If you’re trying to keep track of how all the app stores are performing in relation to each other (or are otherwise just a stats geek), this one ought to make your day. Nokia has just released a pocketful of statistics regarding their app store, Ovi, detailing just how well it was doing as of the end of February.
The Stats:
- Each registered user has downloaded an average 12 apps since the store launched in May. That seems a bit low, considering that the Ovi Store launched over 9 months ago.
- Ovi Store is now supported on over 100 devices (60+ of which are Symbian-based). The Ovi store sees the most downloads from Nokia’s touch handsets, like the N97, 5800 XpressMusic, and 5530 XpressMusic.
- New user registrations and downloads both doubled in February as compared to January
- The top downloading countries (in alphabetical order): France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UK & Vietnam.
- On average, the Ovi Store is hitting around 1.5 million downloads each day — which, when broken down, works out to 22 applications download each and every second, around the clock.
Solely for the sake of perspective: between September of 2009 and January of 2010, the iPhone App Store averaged about 30.5 million application downloads per day, or 350 per second. In other words, the App Store is pushing out downloads at about 16 times the average rate of the Ovi Store — but, being that Apple’s store launched in July of 2008, it also had nearly a full year head start.
So what do you think – given Nokia’s massive hardware presence around the world (outside of the US, especially) whilst factoring in the relative newness of their App Store, how well do you think Ovi is performing?
A couple of points worth noting:
1) Nokia handsets come with a load of apps pre-installed (Facebook, MySpace, Ovi Maps, BBC iPlayer, etc) so there isn’t as much need to download them.
2) There are other sources than Ovi for downloads – Google, Skyfire, Symbian Foundation, etc – so not all apps come from Ovi.
It’s difficult to compare Apple and Nokia’s method of app distribution by looking at numbers alone because of this.
Very nice points – it must be noted that Symbian is a much more open platform than the iPhone model (where iTunes is the ONLY source for downloads) and as such has many options for downloading applications.
So this report CANNOT account for the number of applications being downloaded from all over the web by Symbian/Nokia users.
Most of my apps have been downloaded directly from the developers’ websites.
“Very nice points – it must be noted that Symbian is a much more open platform than the iPhone model (where iTunes is the ONLY source for downloads) and as such has many options for downloading applications.”
If you can show me how Ovi Store or Nokia has benefited over Apple because it is more ‘open’ then I would like to know.
Searching Google and downloading apps on handset or transfering them using usb etc is not typical behaviour. The people who go to GetJar etc are more hardcore Nokia users so don’t assume that skews the results
Well we could try sales volume where Nokia outsells Apple by a factor of about three, more if you exclude the US where Nokia has no real presence.
Ovi Maps (v3.03) that allowed free turn-by-turn navigation for the most of the nokia phones after 2008. And it’s all for FREE. Something tells me, this one is a winner release from Nokia. Although, I believe they won’t give this to other competitors, ‘that easily’ Latest: http://bit.ly/ovi-maps-real-performance
Nokia sells more handsets but iPhone makes more money selling…one…handset. Think about what that means considering they’ve only been making phones for 3 years
It means nothing unless you’re a stockholder. Nokia still make a billion dollars a quarter profit on the handset division and are increasing smartphone sales again so they’re doing fine.
Plus, of course, Nokia are a good deal less vulnerable than Apple because they have more than one product. The high end is notoriously fickle and if Apple lose it they have nothing to fall back on.
Great points Mark, but as you must have noticed, Apple has fanboys. How do you explain the distinct lack of Nokia fanboys? Doesn’t the very existence of such wishful thinking necessitate the truth of that thinking? It doesn’t? Oh, well it should…
Jesse,
There aren’t many Nokia fanboys for the same reason there aren’t many fanboys of toasters or microwaves – we just expect them to work and do what they’re supposed to and so don’t get that excited when that’s what generally happens.
I don’t think there are as many because Nokia products don’t have the same impact as they use to, multiple versions of the same phone but in a different shell, buggy software and a more competitive market means that getting/retaining a dedicated following is difficult.
I don’t own an iPhone but I’m impressed with the way that Apple has come in and shaken up the market.
And yet Nokia increased their smartphone market share last year despite not really competing in the US market at all.
People use Nokia phones because they work well and have a long reputation for doing so. That’s really all there is to it.
