Nokia launches Ovi Store beta for the N900
updated 11:00 am EST, Wed January 13, 2010
Nokia N900 gets access to Ovi Store beta
Thanks to a recently released 21MB firmware update for the Linux Maemo-powered N900, Nokia has made its Ovi app store accessible to users of the handset. Admittedly, only the beta version of the store is available thus far. The icon opens a link in the phone's native browser, where users can browse a limited amount of apps.
Available apps include AP Mobile, a multimedia news portal; Qik, a live mobile video streaming service; Pixelpipe, a multimedia social network sharing app; Labyrinth, a game that relies on the accelerometer and TuneWiki, a music app that lets users find music videos and lyrics for their music library, among a few others.
The store is organized, with Recommended, Apps, Games, Audio & Video and Personalization categories splitting up the content. A Search field is also included on every screen. A three-star system helps rate the apps, while their descriptions include photos.
While young, the new version of Ovi is important for Nokia as the company gradually switches away from Symbian S60 to both Maemo and the future Symbian^3.



