Nokia re-evaluating Ovi services strategy

While Nokia has its own large stable of developers on its S60 smartphone platform, most of Ovi’s core services were developed top down. Starting with the acquisition of key companies like Navteq, Loudeye and EnPocket, Nokia used its core technology to create Nokia-branded, -distributed, and -monetized services. While many of those services have been big successes, particularly in core markets such as Europe, the overnight success of the Apple App store must have given Nokia pause. Some developers have even chosen to develop for the iPhone exclusively. Handset and platform makers moved quickly to emulate Apple: RIM, Google’s Android and Microsoft have all either launched or plan to launch App stores of their own. At Mobile World Congress, Nokia joined the pack, announcing the planned launch of the Ovi store and a new development platform that mirrors the Apple model.

Nokia plans to launch the Ovi store in May but, according to a Reuters report, revealed that Ovi’s scope will be limited in the US as Nokia has reached no operator billing agreements with US service providers. The US is Nokia’s weakest market, due in part to the dominance of CDMA in North America, but also to resistance from US operators to Nokia’s services model.