Nokia Ovi Store
Usability: 
store.ovi.mobi (xhtml-mp)
The Ovi Store lets you download games, applications, ringtones and themes to your Nokia phone.
Downloading is quite easy for free applications. You do have to log in, which seems unnecessary for free apps, but my existing Ovi ID and password worked, hooray for single sign in. If you don’t have an account it’s possible to register on the mobile site. Registering requires an email address and mobile number and there is a Captcha too, but it’s definitely doable. The download went smoothly. I searched for ‘Flip” and FlipSilent was on the first results page. Clicking the app name and on the next page, the download button started the download. Couldn’t be simpler.
Paid applications run from $0.99 to at least $39.95. Most ringtones seem to be $2.95 altogether some are an outrageous $4.95 and there are a couple of free ones including the “futuristic” Nokia tune from the new StarWars movie. There doesn’t seem to be any way to preview ringtones, even on the desktop site which is going to hurt sales badly I believe. The only way to buy paid applications in the U.S. is by credit card. Nokia handles mobile credit card purchases as well as possible with only name, card number, card expiration and CSC required. You can store your card details for future use too. It’s great that you don’t have to fill in your address like all the dumb hotel booking sites do. I wonder why no PayPal option though?
Although most of the initial reviews of the Ovi store have been pretty negative, I like the mobile web version. It’s well designed, easy to navigate, search works well and the download process is relatively free from roadblocks. There are a few things I’d like to see changed thorough. For the Ovi Store to be a roaring success, Nokia needs to drop the log in requirement for free downloads, eliminate mandatory signing for java apps except as required by standard platform security and make a real effort to get all popular applications in the store.
