Monthly Archives: June 2012

Introduction to Series 40 full touch for developers

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Car Race 3D Exercise App running on the Nokia Asha 311We’re kicking of the webinar series for the new Series 40 Touch phones tomorrow! The first session will walk you through the new Java ME APIs introduced in the Developer Platform 2.0.

The packed agenda covers all the important topics that you will need to know about when you’re moving your Java ME apps to the new touch UI:

  •  Introduction
    • Platforms & Versions
  • New features for developers
    • UI
    • LWUIT
    • Text Input
    • Touch Input
    • Sensors
    • Location & Maps
  • App Compatibility
  • Publishing & Monetization
  • Resources
     

The recording of the first webinar session is online for viewing. The downloadable version of the slides is slightly extended, featuring some more details than in the 1h webinar. 

You can download the full source code of all the apps shown during the presentation – the blue text box in the top right corner or the slide always refers to the full example being demonstrated.

JavaME-Touch-Examples-v2.0.0.zip

As a special bonus, the example package and the downloadable slides also include a few exercises (+ the corresponding solutions), so that you can put your new knowledge about the APIs into use right away! The excercises are both based on 3D graphics:

  • In Monkey Touch 3D you’ll add drag & pinch support to view the 3D model of a monkey, and add orientation support to dynamically switch the app between landscape & portrait mode, depending on the physical orientation of the phone.
  • Car Race 3D let’s you extend an endless 3D racing game with support for controlling the car using acceleration sensors, instead of physical keys (which would no longer be availble on the new touch phones)
     

Registration

In different webinars during the following days we’ll also look at the design aspect and the IDEs (both the new Nokia IDE for Java ME as well as NetBeans). Every session is held two times, so that you can join no matter which time zone you live in.

Register for the webinars now!

100 million in 100 seconds

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100 million downloads is one big achievement. How big? Watch this video to find out!

Why all this fuss about 100 million? Because UTV Indiagames, Pico Brothers, and Inode Entertainment have become the first developers to each achieve 100 million downloads on Nokia Store!

Their successes show that even small businesses can achieve big results. They also show that Nokia Store can deliver serious results for developers from around the world. Indiagames, based in Mumbai, started with just 5 people (though it has since grown to 350 staff and is now part of Disney). Pico Brothers of Finland is still staffed by just two men — not really brothers — and a dog, Viggo. And Inode of Mexico has a staff of only 10 developers.

Indiagames, the first company to reach 100 million downloads on Nokia Store, has found a winning formula with localised content on a wide range of Nokia devices. The company’s popular games include Ra.One Genesis, IPL Cricket Fever, and Monster Truck Dash. Indiagames is now developing apps for Nokia’s latest Asha Touch devices.

Watch this video with Indiagames founder Vishal Gondal.


 

Read how Indiagames was first to reach 100 million downloads.

Pico Brothers, second to reach the 100-million mark, have succeeded in part by extensively using Qt, which lets the two developers create new apps in as little as a few hours. Pico Brothers’ popular offerings include YouTube Downloader, Flashlight Extreme, and Milk the Cow. They are now expanding by localising apps and monetising their work with both paid apps and in-app advertising.

Watch a video on Pico Brothers’ road to 100 million downloads:

Read how Pico Brothers joined the 100 million club.


Inode Entertainment, our third developer to pass 100 million downloads, has, in just six years, become one of Mexico’s most successful mobile developers. The company’s apps include Ming Zhu, Esquadron 201, and Monster Truck Challenge. Inode monetizes its work with both paid apps and in-app advertising. The company’s apps run on Nokia Series 40 and Symbian phones, and its developers are now creating Windows Phone apps for Nokia’s latest Lumia devices.

Read how Inode Entertainment hit 100 million downloads.


Who will be next to pass the 100 million downloads milestone? As they say on TV, stay tuned!

Gaming for the Masses: Inode Entertainment Joins the One Hundred Million Download Club

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Earlier in the year, we chronicled the success of IndiaGames and Pico Brothers. Today, we’re happy to add Inode Entertainment to the list of developers who have achieved the one hundred million download milestone via Nokia Store.

