Nokia halts funding support for Share on Ovi
I checked out Ovi Share at Mobile World Congress a couple of years ago and after seeing all that the sharing service could do I intended to switch over to it for all my photo and video hosting. I loved how you could share feeds with family and friends so they could be updated and even send photos to the service and thought the functionality looked extremely useful. However, I tried it for a month or two and then just went back to my tried and true solutions of Flickr and YouTube. Now with photo sharing supported in Facebook and Twitter social networking services, there seems to be little need for another service. I just read on ZOMG it Cj that Nokia is halting further development of Share on Ovi.
I live in the Puget Sound area and just this past week heard about the closing of the Share on Ovi (previously Twango) office here in the area. This was sad news, especially given that they just recently renovated their offices.
Last year Nokia’s major focus seemed to be on lining up services to be branded under the Ovi name. With the changes in the economy I wonder if Nokia is seriously evaluating all of these services and seeing which ones people are actually using.
Hopefully, we will see Nokia integrate support for existing popular services that will not be going away anytime soon. It sounds like you can still use the Share on Ovi service, but with funds no longer going to support it I am not sure you want to put content up on a site that may not be around much longer.
Do you use Share on Ovi?
8 Comments to Nokia halts funding support for Share on Ovi
Don’t use share on ovi that much, more for when I’m too lazy to connect by cable or bluetooth and transfer a picture I need on my pc. But it’s a shame they’ll take it down. I really enjoy being able to converge everything I use in one service, even thought it’s quite scary.
Tim B.May 13, 2009
Guess I’ll stop uploading photos and videos there. I wish Nokia would figure out just what the hell they want to do with Ovi and get on with it. I really want to replace my N95 with the N97 when it hits the U.S. sometime this fall but I want the full Ovi experience to come with it. I don’t want just a nice phone, I want a web-based services portal to interface with it. In short, something similar to itunes. If they can’t get it together by then I will have to reconsider all my options. For such a huge player in the mobile industry I can’t believe how much Nokia stumbles around in the dark.
TallbruvaMay 13, 2009
Sounds like a good time for a partnership. I think it would be foolish to completely abandon web sharing. That put customers like Tim B. in the position to either stay with Nokia because of loyalty or go with someone who will let him do what he wants. Android’s latest build 1.5 will let users do just that.
Why am I mentioning Google’s Android on a Nokia form? Because Google’s already got the infrastructure in place to handle it and the experience to keep it running. It wouldn’t be the first time rivals worked together. The iPhone and G1 are direct competitors, yet every iPhone comes with Google Maps. Google also made an update to GMail so that it has more functionality thru Webkit browsers which iPhone, G1 and Nokia uses. Nokia could do the same thing with Google’s Picasa; let the lawyers hammer out the legalities of calling a Nokia-Google web sharing project Ovi.
My point? Don’t give your customers a reason to jump ship. Partner with someone who’s been doing what you need done, retain your services and keep your customers. Sounds simple, but as big as Nokia is and the egos I’m sure permeate upper management, I doubt such a venture will happen even if it is for the best.
ArchitengiMay 13, 2009
I am using share on Ovi and I have my albums there (photos and videos). Very upset about the Nokia’s move. If iPhone comes out with an improved version, I will reconsider buying a N97. This is because the services provided by Nokia are not reliable anymore if they suddenly stop supporting them.
TallbruvaMay 13, 2009
@Architengi
You embody all that I was saying. Nokia needs Google to retain customers. Otherwise, they’ll defect to iPhone or Android – platforms that were designed with the back-end to handle web sharing.
Face it Nokia: a great phone stuffed with memory and an awesome camera isn’t cutting it anymore.
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May 14, 2009
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I use share.ovi to host heaps of audio – test tracks for music blogging Be a shame to see it close and have to find another audio host
May 12, 2009