On seeing this term, you all must be thinking whether it is the name of new cell phone launched by Nokia, the world’s No. 1 handset making company. Not fulfilling your expectations and to your great surprise, Ovi is not another handset by Nokia but a website offering complete range of internet services. So now onwards, Nokia’s Ovi is your own digital world where you can not only share your pictures with friends or buy music, but also you can access third-party services like Yahoo's Flickr photo site.

 

With this, Nokia is all set to compete with tough competitors such as Microsoft, Google and Apple, which have already swayed the users with their reliable internet services. On August 29^th 2007, Ovi was officially declared at the Go Play event in London while a more detailed plan was publicized on December 4. As per the plans, the due release of beta desktop software in early 2008 has been done after the completion of the internal tests. Moving Brands, a London and Tokyo based branding agency, has done the brand and identity work (including the Ovi logo) of Ovi.

 

The idea behind Ovi (which suggests ‘the door’ in Finnish) is to offer all internet services at a place, including the Nokia Music Store, N-Gage, Nokia Maps and all upcoming Nokia services. N-Gage Arena is the first service which has been just instigated; however year 2008 is expected to bring more services for the users. 

 

Part of Nokia’s umbrella concept, Nokia Music Store offers the facility of purchasing music directly on a cell phone or through PC. Here, you can access millions of tracks from throughout the world. The tariffs range from 1 euro per track to 10 euro for an entire album.

 

Another great service that would bring you the maps of varied places you want to explore. This navigation service offers maps and city guides, directly to the mobile devices. It has already been launched, enabling users to download maps via mobile handset or PC.