Inode logoIt all started in 2006 when Jaime Enriquez decided to apply his passion for gaming to mobile handsets and applications. Since then, his company has grown to ten developers who share his passion for app development. One of the first publishers in the Nokia Store during its inception, Inode Entertainment is now one of the most successful development companies in Mexico.

One of Inode’s most successful applications, Ming Zhu, is a puzzle game that has been deemed the “Sudoku killer.” Players can spend hours challenging their brainpower and the brainpower of fellow users in this free game. This app, along with others like Escuadron, Monster Truck, and Race Electrix, appeals to a broad demographic and continues to surprise customers. Enriquez and his staff pride themselves on customizing themes and applications for their fans. Through stellar customer service and the support of their local Nokia team for quick solutions and training, Inode Entertainment has built a profitable company with a loyal following.

While Inode Entertainment offers paid versions of their apps, they monetize their apps primarily through in-app advertising supported by Nokia.

“The in-app advertising platforms provided by Nokia are great for both developers and users. They enable us to make our applications available to the masses while providing us a good fill rate and an impressive eCPM,” according to Jaime Enriquez, Founder and CEO of Inode Entertainment. “We are happy with our revenue success and are able to pay employee salaries through the revenue generated from our applications.”

At Inode Entertainment, they believe in a company atmosphere that encourages dreaming big and working hard. And with a hundred million downloads under their belt, they’re now aiming for the one billion mark. With a portfolio that spans Symbian, Series 40, S60, and Symbian 3 (and soon Windows Phone), they expect to achieve their goal with hard work and determination, as well as Nokia’s global reach.

Inode app screenshots   

“Nokia has the best developer program in the industry, and we know we can reach above and beyond the status quo with their help,”said Jaime Enriquez. “With a portfolio that spans gaming, productivity, tools, and personalization, we are proud of our success. Our partnership with Nokia has enabled my hard working team to achieve this milestone.”

After reaching the handsets of gamers all over the world on Symbian, Series 40, and S60 phones, Inode Entertainment is looking forward to developing for the growing Windows Phone Marketplace.

“We are extremely excited about the Nokia and Microsoft partnership and are in the process of developing several applications for Nokia Lumia smartphones and the Windows Phone Marketplace,” said Jaime Enriquez. “We are big fans of Microsoft’s development tools and believe that Nokia has the most impressive global reach. That winning combination enables us to reach our very ambitious goals for the future.”

Inode Images

After 11 million downloads, Psiloc’s World Traveler moves to Nokia Asha Touch phones

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What do you do for an encore after your mobile app has already been downloaded more than 11 million times? If you are Psiloc, the Warsaw, Poland-based developer of the World Traveler app for Nokia phones, you develop a new version for Nokia’s just-announced Asha Touch phones — the Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306, and Asha 311.  

‘It was an easy decision for us’, says Wojciech Nowanski, Operations Director at Psiloc. ‘We want to be on as many Nokia devices as possible and to reach as many consumers as possible.’ 

World Traveler, one of several popular apps offered by Psiloc on Nokia Store, offers both business and leisure travelers an all-in-one suite of free mobile services: global weather forecasts, currency conversions, and a world clock. In addition, World Traveler users have the option of purchasing two premium services: Flight Assistant, which lets them search the flight schedules of major airlines for information on flight delays and other changes; and Safe, which lets them securely store sensitive numbers in a ‘virtual vault’.  

World Traveler was originally developed six years ago, after Psiloc executives found themselves stuck in a Hong Kong airport, waiting for a delayed flight to Hamburg. ‘There was no information about what was going on with the plane’, Nowanski explains. ‘So we decided to create such an app for travelers.’ 

Then, about three years ago, Psiloc added new features to World Traveler and ported the native C++ app first to Nokia’s Symbian 3rd Edition, then to Symbian 5th Edition, and then to Symbian Belle. With that, the app has, well, taken off. In addition to the afore-mentioned 11+ million downloads, World Traveler now has approximately 2.1 million users who rely on it every day. In addition, Psiloc earns revenue whenever users opt for the app’s premium services. 

To move World Traveler to the new Nokia Asha Touch phones, Psiloc has essentially recreated the app in a new development environment. The new Asha Touch phones are designed around Nokia’s Series 40 Developer Platform 2.0, so Psiloc’s development team opted to create the new version of World Traveler in Java. 

