Nokia’s big message over the past year or so has been about its fundamental shift from being a handset vendor to being an “Internet company”. This has resulted in a big push into services, like those lumped under the Ovi brand. It’s also talked a lot about openness and inclusiveness, trying to align itself with internet developers and content providers rather than sticking to the typically closed strategies of the telecom world.
It launched today one of its first major services, the Nokia Music Store. One of its first major forays into Internet services. But apparently the “Internet” means people using Windows and Internet Explorer — and that’s it. Apparently the problem lies with the “Nokia Music Bar”, an ActiveX control used to download songs, but that’s slightly irrelevant. The reasoning isn’t particularly important; the issue is that Nokia’s taken a very narrow view of what constitutes the Internet and its users. Nokia is also limiting its market (which it’s also doing by only supporting the brand new N95 8GB and N81 handsets).
There are a lot of great people at Nokia who get the Internet, and they’ve got a monumental task in changing the mindset of the company. This misstep illustrates that, and that despite the intelligence and earnestness of these folks, collectively there’s still a long way to go. Perhaps the bigger issue, though, is that this sort of move calls into question just how seriously the whole organization takes this idea of openness, and understands that it truly must embrace it to be taken seriously as an internet and services company.
—–>Follow us on Twitter too: @russellbuckley and @caaarlo
[...] Store launched. People in the UK, who use Windows and Internet Explorer will be able to use it. This angered Carlo Longino who thought that Nokia said they are now an Internet Company. Last time I checked companies like [...]
[...] Store launched. People in the UK, who use Windows and Internet Explorer will be able to use it. This angered Carlo Longino who thought that Nokia said they are now an Internet Company. Last time I checked companies like [...]
Lol. It is saddening to see that even such supposedly experienced tech journalists as you cannot look beyond the FIRST day of a NEW service in ONE country. Have a bit of a broader and longer perspective, please.
And like it or not, IE and Windows ARE the de facto global standards of the Average Joe consumer. What retarded company would not START a new service there?
Yeah, I checked the store this morning and was shocked when it wouldn’t let me in with Firefox - this is 2007, not 1997 and that kind of browser-specific design is inexcusable in this day and age.
Still, I was curious so I tried in IE to get in but I have to say I wasn’t impressed. You can search for artists or tracks but not for albums. Let’s hope it’s just teething troubles that they’ll iron out.
@Speachless: Of course there will be problems when a complex service like this first launches, but using technology like ActiveX looks to me like a fault in the design rather than a little bug that can be quickly fixed.
It does have a very usable feel to it… but I felt let down when I figured I won’t be able to burn a CD to listen to my music in my car.