GLOBAL – Since day one, phone hardware has consistently been pushing the boundaries of form and function with each new generation. But in the past few years the focus has increasingly shifted from the phones themselves to the services that run on them – and that’s good news if you ask us.
When it comes to services, Nokia is unquestionably in a class of its own thanks to its unique ecosystem of services on offer. Our latest sojourn into the Almanac sees us put aside the phones themselves and cast some well-deserved attention on the services.
Ovi Store
Ovi Store is such a cornerstone of the Nokia ownership experience these days that it’s amazing to think it’s still less than a year old. Its flexibility and ease of use have seen Ovi Store grow rapidly, to the extent that Nokia owners in 18 countries and speaking 30 languages are collectively downloading more than a million apps every day. It’s no snob either, with clever touch-savvy efforts for Maemo and Symbian S60 sitting alongside functional no-frills apps for Series 40 devices.
It’s been a whirlwind year for Ovi Store, and we can’t wait to see what the next 12 months have in store.
Ovi Maps
The decision to make walk and drive navigation with Ovi Maps free of charge in January is likely to prove one of the most significant mobile announcements of the whole year. By making turn-by-turn navigation freely available to all, it instantly turned millions of phones into full-blown navigation devices.
Downloads have gone off the chart, with an average of one per second. More impressively is its global coverage and support for a total of 46 languages, which makes it hugely versatile, while the fact that it stores maps on the device means you don’t even need to be online to use it.
Nokia Life Tools
There are plenty of other worthy services worth talking about, such as Nokia Music Store or Ovi Share, but none of them demonstrates Nokia’s global outlook and commitment to emerging markets better than Nokia Life Tools.
Nokia Life Tools delivers genuine benefit where it really counts. Being able to tap into the latest agriculture news and advice, weather reports and even language lessons are valuable tools that can make a real difference to people’s lives.