Get ready to learn and win

Posted on September 27, 2012 by pkrass

For the next three months, you could be among the lucky participants in Nokia Developer webinars who receive a free Nokia Asha 311 phone or accessory.

To be eligible, all you need to do is register for a Nokia Developer webinar held during October, November or December of this year; attend the webinar, either live or on-demand; and fill out a follow-up survey form that will be emailed to you. If selected, you could win a Nokia Asha 311 phone, Nokia Portable USB Charger, Purity HD Headset, Nokia Play 360 Wireless Speaker, or Essence Headset.

Whether you walk away with a prize or not, developing apps and content for Nokia Series 40 phones is a winning proposition. By distributing your content on Nokia Store, you reach more than 120 million consumers in over 190 countries. These consumers are currently downloading apps and content at a rate of 15 million downloads a day, and 42 per cent of the most recent billion downloads from Nokia Store were for Series 40 phones.

Speaking of Nokia Store and Series 40 phones, you can learn the ins and outs with a series of free Nokia Developer webinars coming soon:

Would you like to know how to make money with free apps? Then don’t miss How to Make Money with Free Apps. There will be two sessions. Session 1 speakers will include Alexey Sazonov of HeroCraft, who will describe how his company – which has achieved more than 50 million downloads – monetises its free games with in-app purchasing and in-app advertising.

Session 2 of this webinar will include a representative from Twist Mobile, which has achieved more than 16 million downloads in just eight months, describing how the company uses in-app advertising to monetise its free apps.

Session 1: 2 October; 8 a.m. San Francisco; 10 a.m. Mexico City; 4 p.m. London
Session 2: 3 October; 8 a.m. London; 12:30 p.m. New Delhi; 3 p.m. Singapore

If you are still thinking of joining the Series 40 community, another webinar is just for you: UI Design for Porting from Android to Series 40 full touch. This webinar will present techniques for adapting and optimising your Android application for Series 40 full touch. Also featured will be exercises and a follow-up treatment in a Nokia Developer Wiki article. Two sessions have been arranged for you convenience:

Session 1: 4 October; 8 a.m. San Francisco; 10 a.m. Mexico City; 4 p.m. London.
Session 2, 10 October; 8 a.m. London; 12:30 p.m. New Delhi; 3 p.m. Singapore.

Learn to work with the Lightweight User Interface Tool in another webinar, LWUIT for Series 40 Java Development. Held on 8 October at 8 a.m. London; 12:30 p.m. New Delhi; and 3 p.m. Singapore, this webinar will include a discussion of a programming paradigm similar to Swing. (If you don’t know what Swing means, don’t worry; we’ll cover that in the presentation.)

Nokia Web Tools 2.0 is the subject of another free webinar this month. Developing Series 40 Web Apps with Nokia Web Tools 2.0 will be held on 11 October at 8 a.m. San Francisco; 10 a.m. Mexico City; and 4 p.m. London. Michael Samarin from Futurice will show you how to develop for the new Nokia Asha phones with a full-touch UI. He will also provide an overview of new templates and code samples.

Looking for more? Check out the full descriptions of all topics on our webinars page.

Join us at JavaOne!

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Fred Patton

Nokia will be well-represented at the Oracle® JavaOne™ conference next week, and we’ll be speaking at four of the conference sessions on a variety of topics. Additionally, Futurice, who you may recognize from some of our training webinars, will share their knowledge in three sessions related to Mobile Java App development.

At each of these sessions, we’ll be giving away a Nokia Bluetooth headset or Asha 303 to the two attendees with the best questions. And session participants can also get a USB stick with the latest Nokia SDK for Java and loads of training and design resources.

If you’re going to be in town for the conference, be sure to register for the sessions you’re interested in at the links below:

Session CON4925: The Right Platform with the Right Technology for Huge Markets with Many Opportunities
Session CON11253: In-App Purchasing for Java ME Apps
Session BOF4747: Look Again: Java ME’s New Horizons of User Experience, Service Model, and Internet Innovation
Session BOF12804: Reach the Next Billion with Engaging Apps: Nokia Asha Full Touch for Java ME Developers
Session CON6664: Java for Mobile Devices: New Horizons with Fantastic New Devices
Session CON6494: Extreme Mobile Java Performance Tuning, User Experience, and Architecture
Session BOF6556: Mobile Java App Innovation in Nigeria

Hope you can join us!

