As Nokia struggles with trying to convince both investors and credit rating agencies that it is on the right path to recovery, the company is also making deals that will secure Nokia some exclusive apps for its line of Lumia smartphones.
Today, Nokia revealed that companies like Groupon, AOL and ESPN will make apps that will only be available for Lumia users for a certain period of time before they are released to the rest of Windows Phone owners.
For example, the ESPN Hub app will be a Nokia Lumia exclusive until May 2013. Nokia said that the app will have a number of updates in the near future including "sports scores on Live Tiles, team-level panoramas, personalization of scores, leagues and teams, and additional sports coverage such as Tennis, NASCAR and the 2012 Olympics."
The PGA Tour app will also be a 12 month Lumia exclusive. Due out in June 2012, the app will let users " ... follow PGA TOUR tournaments. In addition to live tournament scoring, highlights and player information, the app provides interactive, augmented coverage of select events and holes, showing each player's exact position and scoring information."
Groupon also plans to launch a major update to its Windows Phone app later this year. When it is released, it will be made available to Lumia owners exclusively for its first six months. Another upcoming app, the AOL Entertainment Hub, will be a six month exclusive for Lumia smartphones when it is launched. Nokia also said the travel app Tripdots will be a three month Lumia exclusive when it is launched.
Nokia also revealed that Windows Phone apps are in the works for Box, PayPal, and Time and Newsweek magazines, although they won't apparently be Lumia exclusives.
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