Nokia’s Ovi Store hits five million downloads daily

Nokia’s proprietary platform for applications, games, navigation and music, the Ovi Store, has grown by nearly eight times over the last year and has now reached up to five million downloads per day.

This, according to a statement from Nokia Nigeria on Monday, is propelled by the latest Symbian devices such as Nokia N8, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and Nokia E7, which account for about 15 per cent of the daily downloads.

Increased demand for apps from the approximate 200-million-strong Symbian consumer base has seen the Ovi Store catalogue grow to more than 40,000 apps, with about 1,000 added weekly.

This momentum had resulted in 158 developers from 41 countries now surpassing the million download milestone each for their apps, the statement said.

Nokia’s new monetisation opportunities for developers are tailored for local markets and include integrated operator billing with 112 operators in 36 markets, more than 25 times more operator billing integrations than Nokia’s nearest competitor.

Ovi Store has seen integrated operator billing increase consumer transactions by up to four times and this, coupled with Nokia’s beta programmes for in-app billing and in-app advertising, means more revenue opportunities for developers on Symbian.

The statement added that the opportunities were also being extended to Nokia Series 40 devices, which would enable apps for the next billion mobile phone consumers.

The refreshed Ovi Store experience, previously available only for the new Symbian devices, has resulted in more than 35 per cent growth in downloads for Series 40 devices in the last two months, making up about a quarter of the total downloads.

Developers and publishers, large and small, are using Ovi Store’s global reach and rapid growth to cultivate new communities. These communities are driven by deeper user connections within their apps, further driving downloads and potential monetisation opportunities for developers.

The General Manager, Nokia West Africa, Mr. James Rutherfoord, said, “At this new rate, that’s nearly two billion annualised downloads and with Nokia’s new direction, app developers can surely capitalise on this growth today and in the future with the estimated approximately 150 million Symbian devices that Nokia expects to deliver.”

Source : Punch