MocoNews recently reported on the T-Mobile clash with Nokia’s Ovi service and its ambitions. T-Mobile is threatening to pull Ovi-compatible devices from its handset selection. This sounds a bit like a negotiation tactic facilitated by the press but also like the good old ‘cold war days’ in the clash between carriers and Nokia. The height of that war was in 2003 and it resulted in Nokia temporarily toning down its D2C ambitions. This time around, though, there is a precedent on the market (Apple) for successful integration of these conflicting interests and Nokia will not budge.
Sometimes one may wonder, though, whether Nokia’s old Nordic ‘open culture’ of supporting open standards and treating certain product launches like a technology standardization process is the right one. Yes, we are in the days of the Internet and you need to act fast and have the market help perfect your service/product but Apple does not do it this way. When they launch a product there is a full value proposition ready. In fact, it has been ready when they approach the carriers. I don’t see this to be the case with Nokia’s Ovi and it does not help them crack the carrier nut without blood, sweat and tears.
I believe they will eventually get there, though.
