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Nokia Ovi Store accused of favouring big publishers over indies

Wallpapers and ringtones blocked for small developers

Nokia Ovi Store accused of favouring big publishers over indies
The Ovi Store is still finding its feet, but since the execution of N-Gage its popularity is definitely on the rise among the millions of Nokia users.

As much as Nokia has streamlined the submissions system, revising signing of applications and allowing developers to quickly and easily sign up to distribute their content, one such programmer has been complaining about his treatment on the Nokia forums.

This particular developer apparently wants to sell personalisation content through the Ovi Store, but has received no reply from Nokia after paying the registration fee.

"Currently they are dealing with major content publishers but they should open this up to the smaller vendors next year," came the official reply from Ron Liechty, manager of the Nokia Online Community. "Do not expect much contact until then."

While it's easy to see Nokia's concerns when it comes to personalisation content (often the source of copyright issues when unlicensed wallpapers and ringtones are created), it seems the terms and conditions are disconcertingly opaque for developers, many of whom are now concerned that the large publishing houses are receiving preferential treatment from Nokia in gaining access to the Ovi Store.

Yes. Spanner's his real name. And, yes, he's heard that joke before.