The Java version of World Traveler took Psiloc about four months to develop, and the work was done by a small team of developers. Psiloc’s developers were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to do using the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java. The Light Weight UI Toolkit (LWUIT) helped them speed development by offering a wide range of UI-ready components and the Java APIs let them offer rich applications. They also made use of the emulator included in the SDK and the settings to test in-app purchasing.

Watch this video to find out more about Psiloc’s experience developing for the new Asha Touch devices:

The Asha Touch version of World Traveler initially offers the most popular free services of the Symbian version: a world clock showing local time for specified locations; currency conversions for nearly 185 currencies; and the premium Flight Assistance service, available using Nokia’s in-app purchase service. Psiloc is also prepared to offer other free and premium services to the app’s Asha Touch version in the future. ‘We will watch how the market responds, and then we will decide which other features to move’, Nowanski says. 

World Traveler for Nokia Asha Touch phones will be offered on Nokia Store in 18 global languages, among them French (both European and Canadian), Italian, Portuguese (both European and Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. With the Asha Touch phones playing an important role in Nokia’s campaign to reach the next billion consumers, that should create quite an encore.

Tools for full-touch Series 40 coming June 25, documentation available now

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Beta versions of updated Java and web tools for targeting full-touch Nokia Asha devices will be released Monday June 25.

Information, documentation and guides for these upcoming releases are available now, allowing you to familiarise yourself with the new capabilities of the tools.

Today’s documentation releases include: 

More guides and material, including ‘getting started’ technical videos, will be published on June 25 to coincide with the release of the new tools.

The Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 are the first all-touch Series 40 devices, and are expected to ship in the third quarter of 2012 (second quarter for Asha 305). They will have an estimated retail price in the EUR 63-68 range for Asha 305, Asha 306 and EUR 92 for Asha 311 (excluding taxes and subsidies).

Meet the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java

Introduction to Nokia Web Tools 2.0 

Join the Big Brand Hack in San Francisco: meet and build apps with big brands

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What do you get when you mix big brands with big brains and big prizes?  A one-of-a-kind program to connect developers, brands and mobile technology – The Big Brand Hackathon.

The Big Brand Hack is on this weekend in San Francisco, and it puts developers in front of some of the world’s most well-known consumer brands as partners who can transform concepts into code and ideas into apps. 

This is a chance for developers in the US to build some amazing experiences for consumers and get recognized by some powerhouse brands. Register here to compete for more than $25,000 in cash and $20,000 in prizes. Kraft Foods and The Home Depot will reward developers who design apps that drive brand awareness through social, location and other mobile services.

We will be there, awarding up to 50 Nokia Lumia 800s to the developers who create the best Windows Phone apps.

Bravo TV will also be filming the hack as part of an upcoming reality show based on Silicon Valley.

Twenty developer finalists selected over the two day hack will have a chance to showcase their app to attendees (500 plus) at the Social-Loco conference.

The Big Brand Hackathon is June 16,17 with winners showcasing their apps at the Social_Loco conference June 18.

Participating brands will share their business challenge to developers. Teams and individual developers spend two days coding to come up with creative, technology-based solutions that include a location and social feature that brands can put into the marketplace.

Big Brand Hackathon prize packages include:

·       HOME DEPOT 1st  Prize  $8,000.   2nd  Prize   $3,000

·       KRAFT   1st Prize $8,000.   2nd Prize $3,000

·       Best Use of Social APIs   $1,000

·       Best Use of Location APIs   $1,000

·       People’s Choice  $1,000

·       Best Windows Phone Apps  Nokia Lumia 800 smartphones (up to 50)

Learn more and register to join the Big Brand hack at http://bigbrandhackathon.eventbrite.com/

New Nokia Asha devices bring full touch to Series 40

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Nokia Asha 311Full-touch has arrived on the world’s largest mobile platform, with the launch of three innovative new Nokia Asha devices 

The Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306, and Asha 311 bring a full-touch form factor to Series 40, and the touchscreen devices will let Series 40 developers showcase the biggest, most tactile apps ever seen on the platform.

Nokia Asha 305 specs

Nokia Asha 306 specs

Nokia Asha 311 specs

The devices are expected to  ship in the third quarter of 2012 (second quarter for Asha 305), and will have an estimated retail price in the EUR 63-68 range for Asha 305 and Asha 306 and EUR 92 for Asha 311 (excluding taxes and subsidies).

