When working with Nokia, a publishing company does not have to be large in order to be successful. This week, we focus on the success of two people who never gave up on their passion for developing applications, and worked with Nokia to make their vision a reality.

Unique Designs for All: IND190 Success Story

In 2008, Ramadhan Bach wanted to download a new theme for his Symbian phone. Frustrated by the lack of options available at that time, he decided to create his own design, and he never looked back. After developing his first theme, Bach shared it with other Nokia enthusiasts with the same appetite for creative designs for Symbian phones. Bach published themes on his personal blog, where they gained momentum for years before he heeded the words of encouragement from his peers to start his own app development business. The result is IND190, a company that offers customers themes for a variety of Symbian Phones.

Since founding IND190 in 2011, Bach has experienced tremendous success. Only one year after first publishing free and paid versions of Bach’s themes in the Nokia Store, IND190 has garnered more than 26 million downloads across 190 countries. IND190 continues to release unique, high quality themes that enable Nokia users to personalize their Series 40, S60 and Symbian phones.

“Thanks to the Nokia Store and the hard work of my four team members, my personal hobby has now become a globally successful business,” said Ramadhan Bach, Engineer and Founder of IND190. “We look forward to exploring the Windows Phone platform with personalization applications and reaching a new group of Nokia users who are passionate about design and style.”

With their company and momentum growing by the day because of consistent release of new authentic content, IND190 and Bach are making big plans to expand into new markets to reach Windows Phone customers. They also hope to use Nokia’s tools to help increase monetization and gain more revenue in the years to come through in-app advertising.

One theme in particular is getting a lot of attention from both consumers and smartphone enthusiasts. Available globally for only 1 Euro in the Nokia Store, IND190’s Chrome is a series of themes developed that offer 100% scalable vector graphics compatible with S60 and Symbian Anna. Receiving five stars in the Nokia Store, the application has already impressed customers who have called the application “one of the best” among a variety of personal theme options because of its originality.

“Users like the ability to customize their phone, and our Chrome theme makes all the difference,” said Ramadhan Bach. “We are continuing to push the envelope in developing for our customers and look forward to publishing fresh and unique themes for the new Nokia Windows Phones in the near future.”

More information on Ramadhan Bach and IND190 can be found on their website and in the Nokia Store.

The Adventures of DreamGamez

Ramizuddin Shaikh knows how to write his own adventure. In 2010, he set out with a vision to create fun games and applications for the masses through his one-man company, DreamGamez. In an attempt to reach more people in more locations, Ramizuddin made the decision to develop for Nokia Series 40. The result was the Adventure of Ted, a gaming application that has been downloaded more than 20 million times in 190 countries. Handling everything from design to publishing, Ramizuddin leverages Nokia’s easy to use platforms and powerful developer community to develop fun and creative applications that appeal to a global audience. After its debut in 2012, Adventure of Ted was ranked as the number one top free game in the Nokia Store for more than a month in the US, UK and India.

As expected, Ramizuddin’s success was not without a few roadblocks.  As an independent developer, Ramizuddin knew he had to create an application that would stand out. He wanted to develop an application for feature phones that would find the perfect balance between quality and performance while also offering easy scrolling and high quality graphics. The result was a free application with smooth gameplay available on a variety of phones.

“It’s a challenge for an individual developer like me to reach a broad base of customers with a new application,” said Ramizuddin Shaikh, developer and founder of DreamGamez. “The Nokia Store’s global reach helped me showcase my high quality, unique application with gamers all over the world.”

With a successful Series 40 application under his belt, Ramizuddin is determined to embark on a new adventure: developing for Windows Phone. The rapid growth of the platform along with the intuitive developer tools has convinced Ramizuddin to publish all of his upcoming applications to the new platform.

“Nokia provides everything you need for development,” said Shaikh. “I look forward to exploring Windows Phone and seeing my download numbers continue to grow.”

A simple, addictive, action-packed game is the most recent release from one of Nokia’s most successful developers, UTV Indiagames. Along with a slew of other applications, Monster Truck Dash has helped UTV IndiaGames exceed 91 million downloads across 190 countries to date. UTV Indiagames is among the 350 developers to have driven more than 1 million downloads each via Nokia Store. 

Monster Truck Dash is available at a cost of1 Euro for Nokia Series 40 and S60 phones. The app leverages Nokia’s networking and social connect technology to create a high-powered game in which users challenge their friends and family to monster truck races on visually engaging courses. The result is an action-packed and challenging experience that users can share with their friends.

“We are thrilled to have crossed the 90 million download mark in the Nokia Store. It is an exciting and proud moment for the team,” said Vishal Gondal, CEO of UTV Indiagames. “The Nokia Store has opened up avenues for us to successfully exhibit and sell a variety of applications, and we have managed to hit this tremendous milestone in just two short years.  Overall, our partnership with Nokia is helping to take our applications to the next level in India and beyond.”

UTV Indiagames develops Java apps for use on a wide range of Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices, and they often include in-app advertising. Available on more than 138 Nokia devices, UTV IndiaGames offers a variety of games and applications that appeal to various demographics. The company offers  100 paid apps and over 300 free ad-supported apps, giving customers an enormous range of choices, while also monetizing their content.

Founded in 1999 with a five member team, UTV Indiagames now employs more than 300 employees and is India’s benchmark mobile and online games company, as well as a leading global mobile game publisher.

UTV Indiagames’ success over the years has not gone unnoticed, with the company winning several industry awards in 2009 and 2010: The Maharashtra Information Technology Award 2009, the IDC Enterprise Innovation Awards 2010, the Movers & Shakers 2010 award, the FICCI BAF Award for Mobile Gaming 2010, and the application Brucelee Dragon Warrior winning the People’s Choice Award at IMGA 2010.

UTV Indiagames continues to be a company to watch, especially given their plans to expand their app developments their apps to the Windows Phone platform. With a focus on Windows Phone Marketplace, UTV Indiagames is in the process of developing their first cricket game. Useful tools available within Nokia’s developer community will help enable UTV Indiagames’ success across multiple platforms, allowing them to reach even more users with their fun and socially interactive games.  Nokia is proud to be a part of UTV Indiagames’ mobile publishing success.