Nokia Stops Investing In Ovi Share

The company will stop updating its social networking service to concentrate on its app store and collaborations with established players like Facebook.

 

By Marin Perez
InformationWeek
May 13, 2009 03:40 PM

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will cease investments in its Ovi Share media-sharing service, but it will continue to move forward with its strategy of offering services including multimedia, navigation, and gaming.

Ovi Share lets users upload and share photos, videos, and audio files, and it has some social networking qualities. The service was built on technologies Nokia gained with its 2007 acquisition of Twango, and it was opened to the public in 2008.

A prototype of a consumer EEG system maps brain activity to control applications or avatars.

Nokia said Ovi Share will stay up and running and continue at its current state, but it likely won't see significant updates. While the cell phone manufacturer didn't release membership rates, most industry analysts didn't see it as successful as other sharing sites such as Flickr or Facebook.

The company may take a different path with social networking, as reports suggest Nokia is in negotiations with Facebook to have tighter integration between the social network and its mobile phones. This could potentially lead to a phone's contact list, calendar, and camera having strong connections with Facebook out of the box.

Ovi Share was once the centerpiece of Nokia's services strategy, which is aimed at making its handsets more attractive as well as creating additional revenue streams. But in light of the explosive growth of mobile applications, Nokia appears to be positioning its Ovi Store as the main cog of its services strategy.

The Ovi Store is Nokia's answer to Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the mobile phone giant is trying to differentiate itself from competitors by integrating location data and social networking aspects into its over-the-air store. For example, if a user is visiting New York, Nokia's app store will know where the user is located and can recommend location-relevant apps such as a local restaurant finder.