Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Not my words, The Washington Post'shttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052600855.html.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Wow.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but...

Anyway, instead of laying people off, Nokia should be moving more resources to Ovi.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

ouch. pretty harsh. but c'mon, nokia, when you're competing with the app(le) store, you better bring your A-game! :)

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

This passes for jounalism?

The store is much more responsive this afternoon as I'm sure the servers got HAMMERED this morning.

YARR!
}:^)~
*sigh* -Capt'n

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Oh dear.... please forgive me now, but all of you who had to read through my rants about Ovi in the past (how sync doesn't work, how share doesn't work, how chat doesn't live up to my expectations, how the customer support is ridiculously incompetent...) probably will understand if I now say:

LOL

What a complete, hard-earned disaster. Come on, Ovi, roll over and die. Nokia, fire the people responsible for all this, hire some talented, musically gifted ones instead and re-build this hulk from the ground up. The trademark Ovi is damaged forever, you'll never see customers walk through this door.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Does anyone remember the Chinook repository fiasco? What is it with Nokia and their servers? You need to be ready for "extraordinarily high spikes of traffic" guys!

If Ovi was some little thing by some little company, I would understand. But it is not. Nokia said, "Today is one of those monolithic milestones for Nokia and the advancement of mobiles..."

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Apparently the other 379 related articles on Gooogle News seem to say the same thing. http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&topic=t&ict=ln

The Washington Post is highly respected newsource. Whether the story is true or not-- Nokia's stock prices could be influenced. No doubt about that. This was played in the US press as the "comeback" that was needed by Nokia.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Nokia should replace all top management taking care of Ovi.
Clearly the IT guys at Nokia do this type of errors over and over again.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I doubt they will get fired they will probably get promoted to Maemo SW team!


Sorry I read too much Dilbert...:D

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

So, watch the stock prices, and buy low?

That wasn't really called for.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

UPDATE: problem fixed as of may 27th. i now see applications for my phone.

***

I don't know if this is location specific, so for those of you who live elsewhere, lt me share with you a nice piece of "how not to create a user experience":

As soon as I log in, the store is empty. Completely empty. Not one single item in any category.

Now on a day when some sources say it was a world wide launch, other say it's only Australia and Singapore, ... an educated Nokia customer needs to be careful. Maybe my phone isn't yet supported? Maybe my country isn't on the list and I'm gonna see the shining, wonderful Ovi experience in a few days when the Finns discover the Alps? Who knows?

But you see, this is exaclty the point:

What kind of bonehead lets you select the store from within Ovi only to present you with absolutely empty shelves and no information whatsoever why this is? Can't they tell me somewhere in fine print "We're not open yet in your country" or "Again, as you're probably used to by now, your phone isn't yet supported. Expect it to work with this service in 10 years." - Anything would do.

Instead, they let you walk through an empty store. If I were a normal consumer who doesn't know the infinite incompetence of this company, I would probably think "Woa, what a boring place, they don't have anything here." I'd leave and never return again.

Why do they do this? It's not so much of an effort to keep people informed and maybe even invite them to come back later, is it?

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Hang on there benny.

I think the firing should go higher than you seem to support.

The guys and gals in the Ovi trenches worked their butts off with a severe shortfall (in my estimation) of the resources required.

Nokia executive management was stupidly stingy in the one area that they could not afford to be.

I would have gladly accepted a spot on the Ovi team, say in the area of configuration/information management. Oh well.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

If the tarnish on "N-Gage" wasn't enough for Nokia to abandon the name, I can't see them giving up on "Ovi" so easily.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I said those responsible should be fired. I don't expect to find those people in the teams actually working on Ovi.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Hehe... good point. And I always thought my company was a madhouse.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Understood, and I'm not just trying to split hairs-- I think it should be rebuilt from the top down, not ground up. ;)

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Hmmm... Just for curiosity I got in there store.ovi.com, and it seem to work for fine for me? (Only that couple those apps seem to show up twice... but no other issues that I noticed.) Maybe they did fix/increase the servers and/or increase bandwidth?)

I do not have account there... so I was just browsing as guest.

UPDATE: I just created a new account for me. No issues whatsoever. Also they sent a link to my phone to activate the account... activation worked fine. Also logged into the OVI account with my N73, and the contents is shown properly formatted to my phone small screen...

What's all that fuss about? Was I just lucky? :confused:

UPDATE2: Synchronized my phone (contacts, calendar) with my PC, no problems. Also did browse maps for fun... 3D maps works as well as current traffic conditions shows up. (That's on my PC with Firefox browser...) The experience is very similar to google maps. The only issue I noticed that trying to get into music store gives timeout.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

as i said: it could be a matter of region and/or phone model. (i'm used to ovi services telling me that "your model isn't currently supported")

as they don't tell me what the reason is, I can't tell you. I only see "0 items" on the left, no matter which category i choose.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I haven't read the W. Post article yet, but I looked at the store and was mainly disappointed to see that there was nothing for my Nokia Internet Tablet. We're like the bastard step-children Nokia customers.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I can see hundreds of applications for N95 8G. I would expect more, and some big names are missing, for instance QuickOffice, SPB TV, etc.
I logged in with my existing share.ovi.com account and it worked. I read a report in Washington Post the existing users cannot log in with existing ovi/nokia account - that's not true in my experience.

