Last week, we reported that Nokia was on the verge of opening their own “App Store” to rival Apple’s, but that no date was set.
Today, the Ovi Store has been officially launched by the handset maker, with a launch date set for early May.
The store will merge Nokia’s current Download!, MOSH and WidSets services into one platform that will allow users to buy applications, utilities and games to their S40- and S60-based phones. The platform will also include video and podcast downloads, as well as wallpapers and widgets.
Something to note about the service is its strong emphasis on “location-based content.” Media will be highlighted and featured based on the person’s current location and if given permission, the store “will also be able to flag items downloaded by peers in a person’s social network.”
The first handset to have support for the store preloaded is the upcoming N97 coming in June, but the company adds those with existing devices will be given access as well through updates.
Result for: verge
According to a report from Appscout, Apple may be on the verge of making Quicktime Pro free with the latest update of Mac OS X.
Although the Quicktime media player is free for everyone, the Pro version costs $29.99 USD and gives users the ability to edit and save Quicktime movies as well as export additional codecs other than .mov.
Checking the new developer build of Snow Leopard shows however that all those abilities are available for free and any links to register for the Pro version are also removed.
This should mean that Apple is making the player free with OS X 10.5 but that has not been confirmed yet. We will keep you updated.
Result for: verge
According to the daily Japanese Nikkei paper, it appears Pioneer is on the verge of completely exiting the TV market.
Back in March the company said it would halt Plasma production to focus on LCD production. “We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels, or PDPs, at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward,” Pioneer said at the time.
Despite the great commercial success of its Kuro plasma line, the company has been losing money for a few quarters now on TV sales. If the report holds true, then Pioneer will cut their losses and move completely out of the market, instead joining forces with Sharp to make a stronger move into the DVD and Blu-ray standalone business.
Pioneer declined comment on the report but did note that they have been “actively evaluating” the company’s TV business since at least last March when it decided to cut out PDP production.
