Samsung takes on Nokia’s Ovi

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) isn’t the only handset manufacturer that wants to keep making money of its customers after the initial hardware purchase. Samsung announced at Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona that they intend to pursue an Internet-based services model, much like Nokia’s Ovi.

The new strategy would unite all of Samsung’s premium web-services under one roof and put more of that consumer-cash back into Samsung’s coffers. And, with handset manufacturers scrambling to keep the end-user “in-house” even after the customer has paid for the phone and is long-gone from the retail store, Samsung’s new web-services strategy makes sense.

Over the next couple years we’re going to see most big-name manufacturers start to offer Ovi-like web-services integrated into their revenue model.

[Via: RCRNews]