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Nokia Store will shut in mid-2015, users redirected to Opera Mobile Store

Microsoft twists the knife

Nokia Store will shut in mid-2015, users redirected to Opera Mobile Store

In a move which underlines the total phasing out of Nokia- branding and infrastructure - from its future mobile business, Microsoft has announced that the Opera Mobile Store will replace Nokia Store (once known as Ovi) in its Nokia feature phones, Symbian and Nokia X smartphones.

This means that starting in Q1 2015, millions of Nokia Series 40, Series 60, Symbian, Asha and Nokia X handset users in emerging countries like India will be automatically redirected to Opera's store.

The migration process is expected to take three months after which time Nokia Store will be closed.

The result could see the Opera Mobile Store becoming the third largest behind Apple's App Store and Google Play.

End of an era

The announcement follows a separate agreement which will see Opera become the default browser on Nokia-branded phones, including Series 30+, Series 40, Asha and Nokia X handsets.

"We continue to sell and support classic Nokia devices, which remain popular in many parts of the world," said Rich Bernardo, Vice President, Phones, Microsoft.

A new look

"We're delighted to partner with Opera Software and continue to provide a reliable app store experience for consumers and developers alike."

An open app store, the Opera Mobile Store supports more than 7,500 mobile devices, and is used by over 40,000 developers to distribute more than 300,000 apps and games.

Significantly the news follows on from the announcement from the infrastructure part of Nokia that Microsoft didn't buy that it's planning to release its own hardware in the shape of the Android-based N1 tablet in China in early 2015.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.