Nokia Application Store Is Called Ovi Store

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Nokia unveiled its mobile application storefront and it’s called Ovi Store. Set to begin operating in May of this year, the new service is designed to go well beyond any other mobile application store on the market. Nokia’s trick is to offer users much more than applications and games, by including other content like images, podcasts, audiobooks, widgets and more through a single interface. In that sense, the Finnish giant will consolidate the best experiences from its existing content services including Download!, MOSH and WidSets to a single channel.

But that’s not all. Unlike other content/application stores out there, Nokia said their Ovi Store will be the first social- and location-aware storefront. What this means is that you will receive different mobile content recommendations based on your and your friends’ preferences, and current location. This may sound spooky for the privacy advocates, but the whole thing is made to function in an opt-in manner, only if user activates social discovery “engine.”

Beginning in March, content providers, developers and the existing Forum Nokia developer ecosystem can begin uploading their content at publish.ovi.com to be among first one to distribute their media through Nokia’s mobile store.

The upcoming Nokia N97 will be the first device to include the pre-loaded Ovi Store client, while existing Nokia Series 40 and S60 users will have to download a dedicated application.

Finally, to appeal to both end-users and operators, Nokia will allow two type of payments for the content - either using a credit card or through operator billing. Guess the latter model is designed to get more carriers on board.