And along with music, messaging and turn-by-turn navigation, location-aware social networking, which the company calls SoLo, and other types of location-based services are key to this future. After all, Nokia has invested heavily in GPS-related technologies and applications, the boldest example being the $8.1 billion purchase of Navteq in late 2007.

What was and still is unclear is how much of Nokia’s SoLo strategy involves building out its own social networking offerings or partnering with and supporting established social networks. With today’s announcement of a tie up with Facebook and with it the death of the company’s own ‘Friend View’, with regards to the simplest of ‘SoLo’ applications — share my current location with friends — the handset maker has seen sense and decided to do the latter.

See also: Should Nokia get into bed with Facebook? Err, yes

The new application called Lifecasting with Ovi, which will soon be available for the company’s flagship N97 (see my review) and newly announced N97 Mini (a smaller and slightly cheaper version of the N97), enables users to publish “their location and status updates directly to their Facebook account from the home screen of [there] mobile device.” Photos can also be uploaded as part of a status update and friends who are logged into Facebook are presented with an accompanying Ovi map displaying their buddy’s exact location.

When Google launched a similar location-based social networking app, dubbed Latitude, as part of their Google Maps service, I used it as an opportunity to criticize Nokia’s social networking strategy as a whole and in particular their own rival offering, the now defunct Friend View.

My argument was that if you’re going to launch a mobile social network you need to be platform (handset) agnostic. Google Latitude launched on multiple mobile platforms, while Nokia Friend View was for Nokia handsets (S60) only. As I wrote at the time: “Imagine if Nokia phones could only call other Nokia phones. That’s not dissimilar to how Nokia’s social networking strategy works.”

By embracing Facebook for its SoLo ‘Ovi Lifecasting’ app, not being device agnostic is no longer an issue. Instead, Nokia is leaning more towards being ’social network’ agnostic. The voice over in the video promo for Ovi Lifecasting aludes to this U-turn with the line “lifecasting is sharing where you are, where we all are”. Where we all are being Facebook.

In the future, of course, Nokia could easily add a Twitter extension to its Ovi Lifecasting app. While, as it stands today, the tie-in with Facebook is also a clever way to get its Ovi Maps service in front of all of those extra millions of users.

In more Facebook love, Nokia also announced today an extension of its Nokia Messaging service (currently push email and IM) called Social Messaging. The plan is to develop a multi-protocol social networking app for Nokia handsets, with Facebook being the first social network to be supported. A beta of the app can be downloaded today for the S60-powered N97 and S40-based feature phone, the 6700 classic.

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• Weekly wrapup: Internet TV widgets, iPlayer PS3 upgrade, Moto’s social networking play, Palm Pre hands-on, Spotify hits iPhone/Android, Nokia E55 review, and more
• Google Latitude shows what’s wrong with Nokia’s social location (SoLo) strategy
• Should Nokia get into bed with Facebook? Err, yes
• Nokia announces ‘Ovi’ mobile app store – is that a Facebook app I see?
• A glimpse into the Nokia N97’s Facebook app (screen shots)

Why isn't Gravity being promoted?

It’s day one of the Ovi Store, Nokia’s answer to the iPhone App Store, along with similar offerings from BlackBerry and Google. To say the roll out hasn’t been as smooth as the handset maker would have liked is an understatement to say the least. The service has been plagued by problems, such as really, and I mean really, slow load times, connection errors, the inability for some users to log-in using their existing Ovi account details, and applications disappearing and reappearing in the store itself.

However, as time has passed, things are beginning to settle down. My own experience on my Nokia E71 is that the mobile client for the Ovi Store has steadily improved in performance throughout the day, and at the time of publication – approx 5pm London time – the service is certainly usable, if not as speedy as the iPhone’s App Store — yet.

On the downside, I’m still unable to log-in to the Ovi Store on the desktop (Firefox running on a Mac) where I’m greeted each time with an error: “Sorry, you cannot sign in at this time. Try again later.” In its defense, Nokia says that it has been frantically adding additional servers to cope with “extraordinarily high spikes of traffic” — traffic that it surely should have anticipated.  Teething issues aside, what about the store itself?

