Ovi Store Gets Skype or Does It?

Nokia got left holding the bag. On March 3, the company released a press release detailing the recent deal struck between itself and the folks over at Skype. According to the release, Skype was supposed to be available in Nokia’s Ovi Store free of charge. The popular app that allows users to make phone and video calls over the net was built to run on all Nokia smartphones with Symbian^1, the latest version of Nokia’s OS. All seemed well in the kingdom and a happily ever after seemed imminent. Just check out the rosy quotes:

“Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype. We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users,” said Jo Harlow, Senior Vice President for Smartphones, Nokia.

“Skype, the king of Internet communications, running on Symbian, the world’s dominant smartphone platform, makes for an explosive combination,” said Larry Berkin, Head of Global Alliances and GM USA, Symbian Foundation. “With Symbian’s global reach, Skype is that much closer to becoming the ubiquitous real-time communications platform for hundreds of millions of Symbian-based mobile users.”

The deal was announced, users went to the Ovi Store and the Skype app was nowhere to be found. So what gives?

According to the internet buzz, Verizon might have something to do with Skype’s no-show. According to VentureBeat, Skype pulled Skype for Symbian due to a pre-existing deal with Verizon Wireless. They were able to procure a statement from Sravanthi Agrawal, a member of Skpye’s corporate communications team.

“Skype has made a decision in the United States to not promote the Skype for Symbian app through the Ovi Store. We did this so that we could drive more attention to the recently announced Skype and Verizon Wireless agreement. This was a marketing decision — plain and simple.

Nokia owners can still download Skype, just not from the Ovi Store. Fans of the app can download Skype directly from Skype.com, which should be good news to China and the U.S., who are a couple of the countries left out of 175 that Nokia claims can access Skype for Symbian.

About the Author
Sherri is a freelance writer that has a love of all things fun and geeky including gadgets, gaming, anime, and comics. When she isn't writing or out on the town living it up, she loves doing 10-12 hour marathon sessions on her Xbox 360 or one of her older consoles. It's not an addiction, it's a way of life!
See all posts by Sherri L. Smith.