back to article Nokia finally gives Ovi brand a mercy bullet

"People often ask, 'What's a "Nokia"? – is it some new kind of yoga or a fashionable new diet?' Then you remind them – it's the platform for the Ovi mobile services experience – and the fog of confusion quickly clears." – The Register, August 2010 Tears will be shed in Shoreditch and Soho tonight as Nokia has confirmed it is …

COMMENTS

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  1. Lamont Cranston
    Thumb Up

    This is good.

    Everything about the ovi store makes me want to throw up.

    1. Marvin the Martian
      Paris Hilton

      Name is removed.

      Now the rest of the store and it's all tidy.

      But if Ovi means door, what does Nokia mean? [Wikipedia claims "soot marten", which at least describe most phones' colour.]

      1. Neil 7
        Gates Horns

        Nokia means Window

        Obviously (at least since Feb 11, anyway).

        :).

  2. Mark Jan

    Epitath

    "And the execution - as with anything software-related at Nokia - was abysmal."

    Nokia's Epitaph.

    RIP Noika

  3. MJI Silver badge

    Software : the satnav has many minds

    Got OVI maps on my company X6 and offers different routes every time you do a journey, also happy to tell you to turn around miles into a different direction rather than work out from where you are going.

    "Yes I am near junction 9 M5 and yes I am going to drive past and across to Swindon rather than go all the way back to the M42 A34 to get to the M4"

    "Yes I am at Cirencester and I am going to Swindon NOT Oxford to get to the M4"

    Yes I was trying to get to a place near M4 M25 junction.

    1. DRendar

      Google Maps Navigation is no better

      Try driving from the M1 (South of Sheffield) to Scarborough... As any local knows, the quickest way is M1, M18, M62 East, then Howden, Driffield and follow your nose.

      Google Maps spent an hour insisting that I needed to make a U-turn to go all the way over to York to get on the A64. All the while the estimated arrival time was going up and up. When it finally gave in and re-routed they way I was going, the arrival time dropped by over 90 minutes!!

      I only really have it set up and running for the giggle factor, and the estimated arrival time is usually fairly accurate - handy for telling family when you will arrive.

  4. Shonko Kid
    FAIL

    "the slightly better-known Nokia moniker"

    Though they seem to be doing their very best to fix that!

  5. Mage Silver badge
    Flame

    Ovi was disaster

    It killed the rather handy (on conventional non-touch smart phone) widgets.

    There already was a web based eco-system of symbian Apps.

    It killed what was there without replacing it. The only advantage Nokia had above Android and iTunes was complete random openness. Ovi threw that away.

    It would be like as if MS decided only MSN could deliver anything for Windows.

  6. Andus McCoatover

    OK, So if this is true...

    (from the Nokia blog) "The transition should be a smooth and seamless one."

    and this..

    (from ovi.com) "Get started today - sign up is as easy as 1-2-3. Register your new free email address today! Sign up for Ovi Mail now "

    and this..

    (blog again) "Each of the services under the Ovi umbrella will simply be rebranded as Nokia, with no planned disruption to the service roadmaps."

    I'll no longer be 'fluffybunny69@ovi.com', but 'fluffybunny69@nokia.com'.

    Yeah, I luuuve the new branding!!!!

    A reply from Jerri DeVard, (EVP and CMO) will make interesting, if not keyboard-coffee-splattering reading.

  7. Horridbloke
    WTF?

    Oh, is that what it meant?

    I always assumed it was supposed to be the plural of ovum (even though the plural of ovum is ova) and was intended to allude to new birth and future possibilities.

    On reflection I guess "Door" is probably better than "Eggs". Sorry it didn't work out.

  8. Ventilator
    Pint

    RIP OVI. Gone but not mourned

    OVI software has already been a major contributing factor in my decision to never have another Nokia phone, despite swearing by them until recently (I now swear AT them).

    OVI insisted on syncing every picture on my laptop with my handset; over 100 gig of photo's (grandchildren, canals, cars...not what you were thinking!), 32 gig of memory on the phone.

    Despite trying every setting available in OVI I couldn't persuade it to just sync to one folder, even though the settings appeared to tell it to. It was, with the Nokia/Microsoft alliance, the last straw.

