MASTERCLASSES

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Using Ovi to build a mobile site for Nokia phones

Ovi, which is run by Nokia, is designed to create mobile sites solely for Nokia phones.

Ovi actually uses a white-label version of Mippin, and if you create a site on Ovi, you’ll discover you also have an account at Mippin, where a mirror of the site you have created is automatically generated.

Hence, building on Ovi is the same as on Mippin. For a tutorial on that, go to this element of MMJ Masterclass 11: Going Mobile.

Your app is presented in the Nokia shop, where mine got 142 downloads in the first couple of days, which was satisfying.


One benefit that Ovi has over Mippin is that Ovi allows you to design a button that will appear along with the other apps you have on your phone’s home screen.

One downside of Ovi, apart from the fact it serves only Nokia phones, is that it takes them six working days to approve your site and publish it.

I couldn’t get the site on any non-Nokia phone. I tried to send it to a non-Nokia phone by creating an account at the Nokia store, and clicking on ‘send to a friend’, and inserting my own mobile number.
The site said it would send me a text enabling my app to download, but it never arrived, presumably because my number relates to a non-Nokia phone.
Full Masterclass here: http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/640

No comments: