Nokia and GetJar argue over who's the #2 app store player

Having stated that its Ovi Store was now the clear #2 in app store rankings with nearly one million downloads per day, Nokia has been forced to clarify its position following forceful complaints from GetJar, an independent apps provider based in Lithuania.

"With over 700 million downloads to date GetJar is the 2nd largest app store by downloads behind Apple," declared the company's CEO, Ilja Laurs. "Ovi is doing one million downloads a day, but where are those downloads coming from? Keep in mind that Ovi supports apps, wallpapers, widgets and music. The real question is what per cent of Ovi's downloads are actually coming from apps?"

Laurs claimed that GetJar users download over 50 million mobile apps a month, or about 1.7 million apps a day. "We also offer support for 1,700 different handsets or about 95 per cent of the global phone market and have 300,000 registered developers and 50,000 registered beta testers."

In an effort to defuse the spat, Nokia has backtracked on the statement from Nokia's VP of services, Tero Ojanpera, maintaining that what should have been said was that Ovi Store is the #2 content store offered and operated by a handset manufacturer. The figure does not include app stores like GetJar that aggregate applications for multiple phone brands and operating systems.

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