Nokia launches Ovi digital media, folds in Twango

Nokia acquired media-sharing start-up Twango last year, and now it's finally doing something with it.

Twango has been folded into Ovi, a new brand for Nokia's mobile Web services such as gaming, social networking, and mapping.

"The Twango brand will be a fond memory," a blog post from Twango director of service development Jim Laurel reads. "We are now Share on Ovi."

Nokia made the announcement Monday, though Laurel's blog post is dated last Monday, February 4. Go figure.

Twango originally pitched itself as a more functional alternative to photo-sharing sites like Flickr; people can also share video and audio, organize it into "channels," and selectively share it with other individuals. Back in 2006, we billed it as a "great sharing site that no one uses."

Twango users without Nokia devices will still be able to use Ovi for media-sharing, but they will apparently be missing out on some perks. Laurel's blog post goes on to say that the former Twango team has developed downloadable software so that Nokia handsets (N95, N82, and N73) can automatically upload media to the service.

Also part of Ovi is Nokia's new navigation service, which was announced Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The main Ovi.com home page gives a few teasers as to impending services from Nokia, and encourages visitors to "come back soon and see what's new."