Nokia is making an aggressive move against Apple with this launch, which begins on March 2nd with the roll out of publish.ovi.com - a platform through which publishers can upload content to the store.

Companies such as EA, Facebook, Fox, Lonely Planet, Shazam and others are already committed.

The store will give publishers the chance to offer products by credit card or operator billing, with a 70 per cent rev share (once the operator takes its cut).

Ovi Store will be downloadable to S40 and S60 devices from May, and will be pre-installed in the N97 from July. Nokia expects 300 million phones a year to integrate the store by 2013.

The vendor is promising a 'huge' number of apps and entertanment products on the store, many of which will link to location. It also emphasised the store's profiling capability an its ability to add relevance and personalisation to the offering.