Introducing Xpress Web App Builder

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Fred Patton

Today we proudly announce availability of the new Xpress Web App Builder—a new set of easy-to-use tools for Series 40 developers. These new tools make web app development even easier. With minimal effort, developers can create great apps for recent Series 40 devices, including the expanding range of Nokia Asha devices.

The new and enhanced Xpress Web App Builder tools are for Series 40 development only, and will replace the current app wizard tools.

If you have published Series 40 apps using app wizard, we recommend that you re-publish using new Xpress Web App Builder. The new tools offer more stylish templates, social media content and new ways to monetize web apps, without the need to write a single line of code. In addition, apps created with Xpress Web App Builder will be available as source code downloads that can be imported into Nokia Web Tools for further customisation.

Please find below some important dates as we transition from app wizard to the new enhanced Xpress Web App Builder tools:

From September 30, 2012, the app wizard tool will not be accepting new registrations. Series 40 developers are encouraged to start using the new Xpress Web App Builder tools to create web apps.

Until October 31, 2012, existing app wizard publishers can submit limited updates for existing app. We encourage developers to sign-in at appwizard.nokia.com to gather images, links, descriptions, and report data for published apps, and then re-publish these apps using the new Xpress Web App Builder tools.

Existing app wizard apps will continue be available in Nokia Store until the end of 2013. In the interim period, consumers will continue to be able to download and enjoy app wizard apps as usual. Simultaneously, Nokia reserves the right to remove select app wizard apps which have not generated significant recent download volumes.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Nokia Developer team via developer.support@nokia.com.

gPodder 2.20.2 for Maemo 4/5, gPodder 3.3.0 for MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan

Posted on September 24, 2012 by thp4

gPodder 2.20.2 has been released today, and gPodder 3.3.0 has also been released. Version 2.20.2 is for users of Maemo 4 (N800/N810) and Maemo 5 (N900) and version 3.3.0 is for MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan users (N950/N9).

The reason why another 2.x release comes out at this point in time is because YouTube downloading was broken by another website change recently, and of course we don’t want to leave our good old Maemo users without their daily YouTube video fix. A full list of changes for Maemo 4 and 5 can be found in the 2.20.2 release announcement.

Version 3.3.0 for MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan brings some nice features like download resuming, filters for unfinished files, scroll position improvements and display of the publish date and file size in the shownotes. Of course, 3.3.0 also includes the YouTube download fix. A full list of changes can be found in the 3.3.0 release annoucement.

As a side note, Maemo 5 support has now been completely removed from the master branch as of 3.3.0 (it has never been officially supported, but you could kind of run in on the N900 with some motivation and work). N900 users really wanting to use gPodder 3 should use it on Nemo Mobile, supporting gPodder 3 and its QML UI in Maemo 5 is just too much work, and the time working on gPodder is better spent improving the Harmattan version and making sure that the 2.x branch doesn’t break.

Here’s the run-down of the release status for various versions and targets:

gPodder 2.20.2 is ready for testing in Extras-Testing for Maemo 5 Fremantle.
gPodder 2.20.2 is already in Extras for Maemo 4 Diablo.
gPodder 3.3.0 has been uploaded to Nokia Store QA for MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan.
gPodder 3.3.0 has also been uploaded to the MeeGo Community OBS.

HOWTO: Set up a Maemo 5 Scratchbox SDK VM (and upload packages)

Posted on September 24, 2012 by thp4

I’ve somehow lost my good old “MaemoSDK” VirtualBox VM, so while I’m setting up the new VM, here are the instructions in case I or somebody else needs to do that again.

