Mobile

Are you going to miss the Ovi brand?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief May 18, 2011 · 2 min read

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So Nokia says it is completely dropping the Ovi brand and will go back to using the old Nokia nomenclature. As such Ovi will be re-labeled as Nokia Services.

I was there in Singapore at the Nokia Connections back in 2007 when they first revealed the Ovi brand to encompass all internet-based services of Nokia. In a way, that was the beginning of the company’s slow transformation from just a hardware manufacturer to an internet service company.

OVI is a unification of Nokia’s Internet services which covers music, games and maps, among others. A new user interface will be rolled out on new mobile phones in which OVI will be slowly integrated in the next 12 months. Ovi.com is schedule to go live in Q4 of 2007.

The reason why Nokia is dropping the Ovi brand is yet uncertain — a brand which they’ve invested millions of dollars and marketing efforts, from the Ovi Music Store offering unlimited downloads to the Ovi Store that tried to catch up with Apple’s App Store. There’s also the free Ovi.com email address Nokia’s giving out.

It seems like a waste of money and brand effort. Will people miss it? Probably yes, for a lot of Nokia fans. For the rest, life will go on as if nothing happened.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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38 Comments

HAHAman · 15 years ago

I never appreciated Ovi. Buggy software+Buggy phone=CRAP. I was glad when my Nokia retired, i had a reason to switch to iOS

Mindanaoan · 15 years ago

I barely “experienced” Ovi.

Pinoy CHefs · 15 years ago

hassel lang naman gumamit ng OVI

Epstein · 15 years ago

Ovi will be merged with Microsoft. Microsoft wants “Nokia” and not “Ovi”

adam · 15 years ago

I will not miss OVI. From the start I’m only using Nokia PC suite.

Epstein · 15 years ago

They will change the name only. That does not mean that they will continue the development of PC Suite (which has already stopped) and stop Ovi Suite.

gary · 15 years ago

Ovi is just a piece of crap. Nokia… please innovate. world is changing, but you’re not.

boy_fanboy · 15 years ago

i think one major reason why ovi became a piece of crap because it lacked some support from developers. ever since the advent of iOS and Android, developers started to flock off the Nokia’s nest. i am a developer and i’ve got to admit that i am willing to work for iOS and Android since they are too popular (despite me being a Nokia phone user).

i guess nokia isn’t that good when it comes into digital services. remeber the n-gage service by nokia? it suffered the same fate as ovi.

and you are right, nokia should start to innovate if they want to catch up the competition. not only that, they should make a ground breaking feat if they want to beat iOS and Android.

Zo · 15 years ago

I’ll agree with you that Nokia has not been very innovative lately. Yes they manufacture great phones still but it’s sad to see them struggling a bit to keep up with the times.

John Ray Cabrera · 15 years ago

from what i, as a long-ago Nokia user(my last Nokia phone was wayback 2002), i think of Ovi as Nokia’s answer to iTunes, right?

currently using n8 · 15 years ago

well said boy_fanboy.

paul · 15 years ago

It’s been years since I last owned a Nokia. My answer… NO.

boy_fanboy · 15 years ago

i guess they made the right decision. not all people knows that ovi is made by nokia…even those who own a nokia phone have trouble recognizing the “ovi” brand.

if they are going to simply rename that service then, it’s fine for me. if they are going to drop all of their ovi services then it sounds like a big trouble to me as a nokia user and as an ovi mail user.

actually, ovi store is so innovative.
the only problem they have is the brand recognition.

not everyone could recognize that ovi is actually from nokia. i guess nokia should have made people recognize that brand ever since they created it. let me just take note that i have not seen some ovi ads on the tv…and that’s just another mistake they made.

1001 · 15 years ago

one door will be closed (OVI), many windows will be opened (WP7)… excerpt..

boy_fanboy · 15 years ago

hahaha, nice!
+1 for you

hadoop · 15 years ago

they are going to replace it with “Nokia Services”, from the looks of it, It makes much more sense!

Name: IC DeaDPiPoL · 15 years ago

even more reasons why not to get a nokia as a next smartphone. ~_~

Rodney Garcia · 15 years ago

OVI is something to be explained more. It lacks connection to the people. Too bad they have to throw all those dollars away. On the other hand, Nokia Services sounds boring. I think they need to come up with a better name, marketing strategy etc. I think they’re trying too hard to become like the Apple Apps Store.

unnamed source · 15 years ago

It’s about time. Nokia is a sinking ship – They are slowly being overtaken in Southeast Asia as other people prefer Blackberry, Iphones and Android Devices over their shitty products.