Less than a year after virtually creating a new communications market with the launch of its iPhone 3G, Apple suddenly finds itself facing cheaper models, new functionality and copycat online stores from well-funded, well-branded competitors.

 

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry (News - Alert) Curve outsold the iPhone (News - Alert) in the first quarter – due in part to the brand’s status as the smartphone of choice among businesspeople – and officials from Sprint say the Palm Pre will serve as a casual and business use device that succeeds where the iPhone, which is carried exclusively by AT&T (News - Alert), fails.

 

Now, on the heels of rumors that the world’s largest maker of cell phones is eyeing a cheaper smartphone for the midmarket, Nokia (News - Alert) Inc. is officially launching its own widely anticipated virtual store for applications.

 

The Finnish vendor says its so-called “Ovi Store” (pictured below) will serve more than 50 million device users, including the upcoming N97.

 

Let’s be clear: Nokia’s virtual store follows the gold standard model that Apple developed for its iPhone launch last summer, as well as similar offerings from RIM and an app store for open source, Google (News - Alert) Android-based smartphones.
 

But because Nokia is such an internationally recognized brand (the company makes more cell phones than anyone), today’s announcement marks a significant market disruption.

 

Consider: the Ovi Store mobile client is available in English, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish and supports operator billing in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.

 

More countries, languages, devices and features will be added throughout the year, and – according to Nokia – AT&T plans to make Ovi Store available to its customers in the United States later this year.

AT&T’s chief marketing officer of mobility and consumer markets, David Christopher, said the company “looks forward to introducing Ovi Store for our customers.”

 

“AT&T has a reputation for providing the most customer choice of content and applications and offering Ovi Store is in line with that strategy,” he said.

 

Given how heavily AT&T relies on its smartphone business through iPhone – and given the threat that Verizon someday may carry the iPhone –Dallas-based AT&T is doing well to diversify its sector portfolio.

 

Meanwhile, Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president of Nokia Services, said the Ovi Store is open for business and “we’ve stocked the shelves with both local and global content for a broad range of Nokia devices.

 

“Ovi Store makes shopping for content and applications easy and fun for feature phone and smartphone owners alike,” Ojanpera said.