I was finally able to use the Nokia Ovi Store which was launched earlier this week. It can be found at...

store.ovi.com

...on the web. And, if you visit it from your Nokia smartphone, you are given the option to install an Ovi Store app. Note that you need to register a username and password and provide a mobile phone number before you can access the store or download the app.

While Google's Android Marketplace is only available on the phone itself and you need to either use the iTunes app on your desktop or iPhone to access the iTunes app store, Nokia's Ovi Store is accessible either over the web or directly from the phone. App lists tend to load very slowly on my Nokia N96 connected to the Internet via a 802.11g WiFi connection.

I had mixed results with the various free downloads I tried. As you can see in the photo above, the AP News app installed successfully but the Skyfire browser installed failed from the Ovi Store just as it did when I tried to download and install it directly from Skyfire's web site. I think I was able to successfully download a Star Trek ringtone. I say "I think" because it did not show up in my list of ringtones when I searched for it. The Ovi Store did not let me attempt a second download since it decided the first one was successful.

Nokia's Ovi Store is a much needed part of the ecosystem for Nokia smartphone owners. However, it needs to render much faster in its dedicated app if Nokia wants customers to browse it frequently for new apps.