However, I do agree the iPhone gave the market a much needed kick up the pants. However, it’s 2010 now and nothing new has come out of Cueprtino in that respect since 2008. Times move on.
Well the E71 that I mentioned before, that got sold because Nokia Email didn’t work properly (wasn’t a finished product), I then got a Blackberry that did.
I think one of the main factors in Nokia purchases is the reputation they use to have in the past for simple, easy to use phones. Over the years Nokia OS has become bloated, unintuitive, with features buried within folders, buried within folders. Rather than do one thing really well, like Blackberry, they’ve chosen to (admirably) be a bit of a jack of all trades with the whole ‘multimedia computer’ approach.
Sure the 3GS didn’t rock the world but it polished an already good product, and it might not seem like making a phone faster is ground breaking but after 6 months use of a n-series Nokia (7 secs opening a sms etc) you’ll see how speed can greatly affect your experience of the handset. Also things like Augmented Reality etc are the sorts of things people show each other down the pub. Apple seems to have it’s customers recommending their phone to others and doing the marketing for them, I’m not talking about foaming at the mouth crazy ‘fanboys’ but everyday normal people who just have an iphone.
When the new iPhone comes out they’ll be queues, it’ll hit the front page of most newspapers and a few magazines. That will never happen for Nokia, whether that is down to the way Apples marketing machine works or just hype, the point is that it is working, and very quickly. Internally Nokia know this and the infighting about the difference in quality between Symbian/Ovi and the iPhone/App Store isn’t actually getting decisions made quick enough to bring out a product or service that will halt Apple.
I like they way Nokia keep pushing out stats on the Ovi Store like its a great success, its not, the handset version is a piece of junk and badly managed.
Its not like users have a choice of app stores and they have chosen Ovi, i mean what else is the average Nokia users going to use.
ps im an avid Nokia user and getting bored of Nokia’s rhetoric.
try GetJar ;)
m.getjar.com
Question: Does Ovi Store count wallpapers, ringtones, and video trailers in these download stats? I think they do.
Ovi Store is now supported on over 100 devices: This isn’t the same as the Ovi Store actually being on 100 devices, many phones like the e71, you had to download the store and the process is quite possibly the worst user experience ever.
The apps on Ovi Store compared to iPhone: It’s almost a joke and shows the gulf between Apple and Nokia, the richness of the stuff on the iPhone should make Nokia worried.
“There are other sources than Ovi for downloads – Google, Skyfire, Symbian Foundation, etc – so not all apps come from Ovi.”
Your average consumer won’t search this way.
Does Apple count widgets and web links?
Yes they do.
As for average consumers, I can’t speak for everyone but the vast majority of Nokia users I know have at least downloaded Google Maps, etc.
People aren’t as ignorant as you think.
“Does Apple count widgets and web links?”
eh?
Oh come on. If you mention wallpapers on Ovi you have to balance that with the useless widgets on the App store.
Not every – in fact relatively few – apps are any good.
after install the new ovi store it doesnt work with the e71!!!!!!!!!!!! :( you can install the update everytime again, replace that.. but with no hope to running that ovi store app.. whats the problem?
also you cant deinstall the ovistore any more, its horrible
but guess wht the ovi store is 1 year old it came out in june 2009 so the apple app store will have tones more things on it considering its nearly 4 years old and the handset version is fine ive never had a problem, u people on her wine about every little thing
Should also be noted that Nokia has publicly admitted in the past that these numbers also include ringtones, wallpapers and other user generated content that can’t be classified as apps so these numbers are a mix of different types of content being downloaded by consumers around the world.
Would be interesting to see their content download breakdown by handset and region – not that we have much expectation about seeing that any time soon ;)
P
Well there’s the rub isn’t it.
Good point.
If new users and app downloads keep compounding at a high level then yes, it is not only a great start but a testament to their global reach.
On the other hand, the only way to compare Ovi to Apples App store is by revenue and profit. So in the coming qrts will we see Nokia’s breakdown and Apple’s. Apple is minting money on their store, we will see if Nokia does…
They both have a distinctly different approach and many feel that they have much different agendas w/ their app stores.
Wow, that would be pretty underhanded if they were not counting only apps. If that’s the case, Apple can say that they are getting 1000+ downloads per second. This is why people have to be very careful with statistics. Statistics are always right…50% of the time ;-)
One of our apps got to the top few spots of the iPhone App Store free app charts last week. On its best day, it did a fraction under 2 downloads per second. (1.92 per second to be exact.)
