When a phone company starts talking about the Internet on your mobile, cold sweats typically follow. But that isn’t the case with Ovi, Nokia’s new “Internet gateway”. Billed as an umbrella for its ever-expanding line up of software services, Ovi promises much and the early signs are that it’ll deliver too.

See, Ovi isn’t about the Internet as such. It’s about services on your phone that, when plugged into the Internet, suddenly come to life. Surfing the net on your phone is a mare at best, but snatching music from the soon-to-launch Nokia Music Store, share game stats with buddies on the all-new N-Gage and it starts to make sense. Bunching it all under one umbrella simply serves to make the whole lot easier to use and more accessible.

Ovi’s centrepiece is the collaboration between your PC and your phone. Anything you do on one, will be transported to the other. Update your games collection on your PC and hey presto, it’s synced to your mobile. Same with Music and surely we’ll see the same kind of action with Nokia Pictures when it’s announced properly.

We’ve been loving Nokia maps since it landed with our N95s - what’s not to like? Access to any maps for 150 countries worldwide - how do you suspect that happens? The Internet, of course. And that’s how you need to view Ovi. All those cool things you can do that’d be made better by sharing, will be.

So with Maps, Pictures, Music and Games all on offer, what’s next? Well, we’re none the wiser right now, but Nokia promises Ovi to be vastly different one year from now, such is the rate of development. It’s an evolutionary project that’ll just keep getting better and better. What’s more, with proper device integration, Ovi should, and probably will, disappear into the background. Now Mr Nokia, lets get those Ovis open. We’re holding out for the Nokia Video Store. Now that’d snap a branch on Apple’s tree!

Ovi Essentials

N-Gage

Why? The best mobile gaming experience you’ll get. Top titles are heading our way and with the N81, will be spiffing to play too.

Where? On a s60 device near you. Not till November though.

Nokia Maps

Why? Free maps of the world, on your phone. Get the app on your mobile and you can access maps over the air. Install Nokia Maps Installer on your PC and you can download them for free and stick them on your memory card.

Where? All you need to know is right here.

Nokia Music Store

Why? Download the latest tracks straight to your phone. Even better, you can sync ‘em right back to your PC. Pay a subscription and you can stream unlimited tunes straight to your PC.

Where? All you need to know is right here but don’t expect to see the service until October or November.