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Nokia threatens to blow iPhone away
Ovi platform goes across phones and PCs.
By Peter Judge, Techworld | Techworld
Published: 12:26 GMT, 29 August 07
Nokia has launched new multimedia phones, as well as Ovi, a music and games service that spans phones and PCs. Nokia clearly hopes to the package will leave Apple's iPhone and iTunes standing, but it might cause tension with operators.
Ovi is a door to a new Nokia music store, GPS-linked maps, and a revived N-Gage gaming service, which users will access through PCs as well as mobile devices. It includes a new user interface, and will be open to developers for new services, as well as to share photos and movies, and access existing communities such as Facebook and Myspace. Appropriately enough, the word Ovi means "door" in Finnish.
The services, which will launch before Christmas in many countries including the UK, will initially be for Nokia's high-end N series, but will filter down to other phones based on the Symbian S60, S40 and S30 user interfaces, potentially giving Nokia a massive market that could eclipse Apple's.
Four phones were announced. These included an upgrade to the popular N95, with memory extended to 8 GB, costing 560 euros and the N81, a 3G music phone with Wi-Fi, which can have either 8GB of internal memory, or a microSD card for expandable memory, costing 430 euros. There were also two cheaper 4Gbyte XpressMusic phones - the 225 euro 5310 and the 5610, which has a sliding keyboard a 3.2 Mpixel camera, and the ability to play music continuously for 22 hours.
Despite the obvious overlap with the iPhone, the Nokia executives refused to give the Apple product any more publicity at the London launch of Ovi, dodging a question that asked whether the new user interface, with its revolving panes, was similar to the iPhone, pointing out that Nokia has done its own creative work and is the largest consumer durables maker in the world, with 900 million users.
The Nokia phones and Ovi service scored over the iPhone on at least three major counts: the phones have 3G capability, Nokia promised to welcome third party developers (the iPhone has been criticised for being closed), and outlined a wider cross-platform services story. The PC interface to Ovi might, in fact, answer our call for a Symbian desktop.
Nokia already has touch-screen devices in its N series, (the Linux based N800 Internet tablet), and plans to bring a touch interface to the Symbian phones in its N series next year, the company said.
The move into services might controversial, with operators, but Nokia president and chief executive officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo explained the reasoning. "Phones and devices are not enough any more," he said. "If the consumer wants anything, they want a service on top of that, and the ease of use of the totality is important. This is to help operators. Ovi will support them in their strategies."
The service will enable downloading, sideloading (loading from the PC onto a mobile device) and listening live: "The online part of the music business is small, because the full experience has been missing," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager of multimedia at Nokia. "Users want a simple experience which does not take any position on how the music is consumed." The service will, however, include sufficient digital rights management (DRM) to reassure the music industry they are not losing revenue.
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Add your commentComments
Turdpants | Published: 13:42 GMT, 06 September 2007
iPhone is nothing but a hack Nokia with a fancy Samsung screen replete with hype in inverse proportion to its' use and functionality. Bought an iPhone today- total piece of garbage. Clunky and ultra-geeky only suitable for the Apple-philiacs. I'm trading it in in my country for another Nokia. No hype or spin- just damn good phones that work after you drop them. I work in the corporate sector a a manager and found the iPhone to be totally useless for portable documentation and online meetings. Utter rubbish and not worth buying- just like the iPod.
brightred | Published: 13:37 GMT, 31 August 2007
but does it do WiFi? anything else locks users into telco proprietary download services.
Pete | Published: 12:57 GMT, 31 August 2007
I guess you'd better start learning some Finnish now;) "Avaa ovi" (Open the door) and "Ovi on auki" (The door is open" would make a perfect place to start because you will be hearing a lot more about Ovi in the future. Next year it will be time for something bit more difficult like "Omena jäi oven väliin" (The apple was crushed by the door.)
Alex | Published: 08:26 GMT, 31 August 2007
Ha, Apple fannies... Just watching your world domination EGOs spilling off is funny. There is certainly a chance Apple can gain in mobile market, but I would say it's pretty slim, especially when you look at the whole world's, not US market. Nokia will be hard to beat as long as they produce good phones once a year. iPhone, no wi-fi, no 3G, not as good in the phone department. Sorry guys, no reason to fight, 'coz you've already lost :)
Are you kidding? | Published: 08:02 GMT, 31 August 2007
Apple has hardly made a dint in the Mobile phone market world wide, Nokia are the world leaders. Not even Sony/Ericsson can compete. I gather most of you are BIG Apple fans from your comments, and seeing as the US cell phone market is relatively small in comparison to Europe and Asia, where Nokia is King, I don't think Nokia would see a single model phone doing much damage, especially one as expensive as the iPhone.
mrpiddly | Published: 04:24 GMT, 31 August 2007
well did the author even consider the entire range of the web 2 applications on the iPhone. The only thing its missing is flash support which should come soone enough. Using a nokia phone to browse the web is like beating yourself with a spiked bat, and that only simple none web 2 pages.
JS | Published: 00:31 GMT, 30 August 2007
The phones from Nokia look like more of the same...more smack talking short on execution. What else is new. Now every idiot on the web will write about it. I'm still waiting for the iPod killer (remember those articles). Apple's first attempt at a phone has already produced a much better user experience than years of Nokia expertice in the field. You have to ask yourself Why? If they had game they should not have left it at home all these years.
Craig | Published: 00:17 GMT, 30 August 2007
"Knock the apple off the tree"?? Yes, Apple has been the innovator of software, hardware, and user interfaces that others "Knock-Off" for many years. While Apple is new to the cell phone world and does not have the market share that Nokia and others have, Apple has changed the entire business "overnight" because of their hard work. Let's give our business to the companies that deserve it. Perhaps the Nokia phones would sell better if they paid Apple a licensing fee and put the Apple logo on them :)
Be Careful - | Published: 20:04 GMT, 29 August 2007
"Nokia has been doing this for what, 15 years, and Apple is going on 3 months. Ludicrous to think Apple sees themselves as the leader. 1% is the current goal." They said the same thing about the Apple // in 1977, now IBM (the Nokia) of the time, has left the business entirely. Nokia will be the same. Sure, the "goal" is 1%, but the internal reality is 3% in 18 months, 15% in 24 months, 36% in 36 months, etc. Nokia has little chance against Apple, they simply don't have the skills or expertise to build a great cell phone.
Johnny Smith | Published: 19:48 GMT, 29 August 2007
Apple now owns the entire top portion of the cell market. That's a fact. Nokia has nothing even on the drawing boards to even get 60% close to the iPhone. Apple has much more experience with hardware and software than Nokia ever will, so they are a gonner unless they attempt to partner with Apple. A few well placed "nano" or "mini" iPhone announcements and Nokia is history. Apple is the most genius company of our time. OSX and a Phone? Impossible to beat, California sets all the rules and Nokia has to play 3rd place from here on out. -----