if Nokia is really serious into making maemo/developers happy with ovi-store:
I suggest the following

In ovi-store:
Create a mini-account (maemo/type):

Features of mini-account {maemo}:

1- Free
2- split of profit = 60-40 share or even 50-50 + restriction on how many apps to release per month (These only for programs that are non open source /none port) + the application got a label tag of "None ovi-premium" or some things to indicate this is from small user/small company with an free account + preventing it to appear in featured category
3- On open sources the max price for application can be €1~€2 and split as 90-10 or 85-15 | This to be used as donation system (if someone wants to donate more ,lets him buy it more than one time)
4- Ability to upload free programs with no restriction
5- Registering is open to everyone
6- Lets the application of this user type to use non-nokia official libs {user compiled} + you can add a label of "Not supported application" or similar

Normal account:

as it is now + if there is any feature of the mini-account (obviously it should have)

For those who still didn't get it:
1- Make new account where users can register for free
2- Play with profit margin + add restrictions to indicate of non-professional work and to minimize the lose of your €50
3- Shows that Nokia/Ovi-store don't support these type of application (Buy as your own responsibility)


There is still anther option (Making new store )

Wasn't the whole point of the OVI store to provide a 'Premium Brand' face to the general public? The normal repositories are there for people that want to distribute freely and that still works fine.

I also don't really understand why Ovi should be changed in any way. It is fine the way it is: offering a marketplace for "commercial" developers.

If the "noncommercial" developer needs a way to get donations, would some sort of a donation framework/library work? Developer could use library/framework developed by community & Nokia to add a simple way to donate from inside the app. It could be based on PayPal (or perhaps Nokia Money if it's possible and Nokia is interested on building (or helping to build) thing like this) or something like that. This dialog could pop up when the app is started for the first time and it could also be available through app settings.

I think that Ovi should be left as it is intended - a commercial software store for those developers looking to make a profit out of their software. Munging a donations system into that would likely only dilute that aim and throw in a whole bunch of complications to the way Ovi has to operate. Extra complication will likely significantly increase costs (which would have to be passed to the developer, then to the customer) and add extra hurdles into the registration and publishing processes. Ultimately, this will have no (or little) value to Nokia or Ovi members.

How about something a little simpler? A link to a paypal (yeuch!) or 'donate.maemo.org' (etc. etc.) donate button inthe App Manager or Maemo Select?

isnt VAT registration just a few quid in the UK? In Germany you have to deal with the hell of gov-services and pay 25eur...

I don't think the donations idea should be ruled out on principle, but if it's too hard to implement practically I wouldn't be too sorry to see it go. I think that what I mainly want is for there to be a single user interface that shows free apps alongside proprietary ones on an equal basis.

The Maemo Select pages do a pretty good job of that, but it's not entirely clear (to me, at least) whether the Ovi store will work on a similar basis, and it should.

> OTOH: 50 EUR is nothing if you're even halfway serious.

I don't think you can generalise like that - it all depends on the cost of living. It might be nothing to a developer from Europe, but for someone in China or Russia perhaps, it is a lot more.
It also depends on how much you expect to make - Ovi Store isn't just an app store. App tend to cost a fairly significant amount so you don't have to sell too many to recover the 50 euro cost. Content, on the other hand, tends to cost a lot less (even the minimum is too high, IMO), and so it is necessary to sell many more before you recover the 50 euro.

I don't think there's any justification for initial charge when they have the revenue to pay for the ongoing running costs.

This is especially true for Symbian developers who already (almost always) have to have their apps signed, at a very significant cost (unless things have changed recently).

Of course, Symbian apps/content also can be sold/distributed outside the Ovi Store, and has been for many years, well before any manufacturer stores, iinm. The problem was that it was more difficult for users to find them than it is for the Ovi Store.

I think NvyUs was referring to the response from customers, not Nokia. I don't think Nokia says that if you publish via Ovi store that that has to be exclusive.

There's no cost to register for VAT in the UK. (Are you saying that in Germany you must pay money in exchange for the right to pay more tax. Wow!)

Once you register, you need to file quarterly VAT reports. This is a manageable burden (after all, even your local plumber probably has to do it). But the local plumber doesn't have customers and expenses around the world.

When you try to work out the VAT implications of overseas device purchases, conference registrations, international software sales, support contracts etc you usually need to pay an accountant, especially when you try to apply the rules to a ringtone purchased by a customer using a PayPal account from country A, but the ringtone was actually downloaded from a server in country B while the customer was in country C, and you live in country D and are getting a commission from a store operated in country E but you bought some online advertising from a search engine in country F. And there are very different rules for the VAT-accounting of tangible and non-tangible items.

Bleah! That's one of the reasons why a company (or individual trader) isn't required to register and account for VAT until their turnover reaches a certain amount (£67,000 per year in the UK). If you're making more than £67,000 per year, you can afford to pay an accountant a few thousand to sort it all out.

There's no inherent reason why Nokia must only deal with VAT-registered companies. It's just a way to simplify their life and keep their costs down.

Regards,
Roger

Why do you think that is the intent of the Ovi Store? I just assumed it was set up to make it easier for customers to obtain content and so make the devices and services more attractive.