Discalimer: Ok, so I'm not the spokesman for Ovi, or for Nokia, for that matter, so what I am about to say may end up vague and not really what the company has in mind. I'm just the guy who's deep into defining what Ovi.com will be like, especially all the stuff you don't know about at this stage. Therefore, none of this is an official stance of the company, but a peek into a product manager's head.
I highly respect the Andrew who wrote the article (link below) and the Andrew quoted in the article. And I don't want to dismiss what was said. I just want to broaden the view beyond the sharp and narrow one taken.
That said, I'd like to point out a simple thing: We haven't forgotten that, in the end, it's about communication between people.
The mobile phone is the damned best social networking device ever created. Now we want to have that great personal social networking device fuel what you do through the internet.
Ovi is more than just about selling downloadable-sideloadable content (the kind of content that is the trigger for connections, mind you). It's about fusing the mobile, Web, and desktop worlds. It's about you and yours - content, people, and places.
Ovi will evolve as we respond to the users and the market. That's what any decent 2007+ collection of services would do. It's no joke we say Ovi is the door to services, ours and other's services. And playing with others is key to our success.
As for the internet being a 'graveyard for wealth creation' (quote from article below), we just should all just pack up and go home and admit that everyone, including The Register, is failing as a business. Right.
Eh, it's not that simple. We're not making any sort of pure play here. We haven't forgotten our roots - the device. We're not trying to create walled gardens, or closed portals. We're not trying to rehash the past or shut out our major customers.
It's just about setting up a door (pun intended).
Who goes through it will be the thrilling part.
Link: Where's Nokia going? | The Register:
And today it's still communication, not content, that remains king. Because the content is text and pictures and audio, some people get terribly confused. But what gets called "content" - the funny clips and Chuck Norris jokes we send each other - is still really just chatter, and isn't considered worth paying for. We'll subscribe to services that make it easier to communicate with each other, but we won't pay a premium for "content" any more today than 90 years ago.
