If you are reading this you should know that Nokia opened their own App Store called OVI and is accepting developers to publish their applications. In this article we address typical situation when a customer has an idea of the Nokia applications and hires us as a development vendor. The customer will need to open a few accounts in order to sign and publish the application developed. Here is the instruction:

1. Open the developer account at OVI and get it approved. Enter banking information as well as other corporate info as prompted. Only companies will be accepted! In user management area create a ‘developer’ login and pass to developer.

2. Apply for TC TrustCenter Publisher ID here: (cost $200).

3. Once the publisher ID is obtained you need to get certificate and the key out of it. Follow the instructions or ask the developers for help. We know that this procedure is hard for the first-time.

4. Register with SymbianSigned and purchase 1 Express Signed certificate by logging into the account there. Pass the account information to developer. This web site is used for signing applications by Symbian. Please note that Express Signed is the cheapest signing option, the most appropriate way is Certified Signed where a 3rd party test house is performing the testing of the applications for the fee ranging $350-550. Express Signed certificate is generated on the fly with Symbian checking selected applications on a later date. Should Express Signed certificate be revoked the company should sign the 2 following applications using Certified Signed option. *Disclaimer: as a developers we recommend the client to use Certified Signed option and get the app fully tested by a test house selected by Nokia (there are hundreds of supported devices with a variety of software and options). Should you want to save on those fees, we can use Express Signing option but do not guarantee 100% compliance with all the Nokia tests and thus Express Signing certificate note being revoked.

Useful resources:

- Symbian signing guide
- Online Flash Packager for creating .sis out of .swf file and signing it (for Flash Lite apps only)
- Symbian guide on testing applications
- Test the app on a remote Nokia phones
- Sample archive for submission for Symbian Signed
- Advanced Nokia phones feature comparison matrix
- Talk to other developers on Nokia forum

Should you have questions regarding the getting started or signing of the application – feel free to ask in comments.

Tags: ovi developers, ovi development, ovi publishers, publishing on ovi
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Nokia, mobile phone giant, is finally getting into AppStore business with the launch of Ovi AppStore. The launch was a disaster – they probably had to much press coming out and experience a huge traffic spike. While I write this post the Ovi home page says ‘We’re sorry, Ovi.com is unavailable at the moment’. I’m sure they will figure it out and get it right in a matter of short time and developers should start getting their hands on (use this link to register as a publisher). It took me about 10 minutes to register our legal entity as a publisher. Way faster then with Apple AppStore.

Applications published on Ovi have the potential to reach 50 MLN of devices right now and 300 MLN of devices by 2012 according to Nokia. This is why you might want to become the publisher ASAP. It looks like there is only 536 applications on AppStore and some of the phone models have a few apps only. This might be a gold rush for early publishers.

Nokia believes that Ovi Store is the best opportunity for Flash developers to reach Nokia users globally, targeting 50 million users at launch in May and up to 300 million by 2012.

Revenue split between publisher and Nokia? Home page says 70% of revenue goes to developer but digging further in terms you find out that it’s true as long as user pays by credit card, once it’s operator billing you end up with 50% extracted for tax and operator fees and the resulting amount is multiplied by 0.7 which leaves the publisher with much lower payout.

Credit Card Transactions
Developer will receive 70% of end user price, less applicable taxes, returns, refunds, and bad debt.

Example Calculation
Purchase Price: 5€
Tax Deduction: 5€ – 10% tax = 4,50€
Publisher Revenue: 4,50€ x 70% = 3,15€*

Operating Billing Transactions
Developer will receive 70% of end user price, less applicable taxes, returns, refunds, bad debt, and operator billing charges ranging from 40% – 50%.

Example Calculation
Purchase Price: 5€
Tax Deduction: 5€ – 10% tax = 4,50€
Operator Billing Deduction: 4,50€ – 40% = 2,70€
Publisher Revenue: 2,70€ x 70% = 1,89€*

Technologies/programming languages supported?

Symbian Applications, Java Applications, Web RunTime (WRT) Widgets, Flash Lite Appications

Useful process start-up links:

Ovi Developer Discussion Forums

Documents: Publisher Guide, Billing Matrix, Supported Device List as well as FAQ section

Developer Wiki

Actual Ovi Store where you can browse published apps.

Signing application issue explained

Good luck with development and see your content on Ovi soon!

P.S. We were lucky to register www.ovidevelopment.com and www.oviappreviews.com domain names a while ago, if you have a partnership or purchase offers for those please feel free to email to peter (at) moveyourweb.net

Tags: ovi, ovi appstore, ovi development
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