Ovi Store menu

It’s not terrible but it’s far from perfect either. I’ve no major problem with the user interface of the Ovi Store – here I’m referring solely to the on-device mobile client – although others aren’t so forgiving. Sure things could be tweaked, like making sub categories more obvious (see screen shot), instead I’m mostly disappointed by the editorial/business decisions taken on which applications to promote.

While on the one hand I don’t want to see Nokia favor one developer over another, from a consumer point of view, the Ovi Store will live or die by its “killer” applications. Apple’s fond of saying in its ad campaign that on iPhone there’s an app for almost everything, but there are far fewer and very specific apps and supported services that the majority of users crave. These should also be an app store’s flagship wares – the Ovi Store included.

I won’t list them all here but social networking and Instant Messaging are two categories. Notable omissions here are multi IM clients on S60 such as Nimbuzz, along with the promised Facebook and MySpace apps, which likely weren’t ready in time for launch. Another missed opportunity is Gravity, the best Twitter client for Nokia phones and one of the best apps per se, which although listed, is buried far down in the social networking sub-category. Also missing in action are Google’s offerings: the native S60 YouTube and Google Maps clients, along with the excellent Gmail java app. It’s not clear if these are missing because Google chose not to submit them to the store, even though all of the apps are free, or if Nokia doesn’t want to promote a perceived competitor. But either way, the handset maker should have worked something out. If you’re going to play the platform game, then you’re only as good as the applications and services that run on it.

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Update: the Ovi Store has launched in the UK and US now, although the service is slow and unreliable as Nokia, presumably, attempts to scale it live. Hopefully this will be sorted in the next day or so. It’s early days but not the best of starts.

Announced at Mobile World Congress back in February, the Ovi Store is the handset maker’s direct response to Apple’s phenomenally successful App Store for the company’s iPhone and iPod touch devices. Here’s what I wrote when the Ovi Store was first unveiled at MWC:

The Ovi Store will offer “a range of content including applications, games, videos, widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalised content”, and will be available on both S60 and Series 40 devices. The first handset to ship with the store pre-installed will be the recently announced Nokia N97, which is set to launch by June. Sensibly, Nokia will also make the Ovi Store available to existing S60 and Series 40 handsets through a simple download in May. Revenue from paid-for apps will be split 70/30 in the developer’s favor, exactly the same deal offered by the iPhone’s App Store. All very Apple-esqe, so far.

However, here’s where Nokia is at least attempting to be different: “Ovi Store is unique in its ability to target content based on where you are, when you’re there, why you are where you are and who else has downloaded similar content”, all of which fits perfectly with the company’s ambitious Social Location (SoLo) strategy.

For those countries where the Ovi Store is already available, users need to navigate to the now legacy Download! app and refresh for new content. The Ovi Store app can then be found in the “Nokia Extras” folder or “Promo” folder, depending on handset and region.

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• Video demo: Nokia XpressMusic 5800’s media playback features
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Of the three new handsets, the most interesting is the higher end XpressMusic 5730 (available Q3, €280), which is Nokia’s first music phone to feature a full (slide out) QWERTY keyboard, and just like the 5800, runs the company’s Symbian S60 smartphone OS. The 5730 is being pitched as both a music-centric and messaging – think email, IM and social networking – device, featuring a redesigned home screen that gives shortcut access to the phone’s music library, and the socially-aware ‘contacts’ bar, which is able to pull in the latest communication and RSS feeds from up to 20 of a user’s most important contacts.

In addition to the XpressMusic 5730, the mid range 5330 slider was unveiled (Q3, €260), along with the 5030 XpressRadio, which is being targeted at emerging markets (Q2, €40), and is Nokia’s first phone to feature an internal FM radio antenna, eliminating the need to use a headset in order to get reception.

