One message I've consistently been hearing from Nokia over the last two years has been that all of the different Ovi services will somehow combine together to make something wonderful that would "delight users" (their words). Nokia never gave any concrete examples, and I was starting to think that this was simply vaporware - but now that all the services are together and under the same Ovi banner, there is some magic starting to happen. The Nokia Gig Finder application genuinely impressed me at this year's Nokia World.

The premise is simple - but then aren't all the best ideas? The Gig Finder app looks at the music you have on your phone, checks your location, and then suggests up-coming gigs for you. You can buy tickets directly, message your friends about it, save the gig on your calendar, get directions to the gig and listen to some more music from the artist to get you in the mood for the gig as well!. Music, Maps, Billing, Messaging, Social Networking and the phone's Calendar all coming together - which sounds like it should be far too complex for the user but in fact the app is remarkably simple and intuitive. All of the technical stuff is hidden and it is the complex integration of services at the back-end and the single sign-in (which has taken Nokia over a year to achieve across its Ovi suite) which makes this sort of stuff possible.
An interesting, innovative, compelling, useful app which is greater than the sum of its parts - and with a developer community numbering over 3 million, I'm hoping to see more innovation like this emerging out of the Nokia ecosystem. As Thomas Edison said, "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". After the years of talk, they needed something to prove there can be an end product. I'm sure there has been plenty of perspiration behind the scenes at Nokia as they rolled out and integrated these services, at last that 1% inspiration is starting to show.
Related reports:
Nokia Opens Up To Innovation
- David MacQueen