Nokia will start connecting content providers with consumers through a one-stop shop, the Ovi Store.

The service will offer consumers relevant, targeted media through their social connections and their physical location information.

When it opens in May, the Ovi Store is a scalable media distribution network unrivaled in size and opportunity, with advanced content targeting capabilities and monetisation options that allow content providers and application developers to leverage the power of Nokia’s global scale in devices.

Beginning in March, content providers, developers and the existing Forum Nokia developer ecosystem can begin uploading their content at publish.ovi.com to be the first to distribute their media through the Ovi Store. Content providers can sign up there for access.

The Ovi Store will consolidate the best experiences from the current content services including Download!, MOSH and WidSets to a single channel, and expands upon Ovi Services to deliver media influenced by the people and places that matter to you.

It will amplify content provider and developer opportunities and simplify the consumer content discovery process by offering personally relevant, up-to-the-minute media for their devices.

The content will range from applications, games and videos to widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalisation content for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices.

The Nokia N97, available in June, will be the first device to include the simple and easy-to-use storefront. In addition, tens of millions of existing Nokia Series 40 and S60 users will be capable of enjoying the new service starting in early May.

“By leveraging our strengths as a company and the assets of our partners, the Ovi Store is a ‘smart store’ that will change the way our consumers discover and consume content on their mobile devices,” said Tero Ojanperä, EVP Nokia Services.-TradeArabia News Service