Apple's Tight Rein On iPhone App Store To Boost Nokia?

Is Apple's tight control over iPhone applications a blessing in disguise for Nokia?

In the last two weeks, Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL) has pulled three applications from its stores: the $999-joke app "I Am Rich;" Box Office, which lets users look up movies and buy tickets; and NetShare, an application that turns the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. No official reason has ever been given for why the apps have been taken down. It's easy to see why they yanked NetShare, given that it competes with the wireless broadband services of Apple's partner carrier AT&T ( NYSE: T). The same goes for I Am Rich. Yes, it was a joke, but then some apparently did click on it not believing they would really be charged $999. BoxOffice, however, was a popular app, and a useful one that had gotten favorable reviews. Perhaps its only crime was that it was free and undercuts a revenue share deal that AT&T's own movie listing and ticketing application has in place.

Nokia ( NYSE: NOK) meanwhile has no restrictions on what can be downloaded onto their smartphones. This hasn't ingratiated Nokia with US carriers, which in return have ruled out subsidizing some of the handset makers more popular smartphones--such as the N95, which retails for $533. But all this could change. As a Forbes article argues, the publicity surrounding the iPhone's app store--both good and bad--may lead consumers looking for smartphones without the restrictions of iPhone to Nokia's. Apple, for example, may have pulled NetShare, but for Nokia users there's Joikusoft, an application that doesn't just turn a phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, but lets it share the connection with multiple devices. iPhone-less carriers, too, may be re-examining what Nokia's smartphones have to offer, thanks to the raised awareness that the iPhone has brought to these gadgets. They may not have the iPhone, but they'll need something with similar capabilities.