Some 50 million Nokia owners have reason to rejoice, as the company has now gone live with its Ovi app store, however U.S. residents will have to wait a little longer. So far, Australia, Singapore, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Ireland, the UK are the first countries to gain access, with U.S. availability expected later this year.

Nokia's Ovi Store puts the company in position to compete with Apple's App Store, BackBerry App World, Windows Mobile Marketplace, and the Android Marketplace, plus any others we may have missed. At launch, the Ovi Store boasts some 20,000 items, representing a mix of both free and paid apps, podcasts, wallpapers, and ringtones.

The company's upcoming Nokia N97 is expected to work with the Ovi Store, and AT&T has promised to make the Ovi Store available to its customers later this year.

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