Store — Nokia Ovi

The Ovi Store was targeted at:

At peak (2010-2011), over 100+ million Nokia devices had Ovi Store client pre-installed or available as an update. nokia ovi store

Ovi’s search algorithm was famously broken. Searching for "GPS" would return themes called "GPS Style Blue" before actual navigation apps. Top charts were gamed by theme makers. There was no user review system at launch. Nokia eventually added star ratings, but by then, trust was gone. The Ovi Store was targeted at:

| Metric | Peak Figure (Approx.) | |--------|----------------------| | Daily downloads | 4.5 million (Feb 2011) | | Total downloads (by 2010) | Over 1 billion | | Registered developers | 500,000+ | | Available apps (2011) | ~90,000 | | Developer payout (total) | €10+ million (by 2010) | At peak (2010-2011), over 100+ million Nokia devices

Despite large user base numbers, Ovi Store downloads per device lagged far behind Apple’s App Store and Android Market.

By the time Ovi Store gained traction, Apple had established that $0.99 was the psychological price point for apps. Developers were making millions. Nokia, however, had a different strategy: They wanted to sell "premium" apps at $5, $10, or even $20.

More damaging was the revenue split. Nokia took 70% of revenue—the same as Apple. However, Nokia provided zero marketing support and required developers to test their apps on dozens of different screen resolutions (from 176x208 to 640x360) and input methods (touch, keyboard, stylus). In contrast, Apple had three screen sizes. Developers abandoned Symbian in droves for iOS and the rising Android SDK.