Nokia Developer News

Visiarc, a company well known for their enterprise software is the winner of the 2011 Hackathon competition at Nokia World for their game called "Duudle", which also happens to be their first Windows Phone application. Duudle is a time-based, multiplayer game that can send push notifications to your opponents playing the game on other phones (think of it like a mobile version of Pictionary).

The top four submissions to the Hackathon competition were shown in live demos on stage at the end of Nokia World 2011 today in London.

The competitors had only 40 hours to create their app from an idea submitted to the Nokia IdeasProject, and they had the opportunity to submit their app for use on up to three platforms: Windows Phone, Qt, and Series 40.

The winners of this year’s Hackathon will share more than 150,000 euros in cash and prizes - the winning app from Visiarc receives 50,000 euros.

More details about the winning apps - and photos from the event - will be posted online soon! 

How much are Microsoft and Nokia investing? What about devices for developers? What are the opportunities? How will we make sure your apps are getting into the eager hands of users in the market?

At Nokia World today, Reggie Hutcherson, Director of Windows Phone Developer Experience for Nokia, and Brandon Watson, Senior Director of Windows Phone at Microsoft, shared the stage to answer some of your questions now that the first fruits of our partnership have begun to ripen.

To reinforce our joint message, our two speakers detailed the joint investment that we are making together to help you adopt Windows Phone and to ensure you are successful with your Windows Phone endeavors. As part of their presentation they revealed details around a massive new device seeding program where we expect to see 25,000 Nokia devices running Windows Phone getting into the hands of developers around the world!

“We want to hear what you want to develop – we will be giving these new Windows Phones to committed developers all over the planet,” said Brandon.  

The tools

Microsoft has long been a market leader and innovator for software development tools, and, as Brandon noted, “We wanted to ensure that developers for the Windows Phone platform had access to our decades of experience in building great tools.”

And with the Windows Phone SDK, which includes Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone and Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, we have seen much of this great experience converge into a truly fantastic tool for creating mobile apps.

Since releasing these tools, they have had more than 2.5 million downloads, and since announcing the availability of Mango, the rate of tools downloads went up 2X. These tools are already available in nine languages, and as Brandon pointed out, they are, and will always be free for you to use.

The opportunity

Reggie reminded us that the developer community now has a “unique opportunity to participate in defining the shape of the market and ecosystem,” and that we will all benefit from first-mover advantage as we look to ways to innovate and monetize our content. This will all be aided by the large, global install base combined with local relevance and local marketing to support the discovery of the best content for consumers in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Brandon reinforced these points by noting that Microsoft is investing in ways to ensure that the apps you submit will be found by consumers, in the right place at the right time.

Commitment to your success

To help ensure that you are ready to make the most of these opportunities, an extensive program for training is in place, including a joint calendar of events and activities between now and the middle of next summer.

One element is the Nokia Roadshow, which has already been in six cities and visits to nine more cities are planned. Nokia is planning an additional 150 events, as well as university engagements to train the next generation of mobile developers are also in the works. In addition, several new mobile development competitions (including cloud-based development and spectator competitions) are going to be launched in the near future.

“We are working very hard with our Developer & Platform Evangelism team to get developers trained,” said Brandon. Microsoft expects to have just over 1,000 related developer events during the 12 months ending June 2012, and these events are both in person and streamed, and will reach all major geographies.

They are also investing in a broad range of video-based training that you will be able to use, including:

• 10 hours of content for the absolute beginner
• 14 hours of developer sessions for the intermediate developer
• 7 hours of advanced content delivered during the Build Conference

They are also working with their field offices to localize this training, as needed. And as Brandon pointed out, they are working to ensure that all developers have a point of contact in the countries in which we support application intake for publishing, including 68 mobile champs in 38 countries.

Nokia and Microsoft are working hard and investing heavily to ensure our new ecosystem provides developers with the tools, the opportunities and the support needed to ensure everyone thrives and that our users benefit from all the excitement around Windows Phone and Nokia. We invite you to join us.

