The Nokia Ovi Store now open in the UK

svdwal wrote:Sales tax/VAT is not handled before the 30/70 revenue share deal between Apple and the developer. I looked at my App Store revenue share report and there is just the 30/70 percent share. There's also no mention of VAT on the invoice. That means, I think', that the sales tax/VAT is coming from Apple's 30% share.

This sounded so strange that I had to dig up a bit.

From BBC on-line article about iPhone developers:

"Jeremy Rayner, who describes himself as a "hobby" developer says he developed his game "Rabbit Run" on his train commute from Hastings to his day job in London. It sells for �1.19 and after Apple's 30% and the tax is deducted, he ends up with 50p."

So App store pays Value added tax just like everybody else. Two things are certain in life and tax is one of those 😊

My thoughts about Ovi Store: I'm going to swith to the new iPhone.

Glorified Download! That's all Ovi Store is.

And the content? Yawn... Same old generic c**p we've seen in countless many other places.

No thanks.

Although Ovi store appears in the refreshed download! list on my E90, if I select it, Download! tells me that my "device is not compatible with the Ovi store".

Oh well. I guess I'll see it when the N97 gets released.

Julie

what boggles my mind is that a simple small app called GRAVITY was released and it makes my 5800 an absolute JOY to use to twitter. you're telling me that nokia couldnt come up with something at least SIMILAR to gravity, with kinetic scrolling, or at least a slick looking interface, or SOMETHING similar to gravity? honestly it really is pathetic at this point. maybe i'm too harsh, i dunno. i'm the biggest nokia fan and i WANT to see them succeed. but aren't these some basic usability issues that should have been thought out on the FIRST day of ovi store development?

Yeah, I guess it is early days and they have plenty of time to improve it.... But, some of Steve's observations could easily have been sorted before launch. Also, they are going up against the Apple store, so the bar is set quite high.
For free apps I'll stick with Phoload.com and Getjar.com for now and keep revisiting Ovi to see how it progresses.

I'm using an N73, and there is no download app for the Ovi Store apparently. When I go to the Ovi Store in Download! it just opens a WAP page. So apparently there isn't an app for this (one of Nokia's most popular) device. I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed, especially considering that almost all of the apps in the store run on the N73, and even RIM and Microsoft support their old OSes (BBOS 4.3 and WM5, respectively).

The store app is wrt which is probably whe it can't be used on the n73 and you're stuck with the web version.

I don't understand why they didn't use native symbian code instead of wrt. Every wrt app i've ever installed has had that slower sluggish lag, including the newest weather widget. If they mimicked gravity with this ovi store app it would have given a very positive first impression for this launch. I know i'm repeating myself, but maybe this is what it takes for nokia to hear my screaming advice!

svdwal wrote:This is not Nokia's fault. Developers are free to set their own price point.

I'm afraid it is very much Nokia's fault, speaking as a developer. This is how it works with Apple:

You pay a fee to register as a developer, currently $99. Documentation is extensive and helpful forums/discussion groups exist.

You submit your applications, as many as you want. Apple test the application's suitability for the iPhone for you. For free.

Applications are distributed through iTunes. Easy to use.

The revenue share is 30/70, Apple/developer. You are paid monthly.

This is how it works with Nokia:

You need a publisher ID. This is $200. Documentation is spread over many web sites, and it's almost impossible to find out what you need to do. A forum exists, but it's very rare if anyone from Nokia replies - if they do, they say they're very busy and be patient, or that a question is FUD...

Every application has to be tested by the developer prior to submission. It's incredibly hard to figure out how much this costs as applications have to be tested by device (yes, that's correct, by individual phone, not the operating system/platform, Symbian or Java). Best estimates are about $2000. That per application, per release.

Applications are distributed through Ovi store/download app. Easy to use... right?

The revenue share is 30/70, Nokia/developer. Except operators can take a cut first (often 40/50%), then Nokia takes 30% of what's left. You are paid only if what Nokia owes you is more than $500.

Now you know why app prices are high, and real content is low. Frankly only a fool would develop applications for Ovi store. The barrier to entry is too high.

The wife's got an iphone and I gotta admit the app store is awesome. Simple to use. Loads of free content. Loads of <�1 content.

If the prices mentioned above to list on ovi are as high as advertised then ovi is doomed before it's begun. As soon as the price point goes over .99p people will think "Do I really need this?" - and generally, they don't.