That’s just one single App that did about 10% of Nokia’s number…
What you’re describing here is at the core of Apple’s App Store success. The ability to attract the crowds to new applications. It stimulates developers in a way that was impossible only a couple of years ago. Numerous showcases have proved that what developers do after an initial successful launch phase is the key to real success though. Not everyone will agree that Apple’s App Store has found a golden formula there. A more open environment that provides a wider range of opportunities beyond the launch phase would clearly be one way to give developers the opportunity to easier succeed with that. There are other ways too, and perhaps Apple is already working on it for all I know.
“Solely for the sake of perspective: between September of 2009 and January of 2010, the iPhone App Store averaged about 30.5 million application downloads per day, or 350 per second.”
That means 4.6 Billion downloads in 5 months doesnt it. Dude I think you’d better check your math, seems awfully high.
@Mark A
By that rationale Jamster is the best app store around..
Sorry, I have absolutely no idea what you’r eon about here.
To get back on track: Nokia count downloads of themes and wallpapers, Apple count downloads of widgets and web pages.
Point being slating Nokia for including tat when Apple also include tat is a bit thick.
Jamster is a ringtone and wallpaper seller.
Web links are lame but if a widget has dynamic data then it’s more of an app than a ringtone. Here’s the problem tho, when Ovi Store launched for the first few months it was 70-80% ringtones/trailers/wallpapers on my count.
I know what Jamster is, I’m just not sure what connection was.
As for Ovi, I know – it was but isn’t now.
@Mark A
“Well we could try sales volume where Nokia outsells Apple by a factor of about three”
Doesn’t that apply to stockholders too?
Sure. However in this context it applies to the reach of the company and therefore how many potential customers there are for applications.
One could argue that Nokia sell more phones than Apple because they have a greater choice of sources for applications. Personally I don’t think this is the case – I think Nokia sell more phones because they’re cheaper and more familiar to Europeans and Asians which I guess asks questions about the relevance of the whole app store thing in terms of sales volume.
I’m not detracting from Apple’s app store – I think it’s great for a walled garden – just pointing out that comparing it to Ovi in terms of download numbers alone is a bit pointless.
Nokia sells more phones but how many of those are low end and not compatible with Ovi Store?
How else should you be comparing Ovi Store to App Store if not by download figures?
Murat, the figures are out there on Nokia’s reports – about 68 million smartphones sold last year all of which can access Ovi. Please don’t confuse this with Nokia’s S40 feature phones and basic dumbphones – although, in fairness, Nokia are transitioning their product range to smartphones with the intorduction of low cost models in the 5xxx series and the new C5.
It all goes back to my initial point: if you have an iPhone – unless it’s jailbroken – you have precisely one channel to source your apps from. If you have a Nokia phone you have Ovi, getJar, Handango, Google, Sky, SkyFire and a hundred different others as well as the apps that are installed by default (Ovi Maps, Real Player, etc). If you want a true comparison then you need to factor all of these sources in and I’m not sure anyone has that information to hand.
A phone that can ‘access’ Ovi is completely different from a phone that is pre-installed with Ovi. The installation process is near impossible on some handsets (I tried on many). This equals drop off rate by itself, then add on all the ‘norm mobs’ who own phones that can ‘access’ Ovi (purchased before and during the launch of the store) but will never know that they need to go to Download! and find the file.
So if you can tell me how many of the 68 million phones sold last year had it pre-installed. And then bear in mind that phones were being sold well into the second half of the year without the Ovi Store ‘out of the box’.
But yeah iPhone one channel, Nokia multiple channels.
Default apps installed on the phone shouldn’t be included.
The ‘Download’ app is on all the phones that don’t have Ovi pre-installed. The first thing it will take you to is the Ovi client. It’s either pre-installed or a click away.
“The ‘Download’ app is on all the phones that don’t have Ovi pre-installed. The first thing it will take you to is the Ovi client. It’s either pre-installed or a click away.”