"I am delighted to announce that with the launch of the Nokia Asha Series 40 phone, and a range of future Series 40 devices, we will be offering in-app purchasing from today," said Marco Argenti, SVP of Developer Engagement and Marketplace during his presentation at Nokia World today.

And with these words, we introduced what is possibly one of the most important business opportunities to developers targeting some of the world’s largest countries.

Series 40 is widely used around the world on 675 million device today. Series 40 brings robust mobile computing possibilities to a lower price points, making it especially well-suited for reaching countries such as Brazil, China, Russia, India and others.

By introducing in-app purchasing to Series 40, we are opening new revenue opportunities for developers looking for business models that differ from the more traditional app-purchase model.

“Using just a few simple APIs, our in-app functionality makes it even easier for you to sell content to consumers through initiatives such as buying new levels in games.”

Next you need to get local – and reach the right consumers in more than 190 countries worldwide – since this is where you will find the biggest business opportunities.

Marco noted that, “we work with you to understand your business, and the consumers you want to target. We’ll then help you identify the right countries and segments to go after, and guide you the right tools to monetize that opportunity.”

We are able to provide hyper-local consumer insights so you can better target your apps. As Marco pointed out, our teams offer technical training and support, including developer devices for you to use during the development process and while testing your app prior to publication. And, once your app is published, we are in a position to help drive your local marketing, too. 

Looking at other monetization opportunities, Marco noted that we have operator billing in place with 131 operators across 46 countries to date. This is significant because it results in more than a 2.5X increase in conversion, completion ratio and total purchases after the introduction of operator billing. And to help you truly monetize your content, we offer in-app advertising, plus micropayments and subscription-based models, too.

Twist Mobile realizes success with Nokia's help

By way of example, Virat Khutal, CEO of India’s Twist Mobile joined Marco on stage to talk about their successes working with Nokia. The company recently surpassed 15 million downloads across Nokia Store with their fantastic imaging app developed for our Symbian and Series 40 devices, and being quick to recognize their next big business opportunity, they have now developed their app for Windows Phone, too.

Starting with only eight people in the company, Twist Mobile has grown to 35 people “because of the continued success that we’re getting with Nokia’s help,” said Virat. They began by developing with Java for Series 40, and publishing apps through various retail mechanisms via a paid-for download business model – which proved relatively successful. “It was only when we decided to engage with Nokia that we began to see real change,” Virat noted.

They worked with Nokia’s team in Mumbai to switch to a free, in-app advertising download-based business model. The Nokia team helped Twist Mobile to optimize their marketing efforts and highlight their apps in Nokia Store, improving visibility. The result? According to Virat, they “have seen a 20X increase in downloads since first starting, and this has significantly improved our bottom line!”  

What’s next for Twitst Mobile? “We truly believe that Nokia with Windows Phone is the next big opportunity for us,” said Virat. “It is our platform of choice.”

“The combination of Microsoft’s great platform, Nokia’s great products and their global reach, gives us the absolute confidence that this next business opportunity will be successful, as it’s the best fit for our apps and our customers as we see them.”

What do EA Interactive, ESPN, and the good people of Sesame St. all have in common? All three have developed fantastic, stand-out apps and content across our platform portfolio, and all three of these long-standing partners dropped by during Marco Argenti’s keynote presentation at Nokia World today to share some of their success stories, as well as give us a sneak peak at their latest innovations for Windows Phone.

First up was Russell Wolff, Executive Vice President & Managing Director of ESPN International, who noted that ESPN is all about serving sports fans, and “we bring them together – across screens – including mobile phone.” He shared with us the forthcoming ESPN Hub, which has a truly distinct interface for Nokia’s new Windows Phones, and will come preloaded on millions of phones around the world. “The platform will deliver intelligently localized content to fans,” said Barry.

The app gives fans the chance to personalize and customize their use of the app, which is key to this experience – including multiple language support.  The app is expected to launch – and will have multiple language support – in early 2012.

Next we heard from Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President and GM for EA Interactive, who are on a mission to deliver “games that consumers love – anywhere, anytime, and on any platform they want to play.”  Barry announced a very cool new partnership that will entertain millions of Nokia customers worldwide and “allow us to stretch the Windows Phone operating system through some of the world’s most beloved games.”

