The company on Tuesday launched its virtual Ovi Store, where users can download games, videos and other applications on their mobile phones.<\/p>\n
The store is available in five languages, including English, Spanish and Russian.<\/p>\n
Many users have left comments on the Ovi Store blog, expressing their disappointment because the website was too slow and they could not install applications on their mobile phone.<\/p>\n
“We have apologised to users on the blog and we encourage people to carry on giving us feedback as we develop the service better,” Nokia spokesman Andrew Flowers said.<\/p>\n
“We have added server capacity to improve the speed of service,” he added.<\/p>\n
Flowers declined to comment whether Nokia had been unprepared for the heavy traffic on Ovi Store.<\/p>\n
Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has said the company plans to increase the amount of services offered for mobile phone users as it is seen as a way to stay ahead of aggressive new competitors such as Google, Apple and RIM, which makes the popular Blackberry handsets.<\/p>\n
Ovi, which means “door” in Finnish, is seen as Nokia’s attempt to compete with Apple, which launched its rival AppStore for iPhone users last July.<\/p>\n
“In the first 24 hours of the Ovi Store opening we had registered users from 131 countries; this really speaks about the scale and reach of the Ovi Store,” Flowers said.<\/p>\n
He also said the number of Ovi Store compatible devices had been increased
to more than 60 from around 50.<\/p>\n
The global financial crisis has hit Nokia’s earnings as consumers have cut back on buying handsets and it has launched massive cost and job cuts around the world.<\/p>\n
Net profits at the Finnish company dropped 90% in the first quarter of 2009 to €122 million ($160 million).<\/p>\n