I'm disappointed. With buying apps like this - and with the potential s60 user base, "pile it high, sell it cheap" stood a real chance but there's apps on here for �20 a pop. Good luck with that...

*sigh*

D

I think that this was Nokia's best shot at gaining developers and traction in the mobile apps market and I think they've missed, badly.

Apple's App store certainly isn't unbeatable. Apple's obsession with absolute control over what can and can't be done on a handset provides a ready niche that can be exploited by rivals but IMHO the Ovi store offers nothing to entice new, small developers to start writing the kind of applications that have made the iPhone/Touch a great hit

And without a vibrant mobile apps scene it's going to be increasingly difficult for Nokia to hold off rival smartphones.

Nokia N82 on Orange UK, Ovi now appears in Download list a day later. Probably just to slow things down with people going at the servers at once? Even though it's only tech geeks doing this how can they cope with the average user or don't they expect this to take off?The store does not look that appetising ill check it when im bored.

still not showing on my pc 0575581

Trying to create a Nokia account via my N95-3 NAM since the store.ovi.com seems non-op at the moment. Fails due to the Captcha not rendering during registration.

I'm basically dead on the water...

I think the scope of the attempt for store.ovi.com was admirable, but wow, you don't launch a store like this and claim victory because of what you tried to pull off. From the Conversations blog:

[INDENT]"At the risk of sounding biased, I�m going to agree with the latter. Why? Well, let�s look at the stats. 109 countries. Five languages. Fifty handsets. Operator billing in eight countries. A cross-platform service offering a wide range of content. The problem? Not anticipating the speed, volume or numerous locations of users accessing the service."[/INDENT]

Yikes. It's like saying, we built all these stores in all these countries, had stock on the shelves and trained staff, but we couldn't open the doors - yippee for us - we tried our best! Jeesh, you're a for profit business.

I'm sure Nokia will work out the kinks - they have to in order to compete. Here's hoping it's soon.

It appears there are significant problems running store.ovi.com in Firefox. What I thought was a non-op site, seems to just be Firefox (running 3.x on Mac OS). Shows blank screen of death. But Safari and Opera work.

Again, yikes.

CAPTCHA still doesn't work on any of Safari, Opera, or S60 native browser. *sigh*

I suppose tomorrow is another day.

Hi

I've donwloaded some free apps to my Nokia 5800 fine - no problem at all. So, I decided to splash out and buy a couple of games!

So I paid for them and started the download. It got nearly to the end of installation and then I got the Invalid jar file message. Please can anyone give me any ideas why? Is it a problem with the games?? I've tried contacting Ovi but had no reply.

Would appreciate any help!

Thanks!

If Nokia execs aren't that disconnected from World, they should think about it. I have almost $400 amount of software purchased so far for my Symbian phones including couple of J2ME apps.

If I had iPhone,iPod now, I could launch iTunes and purchase apps from Turkish iTunes store which was unexpected since Apple isn't really good at this market let alone in mobile market...

There is NO Ovi store in my Download! application. Its web version doesn't work right in Opera (which means a lot), Safari (which they picked its engine for S60) or anything.

Perhaps Nokia should leave this Symbian thing to other companies which will actually do something about it and enjoy selling S40 devices? I mean, enough wasting our time and hopes really. What bothers me is, I will be forced to use iPhone fascistic device as a OS X user since Windows Mobile OS X support is a joke too. It is understandable, it is coming from MS. What is Nokia's issue with OS X?

Oh lets not forget something which came to my mind as first thing if I didn't know Nokia and their culture. Ignoring certain parts of planet which you have market lead can lead up ignorance or even racism questions.

Arthur wrote:Glorified Download! That's all Ovi Store is.

And the content? Yawn... Same old generic c**p we've seen in countless many other places.

No thanks.

Unbeliavable is, Download! (at least on my E65 with latest fw) actually _misses_ content now. I remember seeing good themes, apps etc. just months ago and when I checked it again, they are all gone.

They offer WALLPAPERS (yes right, GIF wallpapers!) to E65 which is Symbian S60 V3 and couple of idiotic apps which are money traps and nothing else.

No maps even! Man you can't download maps from Download! app anymore, you have to launch their buggy S60 browser and it generally fails on that page.