Nokia’s Much Awaited ‘Ovi Store’ Starts Rolling Out

Nokia’s eagerly awaited ‘Ovi Store‘ launched today with a start from Australia, followed by few other countries. Those who have no clue what the Ovi Store is, its an on-device mobile application marketplace for applications, themes, ringtones, widgets, and other content for Nokia cell phones. In short, it’s Nokia’s very own version of Apple’s App Store.

Initial reports came from Australia few hours back where the Ovi Store found first available on multiple Australian carriers. And now it seems its also live in Ireland, Singapore and Spain. The buzz has started with this soft launch and the store is expected to be available globally in next few hours/days.

Nokia’s official Conversations blog was also updated and confirmed that the store is moving online. “What’s happening is that the Ovi Store is moving to production servers, meaning that the Ovi Store is transitioning everything, testing things out, and even have a ton of folks on hand to follow the wind-up for the global commercial launch,” wrote a spokesperson for Nokia on the blog.

He further added “Keep in mind that the Ovi Store is only available through a select number of devices in select countries at the moment. You can expect a broader announcement and consumer availability soon”. This Nokia conversation blog post has been subsequently pulled off now.

The Ovi Store content is available for both S40-powered feature phones and S60-powered smartphones. The store is said to be available on devices like Nokia 5800, E75, N85, N95 and other Nokia Smartphones. The upcoming N97 and all new releases will come with a preloaded icon for Ovi Store. Nokia plans to come with over 20000 apps (free and paid) in the Ovi Store with the full official launch.

The Ovi Store is available via the Download! client. Go to Menu-> Download-> Options > Refresh content, then enter the ‘Nokia Extras’ category in order to look for the Ovi Store. The location may vary depending on what region you are in. If you do not find Ovi Store on your phone, it simply means its not launched yet for your area/ carrier.

Check your device and let everyone know if the OVi Store is yet available in your area.

Nokia Ovi Store Video Demo:

UPDATE:

OVI client is available for most geographical locations now, but still not everywhere. For all those who can’t find OVI in the ‘Download’ button on your Nokia 5800, we have uploaded the OVI application. Download the sis file, install it with PC Suite and you will find the OVI client on your 5800 : )

Download OVI Client for Nokia 5800