On the services front, the Nokia Music Store (see video), which is currently available in 15 countries, including the UK but not the U.S., opened its doors in Mexico today, “with additional markets such as Portugal, Norway and South Africa joining the fold in the coming months”, according to the press release. While Nokia’s ambitious all-you-can-eat music subscription offering, ‘Comes With Music’, which is currently limited to the UK and Singapore, will arrive in Australia later this month, with Italy, Sweden and Mexico to follow. Again, no word on a U.S. launch.

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MySpace and Facebook are cited as early partners

Apple may not have a physical presence at this week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, but the company’s influence can be seen everywhere. Not least in Nokia’s newly announced third-party application store.

The Ovi Store will offer “a range of content including applications, games, videos, widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalised content”, and will be available on both S60 and Series 40 devices. The first handset to ship with the store pre-installed will be the recently announced Nokia N97, which is set to launch by June. Sensibly, Nokia will also make the Ovi Store available to existing S60 and Series 40 handsets through a simple download in May. Revenue from paid-for apps will be split 70/30 in the developer’s favor, exactly the same deal offered by the iPhone’s App Store. All very Apple-esqe, so far.

However, here’s where Nokia is at least attempting to be different: “Ovi Store is unique in its ability to target content based on where you are, when you’re there, why you are where you are and who else has downloaded similar content”, all of which fits perfectly with the company’s ambitious Social Location (SoLo) strategy.

Interestingly, both MySpace and Facebook are cited as early partners, with each social networking site set to offer a dedicated app when the Ovi Store launches. While this in itself feels like Nokia playing catchup, it’s very much needed and is a nod in the right direction in terms of the company not putting all of its social networking eggs in one basket. Having said that, an official S60 Facebook app on its own is unlikely to result in the social network being fully integrated into Nokia handsets, INQ1 and Palm Pre-style, as rumors have suggested.

See also: Should Nokia get into bed with Facebook? Err, yes

From today, content publishers will be able to register for the Ovi Store at publish.ovi.com. Developers and publishers will then be able to upload content starting next month, in time for the May launch.

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To begin with, the App Store couldn’t be any easier to use. All apps available to purchase and download either from the familiar iTunes Store or from the device itself. Next, factor in Apple’s marketing machine, the quantity and quality of apps available from Day One – many of which are free – combined with the fact that the typical iPhone owner has cash to spare and an early adopter mentality geared towards trying out new things, and you have a surefire hit on your hands.

Instead, the real surprise is that the carriers – AT&T in the U.S. and 02 in the UK – agreed to Apple launching the App Store in the first place. Or more specifically, that Apple could offer the App Store in the manner in which they have done.

Apple has a direct billing relationship with iPhone customers

This is really significant and is something that other major players have struggled with for years. When you purchase an iPhone, no matter how much upfront subsidy AT&T, 02 or whoever provides – you have to register the device through iTunes. That way Apple owns part of the customer relationship in a way that is unprecedented in the mobile phone world. Nokia, for example, would kill for a similar arrangement.

Applications can be purchased over-the-air

Whilst the App Store is accessible via iTunes, which users are forced to register an account with (see first point), incredibly it’s also installed on the iPhone itself, thus enabling over-the-air puchases not just side-loading.

No revenue share

In return for giving Apple a store front on the carrier’s network they take a cut from revenue generated, right? Wrong. As far as we know, revenue generated by the App Store, either through side-loading or over-the-air sales, is shared between Apple and the app’s developer only. Considering that games are proving to be one of the most popular type of paid-for apps, the lack of rev share is especially surprising. Game downloads have traditionally been seen as an additional revenue stream for carriers – along with music and ringtones.

To put the App Store’s unique position into further context, consider Nokia’s Ovi web services strategy in which the company is pushing a number of non-hardware offerings in the hope of growing revenue. These include a music store and game store/platform (the re-launched N-Gage). A major part of Ovi’s success is dependent on Nokia’s ability to persuade carriers, who subsidize the sale of the company’s handsets, to agree to bundle Ovi’s offerings – as standalone apps – on the phones themselves, just like the iPhone’s App Store. To that end, Nokia is reportedly giving carriers a cut of Ovi revenue in return for them doing so.

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• Why you may never see Firefox, Opera or Chrome on the iPhone