Software update for Nokia N900 brings Ovi Store support

With the Nokia N900, Maemo entered the smartphone world, but there weren't many available applications. Now a software update brings beta support for Ovi Store, pushing Maemo closer to full support of the Ovi services.

The software update (v1.2009.44-1) for the Nokia N900 started rolling out yesterday for every location and version of the N900. The update is available through the Nokia Software Update app or over the air. If your Nokia N900 is connected to the Internet, you'll get a blinking notification icon in the Status Area - click it and the download will begin.

Among other things, this update brings support for the beta version of the Ovi Store for Maemo. Currently, it offers a handpicked collection of Maemo 5 applications, which means it's just for Nokia N900, the only Maemo 5 device for now. Owners of previous Maemo devices like the Nokia N800 and Nokia N810 (which weren't smartphones) are out of luck it seems.

From the Ovi Store you can currently download things like a Facebook widget, Documents To Go Viewer Edition, Evernote Sharing Plugin, Fring and a few others. Check out the available applications on the Ovi Store website. Just make sure to select Nokia N900 as your device (by default, the selected device is Nokia N97).

With the growing user base and easier distribution of apps through Ovi Store, more and more developers should get interested in developing for Maemo, the wider selection of apps should attract more users and so on. Kick-starting this loop can lead to fast growth of market share for Maemo.

And they need that if they're going to reach their goal for 2011. The rumored Nokia N920, a QWERTY-less Nokia N900, and the Release Candidate of Firefox for Maemo should also help in luring in more users.

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