Nope, it doesn’t work like that. You have to find and select the Ovi Store icon, download it, install it, wait for your phone to switch off and back on, yadda yadda, and if it works, then yes one day it will just be one click away on your menu
i use the ovi store more than 1 year. it works fine on my e71.
but now it ask for an update! i actualize this update and replace that.. stupid is they want to replace the version 1.05(611) with the same version!
by installing/replace the file comes the failure message: “unknow failure: -5″
now i can’t use my ovistore anymore.. i’ve recover an old backup – but its the same problem before.
when the new iphone are available with multitasking and integrated voip, maby im chance it..
WE NEED APPS
“Nope, it doesn’t work like that.”
Actually it does.
“You have to find and select the Ovi Store icon”
Select ‘Download’, click Ovi icon. Boom.
“download it, install it, wait for your phone to switch off and back on, yadda yadda,”
Yes. That one minute of my life is a killer obstacle.
“and if it works, then yes one day it will just be one click away on your menu”
Since it’s pre-installed on all new models it actually is.
But, Ok, then – let’s talk about 2010. All Nokia smartphones come with Ovi preinstalled. All Nokia smartphones also allow full access to third party repositories. When Nokia continue to outsell the iPhone by a factor of two or three are we still going to be having this pointless argument?
I would hope not.
can anyone help me with my nokia e71 problem?
i use my 2 years old e71 much time with the ovi store. it works everytime fine, also in combination with the web sms service. but now it ask for an update! i actualize this update and replace that.. stupid is they want to replace the version 1.05(611) with the same version they im already have!
by installing/replace the file comes the failure message: “unknow failure: -5″
did can help me anybody??
actually not many nokia phones are low end
you’ve got the nokia n8, nokia 5230, nokia 5800, nokia 5530, nokia e63, nokia e72, nokia e71, nokia e73, nokia x6, nokia x3, nokia 5800 naviagation edition.
Another plus points on Nokia for Ovi Store,
Accessing the Ovi Store 512kbps- is slow so i have a hard time opening other apps. lolz.
Plus the search functions is not applicable coz even the Ovi Store can’t pick up a sigle app results. e.g. I searched ‘Strobe’, ‘Strobe Touch’ on my N97 and Ovi Store web then it pops out a result that “no content was found”
Anyways, I found that Strobe app through links of other apps.
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/10842.html This article over at infosyncworld states that the Ovi Store is currently the second largest application store out there, only beaten by Apple’s App Store. I thought that Android had more apps right now than Ovi. Anyone know the numbers?
If you count the total downloads in the Symbian ecosystem, Apple’s App Store is a migit in comparison. The Ovi Store is rapidly growing though, and it’s likely only a matter of time before it takes the top spot.
no the android store has about 2000-3000 apps the ovi store has a few more but most are useless, same with the android app store
Nokia’s market share in various countries/regions;
India 66% market share
Indonesia 57%
Hong Kong 46%
Israel 82%
Maylasia 45%
Philippines 66%
Saudi Arabia 68%
AU United Arab Emirates 71%
Vietman 49%
China 30%
Europe all 31%
South America all 29%
US walled garden miniscule %
http://stats.getjar.com/statistics/AS-IN/manufacturer/Nokia
Seems like Nokia doesn’t want to play in the walled garden… but the T Mobile announcement today just added the Ovi Store….change is abound.
http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2010/03/03/124605.html
Market share flucuates, Nokia has had 34-40% global share past 9 years. Ovi is going to be a monster of an app store globally either way you slice it.
Solely for the sake of perspective: between September of 2009 and January of 2010, the iPhone App Store averaged about 30.5 million application downloads per day, or 350 per second.
Hmm, that would mean they had 3.6b downloads by in that period.
But Apple says something different:
Here is the official data (from Apple):
Sept 28, 2009: 2b downloads total (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/09/28appstore.html)
Jan 5th, 2010: 3b downloads total (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/01/05appstore.html)
That’s 100 days. If you divide 1b by 100 days, it’s 10m DL/day.
So, where do you get 30m DL/day?
Yes, this is still significantly higher than Nokia but Nokia launched .. when last year?
yes june 2009 so 1 year old now
Yes apple did say that they were having 10 million downloads daily.
ilove ovi store
OVI Store Disaster 2010.
Still the same bunch of ringtones and themes.
How many really needed applications over there? – One or a few at max.
just get an iphone and you will never have any problem, nokia is dead and everyone stop been arrogant
nokia is dead i dont think so, so why are they the omst used phone make there is, the iphone isnt