While representing an innovative new chapter for Series 40, all three devices remain true to the values that have helped us ship 1.5 billion Series 40 devices so far – accessibility, value and utility. The new phones take advantage of Nokia Broswer 2.0, a major recent update which uses cloud technology to reduce data consumption when browsing the web by up to 90%. The pre-loaded social client makes it simple to access Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. All users will also receive an exclusive gift of 40 EA game titles, free to download and keep forever.

Consider the growth of Series 40 downloads – of the first billion Nokia Store downloads, Series 40 devices accounted for 13%. Of the fifth (and most recent) billion, Series 40 comprised 42% . There are now over 100,000 content items available in Nokia Store for Series 40 devices, and nearly 25,000 specifically targeting Nokia Asha and its more advanced features. Adding an all screen paradigm to this growing app platform creates even more possibility for your Java and web apps.

The Java and web tools Series 40 developers know and use today for Series 40 development are being updated and augmented with additional capabilities that will allow you to target these exciting new devices. We will announce these updated Java and web tooling releases and release dates as soon as possible here on the Nokia Developer blog.

Portuguese-language webinars offer Nokia platform training

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Portuguese-speaking developers now have a great opportunity for training on Nokia platforms: 13 webinars over the next two months.

All these Nokia webinars will be conducted in Portuguese, and all will held at 4 p.m. Brasilia time.

Sign up now or get more information for any or all of these Nokia webinars:

12 June: Qt Network explained

13 June: Dicas de otimização para aplicações Qt

14 June: Qt SDK: debugging e profiling

19 June: O que há de novo no Qt 5

20 June: Usando Qt Mobility em suas aplicações Qt

21 June: Entendendo Model-View Delegates no Qt

26 June: Utilização de sensores com Nokia Windows Phone

27 June: Game API – J2ME S40

28 June: Web 1.5 SDK para Série 40

3 July: Introdução ao XNA Game Programming no Nokia Windows Phone

5 July: Como montar uma App em diversas resoluções de tela

10 July: Apps de consumo de APIs de Internet para mobile phones

11 July: Apps de consumo de APIs de Internet para Windows Phone

Contributor of the Month: Luis Valente goes above and beyond

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Luis ValenteIt is often difficult to select which contributors to the Nokia Developer Wiki deserve special recognition. Nokia Developer Champion Luis Valente made it easy this month with a stunning 300 article updates during May. This monumental effort was in support of the recent merger of the Nokia Developer Knowledgebase and Nokia Developer Wiki.

Luis is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and holds a Doctorate degree in Informatics from PUC-Rio, a top university in Brazil. His research passions include innovative mobile game interfaces using audio, gestures, and tactile feedback. Out of this research comes The Audio Flashlight series of games that allow competition between sighted an un-sighted contestants.

Crangratulations Luis, and thank you for your contributions to the Nokia Developer Community.

>> More on Luis’ work in this discussion thread.

 

 

 

Champion of the Month: Craig Miller goes on location with LBS

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Nokia Developer Champion Craig Miller founded Spatial Minds — a U.S. geo-spatial research, development, and consulting firm — in 2004 and has more than 20 years of experience designing, implementing, and managing location-based services (LBS). He is also an advocate of Qt, Nokia’s application and UI framework. Craig is a cofounder of the Seattle (Washington) Qt User group, and he recently organized the group’s booth at LinuxFest Northwest, which featured local businesses and their Qt apps. Craig is also an active member of the Cascadia Users of Geospatial Open Source (CUGOS) and the author of Spatial Minds’ Hello World blog.

Prior to forming his company, Craig was a Senior Software Engineer with Autodesk Location Services, where he developed innovative LBS products, designed the COM plug-in API for the tablet-based Onsite View, and earned an LBS-related patent. Craig holds a master’s degree in Spatial Information Science and Engineering, and he has done research at the University of Maine National Center for Geographic Information Analysis and Battelle Pacific Northwest National Labs’ Remote Sensing Group. Craig also has hands-on experience and formal training in nearly all aspects of wired and wireless enterprise, mobile, and desktop location-based solutions. He has been a Nokia Developer member since 2010.

Meet Champion of the Month Craig Miller.