    Samsung Galaxy for me now. Superb phone.

  9. Colonel Mad
    Pint

    Nokia

    I've still got my old 6230i, in case all this new fangled stuff goes up in smoke.

  10. Steve Evans

    Sounds like docking manoeuvre over several years

    Large, well known and trusted mobile company creates an irrelevant and largely unwanted new brand as a side arm.

    Over the next few years the large and trusted mobile company shoots itself (and customers) in the foot (and other non-fatal areas) until the large and trusted mobile company has become irrelevant and unwanted. It is now perfectly aligned to the side arm is created, so a perfect docking manoeuvre is now possible.

  11. asdf
    FAIL

    Smell the fail

    A euro company unable to deliver software due to top heavy bureaucracy? Lies lies I tell you. Ovi will always be remembered as being the clear sign Nokia was headed for shallows.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Bollocks

    Don't these overpaid fools *know* that we recognise bullshit...

    "We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compelling opportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike."

    Don't their employers know? *Why* then, do they continue to pay these idiots to write this stuff?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's very sad.

    One does worry for the Finnish quality of life if Nokia goes down the pan. The Microsoft software deal sounds worryingly one-way also - Microsoft can surely find other handset makers, anytime it likes, concurrently with Nokia, but Nokia will be tied to MS. Maybe a buyout of Nokia by MS is a good thing for Nokia - but when they slim down the bureaucracy, one does wonder at what it's going to do to the Finnish unemployment figures.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Alternative view

      There have been predictions that Nokia's woes will be good for the Finnish technology industry, and by extension the whole economy. The company has been borging such a large proportion of engineering and other talent, that it has starved the tech industry of competent labour.

  14. Robert Forsyth

    Apple has iTunes, Nokia has Ovi

    Ovi maps:

    you have to press the "different route" (or whatever it is called now) button, else it tries to get you back on the original chosen route, assuming you missed a turn or something, even though it makes sense to go away from your destination.

    Apple has iTunes

    Samsung has Touchwiz

    HTC has Sense

    Nokia had Ovi

  15. Baudwalk

    Agree with article except for...

    ... >>>As a result Ovi was a strong disincentive to buy a Nokia phone - when devices from rivals could get you to where you wanted to go quicker and easier<<<

    I take that as a dig at Ovi Maps.

    Maps was the main thing (well, next to the low price, perhaps) that got me to buy my 5230, and I haven't regretted it.

    Sure Google Maps is fine for domestic use, but I use Ovi Maps for navigation abroad too. It's worked very well for me, and with the maps on the SD card, exorbitant roaming charges aren't an issue.

    As for the rest of Ovi's on-line offerings: Meh.

    And the Ovi Suite program? That's a hideous, bloated, bug-ridden mess.

    The old PC Suite was ugly, a little buggy here and there, but at least it was mostly functional. Ovi Suite? Functional? Not so much.

    My next phone will most likely be some sort of Android offering. That should still be a few years away, though, as the 5230 seems to take quite a beating and just keep going. I'm hoping roaming charges will by low enough by then for off-line nav to no longer be a requirement.

  16. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Troll

    Redmondisation...

    This time next year, we'll be reading in El Reg about a silent rebrand from what was Ovi to Nokia Live Services....

  17. James Pickett

    Don't mention the war

    "the powerful master brand of Nokia"

    That sounds a bit Aryan. Do marketing people ever read their own hype?

  18. Tankster
    Dead Vulture

    You B*st*rds!!

    Not posting my comment about Jerri being an female and not a bloke, and then silently changing your reference of said person from "he" to "she" !

    Go and die you cunch of bunts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Hey, they listened to you, no?

      They never publish *my* corrections!

  19. PeterM42
    FAIL

    Nokia should have just stuck to phones

    In which case getting Microsoft to do the software should be OK?

    er.................................

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! - they never have been any good at mobile phone software either.

    It's no wonder that the VERY PROPRIETARY iPhone has done well.

    Big mistake Messrs Gates and Balmer. - Must try harder.

  20. Andus McCoatover

    Might be late, but...

    ..as Ovi is Finnish for 'door', how about the new site being 'Ikkunat'?

    Windows.

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