What I don't know and like to know if the applications presented for a device, let's say N95 8G, are they country dependent? So for other country, they see more applications for N95 that I see?

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Once again appearing as a Nokia apologist but I downloaded the application this afternoon onto my 5800XM and have experience no issues at all. I have been able to load a nice Associated Press application and a couple of Lonely Planet video's. I think the store experiencing the most issues was the web browser one which obviously since noone in the US owns a Nokia device is the place all the press went to see.

If the store offers anything useful to the end user (something I see as pretty doubtful) then it will survive a launch day fiasco. Remember the MobileMe fiasco from Apple, people have already long forgotten the problems with service that didn't work for months after launch or simply avoided it.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Here's what I think is most damaging about this launch, and it's a compilation of the diverse experiences mentioned: the service is very spotty and performance is dependent on far too many factors. This should have worked seamlessly everywhere or not been launched at all. When multiple users have such a variety of experiences, to me that says more against the quality than say a site access glitch that causes the whole thing to be briefly unavailable. Heck my email server goes down periodically BUT when it's up I have a consistent experience and it works.

This just looks... messy. :(

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

There is no doubt that Nokia need a hit in the US and this store would go a long way to restoring credibility. I just played around on it all day and it is really quite nifty and well integrated with the 5800 i.e. 1-click to install ringtones and wallpapers, 1 click to watch videos. I haven't tried to pay for anything yet we'll see how it goes.

There is a slew of new nokia products coming out on every carrier in the US it looks like Nokia is trying to cover their bases and re-enter the US market with carrier branded devices this time. Not too sure if I like that at all. The ovi store will come in carrier branded and unlocked versions so this soft launch could be considered beta until carrier branded and billing based service ships.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Are... are you serious?

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Of course, there's always the possibility that _reports_ of problems are based on crappy journalism, and are being talked up to make Nokia look bad. Anyone know if any of these journalists (the actual individuals) reporting the issues are reputable? Are they known fans of any other tech companies? Are they just bitter because Finns are so damn cool?! :)

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

It's the Washington Post, not the New York Post.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Can't say I'm not surprised that this is a failure.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I've covered that subject twice on my blog (link below), and am preparing to do so again...

Ovi does not support the tablets, at all. When I complained last year, they spoke of technical hurdles. In 5 minutes I'd researched the issue and showed them a solution. Apparently it was not implemented... and given the Maemo OS break, it may not be for the current crop of products. They may be waiting for the next tablet-- er, device.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

You might wanna rethink that double negative. :p

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Yes, but they were just publishing a story from http://www.TechCrunch.com

Here's a link to the journalist's recent work on that site. http://www.techcrunch.com/author/robin/

And here's his official profile. http://www.crunchbase.com/person/robin-wauters

I have nothing against Mr. Wauters, having never heard of him before, but all he reports in this story is that he had a crappy time trying to get Ovi to work today. One person, one experience. But I AM astonished that the editors at the Washington Post thought that this was an acceptable journalistic methodology.

I try to hold a neutral view of any organization that publishes the news, but the individual authors and editors deserve a little digging. Some are fantastic. Some are not. But they ALL have an individual perspective.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

hahaha! you're good.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

He did post this update from the Ovi team.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

True enough. But at that point, and given the title, the damage was done.

In any case, I hope the store rolls along, and I REALLY hope they get around to adding Maemo (maemo? mAeMo?) stuff. Although, to be honest, the real money for Ovi is in basic mobile content for Nokia's 1.8 gazillion not-smart-but-sorta-clever-and-with-a-great-personality-phones, running the S40 system.

And yes, it is 1.8 gazillion. Look it up. :rolleyes:

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

... another thing (not important, but tells a lot about the quality control):

The category that's called "utilities" in the English version got translated to "öffentliche Einrichtungen" in the German UI, a phrase that could be roughly translated back as "public organizations". ("Reference" becomes something that's widely understood as "link")


Having a flashlight and a handwriting calculator listed as "public organizations" is sort of fun, but doesn't help building a reputation of reliability and trustworthiness.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

Doing a google search for the terms "nokia ovi store" leads to a top hit of a Maintenance site.

Ooops, not good.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

...
* Make an iPhone clone -- CHECK.
* Dive into services industry -- CHECK.
* Sell music -- CHECK.
* Make an app store -- CHECK.
...

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

* Be competitive -- CHECK


YARR!
}:^)~
Capt'n -- CHECK

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

I suppose now we know where Sun's German translation team works after Sun was acquired by Oracle. This kind of translation is typical of Sun administration web interfaces. :D

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

In defense of the store site, note that when the Windows 7 beta was released, the web was full of frustrated users and people saying that the release of the beta was a complete disaster. But it was soon taken care of, and I think that Windows 7 has been very successful so far. I'm typing this in Windows 7.

I would say that brouhahas about the first day release of z are a journalistic cliche and the articles could be written by filling in forms:


"

Release of Z has been a complete disaster!

Users worldwide have been complaining about using the new Z site since it was announced yesterday. "I'll never try Z again," grumbled Joe Nemo, 56, of Anytown, US. "This has been a nightmare!

"

and so on.

Re: Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster
 

You've got a valid point... but if it were me I'd rather be CREATING the competitive factor than chasing it...