Download! - absolutely no excuse
With the news that Apple have (unsurprisingly) had 10 million downloads from their on-device AppStore in the first weekend of operation, I can't help but reflect back on the continuing disaster that is Nokia's Download! system - read my rant below and see if you agree!
Download! has been on every Nokia S60 phone for a couple of years, of course. It was always a bit half hearted and under-resourced, but we all forgave it because we, the geeks, knew other places to get the applications we wanted.
Along comes Apple and, quite rightly, announces a similar system, but 'done right'. By which they meant a comprehensive catalog of applications, both free and commercial. Not only that, but the AppStore itself keeps track of who's grabbed what and automatically notifies users that an update is now available for an app that they've previously downloaded. All of which is seriously cool and well implemented (I've tried it here on my own iPod Touch).
So, given that Nokia had several months following Apple's AppStore announcement, in which to revisit Download! and, at the very least, increase the number of titles offered up from the current meagre and uninspiring selection, why on earth didn't they, to use a colloquialism, pull their finger out?
Technically, Nokia Download! is very similar to Apple's AppStore. An online backend database provides an up to date catalog of applications to any S60 device. And Nokia had a huge, huge advantage, in already having 100 million Download!-enabled phones in use around the world.
I'd have thought it was a comparatively easy task to assign a team to researching useful applications and adding them into the appropriate device Download! catalogs. Quite apart from the usual (and very welcome) Nokia freebies like Sports Tracker - which does seem to have made it into the system - and Internet Radio, what about terrific freeware staples like Screenshot, Calcium, Y-Browser, S-Tris, Google Maps, Google Mail, Mobitubia and Opera Mini? Not to mention trial versions of a couple of dozen of the best commercial S60 applications.
Instead we get a very idiosyncratic selection, heavily biased towards online services and Java games. Even worse, Download! is slow to update and slow to redraw its catalogs and, on the N95 8GB at least, has had corruptions in its main 'Applications' catalog for the last month, giving 'Error while browsing'.
I really, really expected Nokia to leap in, a week or so before Apple's AppStore went live, to say 'Hey, we've had this for years and look, it's been given a new look and new content' - but was disappointed by the continuing silence.
Browsing through the current Download! catalogs is a joke, in terms of what's counted as 'New' or 'Hot'. And don't get me started on how much poorer the catalog is on 'branded'/network-locked devices - some of these are virtually empty.
Apple deserve all the credit for their hard work and their current success with AppStore. Nokia, you blew this one. It would have only taken a tiny bit of effort and would have had a huge impact - instead you're letting Apple run off with an idea you came up with.
Download! could have been bigger than AppStore. Maybe it still can be in the future, but I somehow doubt it. This is one part of the 'vision' that Nokia, seemingly, just doesn't get.
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 15 July 2008
Published by Steve Litchfield at 9:06 UTC, July 15th
Categories: Software, Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition
News Discussion
Tbh I dont want to use my phone for browsing for apps. The function needs to be there of course - in case I need something on the fly, like translation software or the like.
Maybe with OVI we might see something worthwhile.
"A secret that can now be found within Nokia Download service, allowing the public – you, to find the key to break the seals."
Isn't that a hint for a Download service redesign?
You can browse all the apps that way.
I do agree though, it's a pretty poor service :mad:
Is this what you're looking for?
[url]http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5868_Download_for_PC_now_available_.php[/url]
Tim
I'll have a look at that now.
[quote]Have none of you been on to [url]http://www.download.nokia.com/[/url] ??
You can browse all the apps that way.
I do agree though, it's a pretty poor service [/quote]
Been there, and its the worst way of doing it possible. Theres no search, no way to list or sort the apps, and there seems to be an extremely small selection. Many good apps I know of are not in there.
Even the structure of the Download menus is ludicrous, with some organised by publisher while others are organised by software type, and frequently the title of a folder gives you no clue as to what is inside it.
Nokia could make Download a lot better simply by reorganising the folder structure (so for example all the games would be in a single folder called "Games"). That would take no time at all to do, and it would make it much easier to navigate. There's also the bizarre choice to make some software visible on some phones but not others, so people can't rely on Download to find particular games or apps.
