Nokia Earns at Least One Win Against Apple

Times have been better for Nokia (NYSE: NOK ). Shares in the Finnish mobile
phone manufacturer, while up from lows around $4 in August, currently are
trading around $6 the last time the stock traded around $6 for an extended
period was 1998, before the mobile phone market was more than a fast-growing
business service niche. Still, more Nokia phones are in consumer hands around
the world than any other brand, but Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) left the company in
the dust in terms of earnings from mobile phones back in January. Even with its
anticipated partnership with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) likely bearing fruit in
the form of new high-end smartphones targeting the U.S. mobile market in the
next six months, its questionable whether the company can escape the gravity
from the black hole that is the dying feature phone market. But, where theres a
hope, theres a way and theres at least one glimmer of promise in Nokias current
mobile business. The Ovi Store the equivalent of Apples App Store running on
Symbian operating system Nokia phones actually is a thriving environment for
app developers. This is according to a new study conducted by German firm
research2guidance (reprinted at BGR ) that found that during the second quarter
of this year, the average app in Nokias Ovi Store saw 160% more downloads per
day than the average app in Apples App Store. Put another way: A business that
sells its app in the Ovi Store will see its wares downloaded more times, more
often than they will through Apples outlet. Now its important to note some
disparities in scale. For starters, there are just more than 50,000 apps
available in the Ovi Store at this point in time compared to the 500,000-plus
available through Apples store. The Ovi Store also earns significantly less than
the App Store. Across 2010, the Ovi Store generated $105 million in revenue,
according to IHS. Apples iTunes operating segment, which includes the App Store,
generated $1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2011 alone. Even if developers
are seeing their wares distributed to more people through the Ovi Store, theyre
certainly not making as much money. Still, this statistic might prove vital for
Nokia during the next 12 months. As of the second quarter of 2011, Apple became
the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer in the world in terms of the number of phones
shipped to retailers, with 19% of the market; Nokia controls just less than 16%
of the market, beating out Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) and others.
Research2guidances data shows that even with a smaller chunk of the market and a
smaller wealth of apps, Nokias remaining audience is hungry for digital content,
and that audience hopefully will remain with the company when it introduces its
line of Windows phones to the market. Nokia plans to retire the Ovi brand once
its Windows phones hit the market, its app store changing its name to just
Nokia. Both Microsoft and Nokia need a broad stable of app developers from
around the world, in every market, to capture consumer mind share and make any
kind of headway against Apple or Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android phones. That
Nokia can prove its audience is made up of active downloaders is a good start.
Its a hope, if nothing else. As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not
own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at