Nokia has confirmed that the price plunge for Ovi developers is enduring, losing the "beta" label earlier applied and making Ovi the second cheapest app store to get on. The price cut was introduced last month along with the new Qt SDK, but the new pricing came with a "beta" tag which has now been removed. That puts the sign-up cost permanently down to €50, with application signing for all but the most dangerous apps thrown in free.
All About Symbian reckons that this places Ovi as the second cheapest application store, still charging twice what Google asks for membership of the Android Marketplace: $25 and free signing. iOS and Windows Mobile will take a hundred dollars off you, and getting into the BlackBerry store costs twice that.
The fact that a few hundred dollars presents a significant barrier to entry is indicative of the kind of developer now bringing products to the market. The problem is that removing the per-application-signing fee turns the Ovi signing process into a loss leader for Nokia, which will be depending on application sales to make back the money - a model that some are already saying is indefensible. NEWS SOURCE: www.theregister.co.uk
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