Stories about application stores abound at the CTIA spring show in Las Vegas, but some interesting new reports have surfaced about Nokia (NOK), Microsoft and a move by a group of major operators to create their own mass-market widget platform that effectively forms the basis of an operator-driven widget superstore and supporting ecosystem.
Ahead of the global launch of the Ovi Store next month, Nokia announced a content deal with Tim Kring, the creator and producer of the hit TV show “Heroes.” Kring and Nokia are working on a multiplatform “immersive” narrative that will be distributed through the Ovi Store. According to Nokia, this deal emphasizes their intent to position the Ovi Store as “a full-blown entertainment channel with an application store attached.”
The content deal with Kring was accompanied by the release of the beta version of the Point & Find application Nokia demonstrated at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The application allows a user to point the phone at physical objects — initially, movie posters — and access related information and services on the Internet. The tool uses key elements of the phone: camera for capture, GPS for location and the browser to pull the relevant services via search and unlike similar image/barcode reader-type applications on the market from companies like NeoMedia and ScanLife, will come pre-installed on Nokia devices, instead of having to be downloaded. In addition, Point & Find is being positioned as a service platform that could be used by developers and advertisers. This fits neatly with Nokia’s ambitions for mobile advertising, where it offers services to third parties including aggregated inventory, of which Ovi is a part.
Not losing sight of mobile operators among all the furor surrounding the development of application stores, Verizon Wireless has become a member of the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) initiative that aims to create an operator-driven open widget platform and ecosystem. Verizon joins founding JIL members China Mobile, Softbank and Vodafone. There are plans to launch a common mobile widgets specification, developer kits, distribution and payment mechanisms later this year. This is pretty much the template for an application store and for what the operators clearly hope will be in effect a “widget application superstore” where operators are setting the agenda rather than device vendors. Whether they will succeed remains to be seen.
Microsoft is also showing a friendly face to operators by announcing that it would seek a partnership model with them for its Windows Marketplace application store, due to launch later in 2009. It appears that the partnership will include operator billing options and enabling operators to sell their own applications on Windows Marketplace. Unlike Apple, Microsoft is allowing operators to tap into revenue opportunities beyond traffic. While this collaborative approach should win Microsoft allies in the operator community, it is by no means unique. RIM has carrier-branded app store offerings where the operator can take as much revenue as it can negotiate with individual developers; Nokia allows operators to take revenue if the apps are paid for via operator billing, a choice available to the individual developer.
