And the company thinks Ovi Stores scale will help tempt brands away from iPhone.
Nokia’s Ovi Store will attract more branded applications as its global rollout increases, says UK marketing and GTM director Will Harris.
“I don’t think brands have really worked out that apps represent a massive ability to promote your brand,” he tells ME.
“A few people have stumbled into it by chance, but as a co-ordinated part of a branding campaign, apps have got a really big role to play.”
Ovi Store had a relatively slow start, with 10 million downloads in its first three months. However, Nokia says it’s ramping up, with the number of content items downloaded in August more than 50% higher than in July, while new user registrations jumped 250% in the same month.
It’s growing, in other words, as is its catalogue, with Nokia approving more than 500 new items a week – apps, ringtones and other content.
However, one challenge for Nokia is that of those brands who have caught onto the potential of mobile apps, most are targeting iPhone’s App Store rather than Nokia’s Ovi Store.
Apple may have less handsets, but it so far seems to have much more mindshare among companies with marketing budgets to spend on digital experimentation. Harris, unsurprisingly, thinks this will change.
“We’re in the first stages of the app war, where you can do an iPhone app and get media coverage for it, but the people who actually see it are quite small in number and homogenous,” says Harris.
“We’re passionate about this: we have a policy of apps for everyone, so it’s not just about putting Ovi Store on our premium Nseries devices, but about putting it on as many devices as possible, including Series 40 devices. We’re trying to democratise this and make apps for everyone rather than just the elite few. This is only really going to make a significant difference to our society and culture if it’s on everything.”
Will people be weighing up the merits of the various app stores when deciding what handset to buy this Christmas and beyond, then?
That’s Nokia’s challenge on the marketing side, to ensure people know they can get apps on more affordable handsets and not just the iPhone. But does Harris think apps will start to be the spur for handset buying decisions?
“People who buy phones on the tariffs that iPhones are on realise that most of these stores have the same content, so they’re making a handset choice,” he says.
“But by Christmas, I can very easily see the fact that you’ll be able to buy a £70-£80 phone in Carphone Warehouse that supports Ovi Store and lets you download a whole load of apps being a real point of difference. But then I would say that!”
Harris also says that Nokia remains focused on ensuring operators play a major role in the Ovi Store, particularly on the billing side. Currently, 27 operators in eight countries offer operator billing for Ovi Store, but Nokia says by the end of Q1 next year, more than 20 countries will have mobile billing.
“Operator billing is an important part of this,” says Harris. “To make this a phenomenon, it has to be a partnership with the operators, otherwise it will just be a nice thing for a few nice people.”
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