It's even more frustrating because the new N-Gage application does a very good job of handling phone software sales. It's not perfect, but it's much faster than Download, better organised, looks more attractive, has more features (including user reviews), displays all games on all phones and is more intuitive to navigate. You can even browse N-Gage without an internet connection, and use it to launch software which you've already installed, or use it to restore software you've bought but uninstalled.
Selling N-Gage games is technically no different to selling any other phone software, so why is it that N-Gage gets a fairly good interface while Download (with its much larger audience) stays rubbish for so long?
And why is there a parallel "catalogues" system running alongside Download with a totally different interface?
[url]http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5868_Download_for_PC_now_available_.php[/url]
Tim[/quote]
Unfortunatly, its not available anymore. Online nokia download appears to have replaced it, according to betalabs.
Which is a huge shame, as I said, theres absoloutly no way of searching or even looking in categories for an app. Unless Im missing something on that page?
All you can do is choose between top downloads, new downloads, Applications and games! They dont even seem to be in any order.
8 pages of 'applications' with no sort or search option - its not suprising people wouldnt use it.
Oh, and it also doesn't give any prices, it just says 'try for free'.
Definitely one of the plus points of my new iPhone 3G, and I've already bought a couple of Apps just through browsing around.
[url]http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/495[/url]
Simon
Poor effort.
All this and I still love my phones.
Oh, and it also doesn't give any prices, it just says 'try for free'.[/quote]
Which is also pretty close to breaching UK consumer law.
Go on AAS, make the effort - get some feedback!
Remember too that we are not just talking about S60 here, why shouldn't the vast numbers of S40 users also enjoy an app store that gave access to Java and Web based software, particularly given S40's increasing focus on Web capability?
Finally, will Nokia's Ovi strategy not play a part in replacing the incompetencies of "Download"?
Alex
phonething.com
Ah. Apologies.
Tim
We stop further development process for our Symbian applications [/quote]
May I ask who 'we' are?
Tim, no worries. But with that link I saw that in organisation at least, it was vastly better than the web service that replaced it.
I'm not sure who you are or if you're being genuine, but I have noticed this trend anyway with a bunch of the apps I use, some of who have all just released iPhone/iPod touch apps. I could see it was going that way when iPhone specific websites started popping up even though there was no reason the s60 browser couldn't render the exacts same page.
I can't see a lot of killer apps being developed for s60 phones in the long run from here on. I'll be considering a windows mobile for my next handset.
You have to manually install the client, When you click "download N-gauge" it pops up a box saying you need to download the client and you can't even click the url so you need to write it down and then go to a web browser.
Buying apps just plain did not work. I coul'nt find a link to buy the game I was interested in ("Brain challenge" by Gameloft) and when I tried to buy it inside the game I got "account not authorized."
In the end I went to gameloft's website and bought it there. Kudos to gameloft for making it as simple as possible and it just worked.
Nokia are not the only people best by poor customer experience
[url]http://gizmodo.com/5019516/classic-clips-bill-gates-chews-out-microsoft-over-xp[/url]
You download the game, then if you like it you select the purchase option to turn the demo into full version. The idea is that no one ends up with a lemon.
The "account not authorised" message obviously shouldn't be appearing, so you might want to report it on the purchase section of the support forums:
[url]http://forums.arena.n-gage.com/nokia?category.id=supportforums[/url]
Nokia is still partly in a swap they created theirselves. Their nseries software is a ugly beast that does it work. Yet why can't they have a java app that'll run on any platform and can access their phones through wifi or internet for syncing and more? Why all this vista/xp/mac problems if one software and a collection of platform and platform independent access methods can fix all in an clear and transparent way? If apple can get away with their own 'gui styling'. Nokia can too!
They had a java app that ran on linux and mac which could sync to a phone. Why they let it rot is way beyond me.
I remember when PalmInfoCentre was a site I'd visit every day ...
Sorry guys - but NOKIA are faffing around with services and buying anyone they can whilst the core product goes moldy.
I do wonder if their purchase of Symbian will lead to a better operating system for them. Now they can call all the shots as to how that OS should evolve and, perhaps, with all the development focus on NOKIA devices (at least for the next two years) they can move things along a bit faster.
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