the game I got "account not authorized."
You download the game, then if you like it you select the purchase option to turn the demo into full version. The idea is that no one ends up with a lemon.
The "account not authorised" message obviously shouldn't be appearing, so you might want to report it on the purchase section of the support forums:
http://forums.arena.n-gage.com/nokia?category.id=supportforums
Nokia's biggest problem is that they have their services to scattered. Ovi is a good start and I am sure download will be moved there in the future.
Nokia is still partly in a swap they created theirselves. Their nseries software is a ugly beast that does it work. Yet why can't they have a java app that'll run on any platform and can access their phones through wifi or internet for syncing and more? Why all this vista/xp/mac problems if one software and a collection of platform and platform independent access methods can fix all in an clear and transparent way? If apple can get away with their own 'gui styling'. Nokia can too!
snoyt wrote: Yet why can't they have a java app that'll run on any platform and can access their phones through wifi or internet for syncing and more?
They had a java app that ran on linux and mac which could sync to a phone. Why they let it rot is way beyond me.
... I would be registering the domain and starting AllAboutiPhone pretty damn quick.
I remember when PalmInfoCentre was a site I'd visit every day ...
Sorry guys - but NOKIA are faffing around with services and buying anyone they can whilst the core product goes moldy.
I do wonder if their purchase of Symbian will lead to a better operating system for them. Now they can call all the shots as to how that OS should evolve and, perhaps, with all the development focus on NOKIA devices (at least for the next two years) they can move things along a bit faster.
Steve, well put, it is a shame the way Download! looks.
Its even worst here, in Canada, most folders are empty.
I sure hope Nokia will fix this soon.
Bosambo wrote:AllAboutiPhone.net
How very web2.0!
Interesting that Steve's contributing and Rafe's not.
😊
I feel that Nokia's problem is communication. Sure, their online via-phone shop sucks the big one, but even if it didn't, the other stores are easy to use but the message isn't getting across.
As I mentioned in this blog post ( http://rcopeh.blogspot.com/2008/07/uninformed-opinion-of-mobile-market.html - forgive the plug), I know people who own Smartphones but who haven't an incling that their phone is even capable of doing a quarter of the stuff a few downloads from Handango will do. It never enters their minds. Not because they're thick - far from it - but because they're not being told in clear terms.
Apple have a less capable device (one which I have and love, but it is less capable), but their communication is fantastic.
Just my opinion, but as the blogpost says, I'm uninformed so am happy to be corrected 😃
Nokia Download App his crap majority of the time the folders refresh with errors
There is endless faults what i've come across
Maybe Firmware upgrades will put it right b/c all the new stuff as been added since last update
People hardly ever even go in download after 1st few day's of buying their device so all the new stuff just get's added unnoticed,Nokia need a new marketing stratedgy to make people aware
EDIT:I've just gone into Download>Applications: in there is new folder called Nokia Software Manager and noticed all the prices are in euro's!
little stupid of them, if they want people of the UK to use the store then surley they need to mark the software up in � for us