The goal: To have a nice VM (more lightweight than the Maemo SDK VMs offered online) that one can SSH into and build packages for Maemo 4 and Maemo 5:

Get the Debian i386 netinst CD image from http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
Create a new VirtualBox VM (Name: MaemoSDK, Operating System: Linux, Version: Debian) – the default size (8 GB) should be okay, less is also okay
Go to Settings, Storage, IDE Controller, select the .iso you downloaded in step 1
Power up the VM, select “Install” in the menu
Set the hostname to “maemosdk”
Use an empty root password (you can use “sudo” from your user)
Full name for the new user: Maemo Developer
Username for the new user: user
Password for the new user: maemo
Use the default options for partitioning, and wait until the base system is installed
Select the “SSH Server” option when the Debian Installer offers it
Install GRUB into the MBR of the VM
Go to the Maemo 5 SDK Download Page on Nokia Developer
From the SDK Download page, get the Scratchbox installer script (maemo-scratchbox-install_5.0.sh) and the SDK installer script (maemo-sdk-install_5.0.sh):
```
http://repository.maemo.org/stable/5.0/maemo-scratchbox-install_5.0.sh
```
```
http://repository.maemo.org/stable/5.0/maemo-sdk-install_5.0.sh 
```
Login to your new VM, then wget the two scripts above
sudo sh maemo-scratchbox-install_5.0.sh
sudo sh maemo-scratchbox-install_5.0.sh -u user
Log out and log back in again
sh maemo-sdk-install_5.0.sh
When asked, I chose Full + Development packages, but feel free to chose a more minimal variant (in that case, you might have to install -dev packages later on as build-dependencies)

You can also read up on how to set up SSH agent forwarding in the VM, so that you don’t need to store your SSH key on the SDK VM.

As for building gPodder from source in this SDK, here are the instructions:

scratchbox
vi /etc/apt/sources.list # then add these entries:
deb http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel fremantle free non-free
deb-src http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel fremantle free
fakeroot apt-get install python2.5 python-feedparser python-mygpoclient python-dev maemo-optify
git clone git://github.com/gpodder/gpodder.git
cd gpodder
git checkout origin/maemo-5
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -S -sa -I.git -i.git # for the source upload
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b # for the binary to test locally

You can also build the Maemo 4 (N800/N810) package by replacing “maemo-5″ with “maemo-4″ in the “git checkout” command.

To get files out of the SDK without setting up fancy SSH stuff, you can also just use netcat (on the target: nc -l 9999 | tar xzv, on the source: tar czv /path/to/files/ | nc a.b.c.d 9999).

To upload files to Maemo Extras, follow the instructions at Uploading to Extras.

MIGITAL’s Road to Success with In-App Advertising

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Fred Patton

As one of the largest mobile application developers in the world, MIGITAL has achieved success with in-app advertising on Nokia platforms.

Founded in 2004, the company has amassed a library of more than 500 applications across business, utilities, games, entertainment, and sports categories. Using the paid download and in-app advertising revenue models, MIGITAL has clocked up over 25 million downloads in Nokia Store so far.

An example of how they harness multiple monetization models is their popular Bug Smasher app, which is offered both as a paid download version and as a “lite” version supported by in-app advertising.

Monetizing through in-app advertising has been a profitable move. In just six months, the company has experienced a nearly 170% increase in revenue, from just under $15,000 a month to over $40,000.

In order to achieve this growth, MIGITAL collaborated with Nokia’s in-app advertising partner, inneractive, an app monetization exchange, which increases ad revenue by automatically mediating between 100+ global and local premium ad networks and agencies and targeting ads to local and relevant markets in more than 200 countries.

inneractive helps developers make money from their free, ad-powered apps. Working with inneractive’s App Monetization Exchange, MIGITAL has managed to achieve fill rates in excess of 75% and an eCPM of $1.10. (Learn more about in-app advertising.)

Developing for Nokia’s platforms was an easy decision for the MIGITAL team; they appreciate Nokia’s user-friendly publishing interface and helpful developer support team. “Nokia Store has a wide reach and has been extremely helpful when promoting our apps,” said Khyati Mahajan, Business Development Manager at MIGITAL. “It is the most locally-relevant channel given its availability in 190 countries.”

