Since the May 26 launch, users have downloaded 10 million pieces of content and applications from the Ovi Store, Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s EVP of Devices, said during a call with North American reporters. In addition, Nokia confirmed that the average user has done six downloads, meaning that roughly there’s 1.67 million users of the store. Given Nokia’s Goliath-like stature in the industry, the figures are less than impressive, especially in comparison to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), which surpassed 100 million downloads in the first two months of the app store’s existence and 1.5 billion downloads after a year.

In some ways, the poor numbers aren’t terribly surprising. Niklas Savander, Nokia’s EVP of services admitted today the store had performance issues right out of the gate. In a conference call he said, “We totally underestimated demand on the first day. We had an outage on the first day which was not our plan.” While he said the service is now running reliably, it remains clunky and is not at all comparable to the sleek interface of the iPhone. Plus, users must download the store to the handset themselves since it is not yet shipping on devices.

Savander said that to truly leverage Nokia’s global footprint, it will have to deploy the store in more languages and make sure local operators have integrated billing. “When we have 100 countries, that’s when we’ll see the true potential in full swing.” Today, the Ovi Store supports 100 devices, five languages and is on 27 operators in eight countries that support carrier billing.

Ovi downloads were up 50 percent from July to August, he pointed out, which could suggest that a new fast-growth period is ahead for the app store. “It looks promising and it is meeting the aggressive plans we have.”

Another metric the company talked about this week is the number of users who tap into Nokia’s overall services, spanning from Ovi Store to maps and Comes With Music. Oistamo said the goal is to hit 80 million users by the end of the year. As a daily reminder of that goal, the company has digital displays in both its White Plains, N.Y., and Espoo, Finland, offices to provide a real-time report. On Friday, Nokia hit 55 million users. To hit the target this year, it must add 25 million more users in the next three months. “It’s something the whole organization is watching,” Oistamo said.

To support Ovi’s growth, it will launch in three additional languages by the end of the year (Portuguese, French and simplified Chinese), and it is approving 500 new content items per week, ranging from games, videos, podcasts to productivity tools and location based services. It is also working on implementing the store with additional carriers, including AT&T (NYSE: T) in the U.S.

— ADM sets standards for podcast ads : The Association for Downloadable Media (ADM), a trade organization for pod- and vidcast-related companies, has released a preliminary set of ad standards; the guidelines cover 25 units, including pre-, mid- and post-roll insertions, product placement in shows, and in-show endorsements. The group also posed two acceptable forms of campaign measurement: log files from the server where the content was hosted, or through a third-party intermediary. The standards are aimed at making it easier to run ad campaigns in downloadable content — as podcast adoption in particular continues to grow, but the ad dollars aren’t scaling accordingly. The ADM was founded in mid-2007. Release.

— A majority of ad execs expect to have M&A talks in 09 : Research from advisory firm AdMedia Partners found that marketers are still optimistic about M&A activity this year — particularly in the interactive advertising space. The firm surveyed more than 3,700 marketing execs, finding that 56 percent of respondents expect to be approached by a potential buyer this year; 52 percent expect to approach potential acquisition targets. The top three interactive sectors respondents said they would enter or expand into were mobile, search and social media. Release.

The company was founded by former telecom executive Alan Levy in 2006.

Wells is taking an aggressive stance, too: “I think the BBC have got a huge rival in this area. Channel 4 have done a lot of talking, but we’re doing a lot of doing” (via Press Gazette). Maybe so, but Channel 4 is doing a lot of winning – having secured the right to operate a 10-station DAB radio multiplex this summer including three of its own channels – E4 Radio, Channel 4 Radio and Pure4 – with the lineup offering more downloads than Guardian podcasts. Perhaps it was a surprise that The Guardian wasn’t tapped to offer a current affairs strand to some of Channel 4′s upcoming DAB output, given past close ties. Now, though Guardian Unlimited has GMG’s radio division in the background, it finds itself building a radio ambition using a rudimentary Flash player against an opponent with 25 years of broadcast experience.

The BBC began a podcast trial in October 2004, extended it a year later and the scheme was approved by the BBC Trust in April 2007, though some radio shows recently have begun referring to the features as

- ilovevideo Launch: Music video site Video-C has launched ilovevideo, a music video retail site including DRM-free downloads from EMI and other labels. ilovevideo has licensing deals with a range of indies including Domino, XL, Beggars Banquet and Ministry of Sound, and also takes vids from the EMI repertoire courtesy of its recent announcement to sell DRM-free videos. Downloads cost £1.89 for portable-quality videos or £1.99 for higher-quality versions, playable across Windows and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) formats.

- Gaydar: The radio station operated by dating site Gaydar will next month start publishing the podcasts it will supply to Channel 4′s forthcoming digital radio multiplex. Gaydar was listed as a content provider alongside the likes of NMA, Penguin and Financial Times in the broadcaster’s successful and interactive-heavy bid to run a second wave of DAB stations from late next year. The Guardian reports Gaydar Radio, which currently broadcasts around London and Sussex as well as online and over digital satellite TV, is staffing up a podcast unit to produce the celebrity and lifestyle programming. The podcasts will appear on GaydarNation, the umbrella for the growing number of sites operated by parent Qsoft, from next month, the report says.