Nokia Announces Internet Service, Ovi

Nokia has introduced Ovi, its new Internet service, expanding from a focus on mobile devices to offering a range of Internet services.

Ovi, means 'door' in Finnish and looks to enable consumers to access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as act as a gateway to Nokia services.

As part of Ovi, Nokia announced the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage, two services that make it easy for people to discover, try and buy music and games from a range of artists and publishers, including exclusive content only available through Nokia.

Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices.

Ovi is the gateway to Nokia's Internet services, including the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and N-Gage games. It will also be an open door to web communities, enabling people to access their content, communities and contacts from a single place, either directly from a compatible Nokia device or from a PC. The first version of Ovi.com is scheduled to go live in English during the fourth quarter of 2007 and additional features and languages expected to go live during the first half of 2008.

The Nokia Music Store offers millions of tracks from major artists, independent labels as well as a broad range of local artists from around the world. The store is accessible via a desktop computer or directly from a compatible Nokia device, such as the Nokia N81 or Nokia N95 8GB multimedia computer. Users can browse for new music, buy what they like or add a song to their wishlist to download later. Users can also transfer purchased songs to your mobile device and with the built-in music player, create playlists on the go.

The Nokia Music Store offers full track streaming on PCs as well as individual track and album purchase. The store opens across key European markets this fall with additional stores in Europe and Asia opening over the coming months. In Europe, individual tracks cost EUR 1.00 and albums from EUR 10.00, with a monthly subscription for PC streaming for EUR 10.00.

N-Gage allows users to find, try and buy games directly from compatible Nokia devices. By selecting the N-Gage application on compatible Nokia devices, users can preview available games, connect with friends, read reviews or download a free demo. They can buy games either with a credit card or by charging it to their monthly phone bill. The application is expected to be available for download from here in November 2007.