With the combination of Nokia’s global distribution capabilities and inneractive’s App Monetization Exchange, MIGITAL’s average total monthly net revenue has now crossed the $60,000 mark. The company is now setting its sights on exploring new, growing, and profitable platforms such as Windows Phone. “Nokia has always inspired us to work harder and to develop more advanced, lucrative apps and games. We definitely advise all developers to use the Nokia platforms and Nokia Store to help monetize their apps. Nokia has always supported us, and we have had a great experience with them,” said Khyati.

Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 unveiled

Posted on September 5, 2012 by davidjstone

Nokia today announced the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820, the first Nokia Windows Phone 8 smartphones. The devices bring Nokia’s latest PureView camera innovation, new navigation experiences and wireless charging.

The flagship Nokia Windows Phone 8 device is the Lumia 920. Evolving the beautiful curved glass polycarbonate design of the Lumia 800, the Lumia 920 is packed with Nokia PureView imaging innovation, including a floating lens that allows the camera to take in five times more light than competing smartphones. This makes it possible to capture clear, bright pictures and video indoors and at night.

The Nokia Lumia 920 also comes with Nokia City Lens. Nokia City Lens is the start of a new augmented reality experience that also enhances Nokia Maps, making it possible to move between maps view and augmented reality view to help people check their direction and surroundings.

The Nokia Lumia 920 packs Nokia’s largest ever battery (2000mAh), and, for the first time, built-in wireless charging. A range of wireless charging accessories and partnerships were also announced. The Fatboy Recharge Pillow was unveiled, JBL introduced the JBL PowerUP wireless charging docking station, and Virgin Atlantic and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf were announced as Nokia’s first wireless charging partners. Both will bring wireless charging stations to selected retail spaces.

The Nokia Lumia 820 is a mid-range smartphone delivering high-end performance in a compact package, with exchangeable shell covers and space for a micro SD card. Both phones will be available in pentaband LTE and HSPA+ variants and are expected to start shipping in select markets later in the year.

Numpty Physics 0.3.3 for Harmattan is here

Posted on September 2, 2012 by thp4

Another project that has been on the back burner for a while is the new NumptyPhysics port to Harmattan (“new” because Aapo has ported it once before). One of the most important bug fixes (avoiding the multi-touch drawing error) has been committed a month ago, and

So, this weekend, Numpty Physics 0.3.3 has been released. This version includes some basic Harmattan integration work (single-instance, swipe lock integration, pause-in-background, squircle-style icon by flopjoke, …) that will – hopefully – allow the application to also go into Nokia Store as free app (as Apps For MeeGo is still down).

NumptyPhysics is available as download on Github, or you can wait until it gets approved by Nokia Store QA and install it via the client. It’s yet another project that used the shared “harmattan” organization on Github: https://github.com/harmattan/numptyphysics – feel free to improve the code and send pull requests Also, please report any integration issues or minor things that could be improved for Harmattan integration on the bug tracker.

Champion of the month: Gergely Csúcs

Posted on September 1, 2012 by pkrass

Congratulations to Gergely Csúcs, the Nokia Developer Champion of the month for September.

Known to the Nokia Developer Community as wizard_hu, Gergely considers himself an ‘electrical engineer with fading knowledge about wires’, yet with a passion for great software. From his home base in Oslo, Gergely has been a trusted member of the Nokia Developer community since 2001. Since then, he has contributed more than 26,000 posts to Nokia Developer discussion boards.

This is Gergely’s second time as a Champion of the Month; his first was in July 2008. Also, he has been named a Nokia Developer Champion every year since 2006, and a poster of the month many times. Gergely has also co-authored an impressive number of book chapters, often writing about the technical aspects of peer-to-peer information retrieval and cooperative wireless networks.

Among Gergely’s impressive professional achievements are many he cannot list on either his CV or LinkedIn profile: the untold hundreds of Nokia Developer software projects that were completed on time, on budget, and with great results because their developers received timely help from wizard_hu.

Congratulations, Gergely!

Meet Gergely Csúcs

See what it takes to join the Nokia Developer Champion reward and recognition program.

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Monthly Archives: September 2012