Barry told us that this program has great elements for Nokia phone users everywhere – and for serious gamers, this was like a dream come true:

“First, we’re going to deliver 40 free games on multiple Nokia Series 40 handsets,” Barry told the crowd.

Next, they are going to bring 20 of the world’s best games to Windows Phone for Nokia. “This time, we’ll be designing our games for an awe-inspiring experience on Windows Phone for Nokia,” he said, noting that they plan to publish 10 games from EA as well as games from Chillingo, their indie publishing arm. There will also be seven games from the Hasbro line-up for Nokia users worldwide.  

“That’s the best games for free plus exclusive content for Nokia users. It’s a big win for Nokia’s consumers worldwide,” Barry said.  

And then things took a turn for the fuzzy, as we heard from Murray, a Muppet, who had a quick chat with Marco via video about how to teach the world using a phone.



While Murray wasn’t entirely sure on the specifics, he did send along his boss, Terry Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President at Sesame Street to fill in the gaps.  

Terry reminded us that Sesame Workshop has been working with Nokia since 2009, when they began with a research project to help children learn to read. The resulting “Read Along with Elmo!” project engages the child with the content, reinforces comprehension, and promotes interaction between parent and child in a read-along storybook – “all things that have been proven to improve a child’s ability to learn,” Terry said. “It deepens the educational experience for kids.”

And now, Sesame Workshop is continuing to work with both Nokia and Microsoft on five new Sesame Street apps that will be ready by early 2012.  “The opportunities to combine Sesame Street, Nokia, and Microsoft have the potential to connect with kids in new and surprising ways that we’ve only just begun to consider,” said Terry. Imagine the possibilities!

Three great partners – all bringing great apps to Nokia phones – demonstrate the potential to deliver amazing things from publishers to consumers all over the world.

What do you get when you combine Nokia’s gorgeous new hardware with the beautiful new Windows Phone Metro user interface, along with the finest developer support? A great platform for app development. During Marco Argenti’s presentation at Nokia World this morning, Matt Bencke, General Manager of Developer and Marketplace at Microsoft, gave us the latest information about Metro, and developing for Windows Phone.

This ecosystem is very healthy, and according to Matt it is generating more excitement and more opportunities for you, as developers. Matt went to explain how Nokia makes the ecosystem stronger, specifically:

• Great hardware and products
• Local merchandizing to promote apps to consumers, and 
• Local presence around the world – for developers – meaning consumers get increasingly relevant, local apps

In case you have not seen it before, some of the key concepts of Metro are that it is clean, light, open, and fast – it celebrates typography. It feels as if it is alive and in motion. It is about the content, not the chrome; and it is authentically digital. And, it makes application discovery a breeze. “Every developer gets to be a first-class designer,” Matt said, adding, “I can’t wait to see what you do with this UI.”

Matt also highlighted three platform pillars that are helping to drive the Windows Phone ecosystem, including end-user customization that supports a thriving global marketplace with thousands of compelling apps and games; developer profit – financial and otherwise; and enabling cloud scenarios (i.e., one stack, multiple device types, tied via the cloud).

It all comes back to the development platform, and the related development tools. “You will not find better development tools for mobile application development on any other platform,” Matt said matter-of-factly.

The always-free Windows Phone SDK includes Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone, and Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone. “Because the user experience is so important to making great Windows Phone apps, we wanted to make sure that developers had the best XAML tool available on the market,” Matt said.

Additionally, there are enhancements to the Windows Phone development tools, including simulating latitude and longitude points from within the debugger, making it easy for you simulate users of your location-based service from all over the world. There is a code profiler to optimize your code, easily finding memory problems and performance issues, and ensure that your users have a great experience with your application. And, there is the ability to recreate inputs of the motion sensors on the phone – from within the emulator, you can now simulate motion of the phone in all three dimensions, and you can even script movements for re-use at any time.

In the end, it all comes down to the many ways that we – Nokia and Microsoft together – will support you in your development activity. As Matt said at the end of his presentation, “We believe that the most important thing that we can do is to invest in our developer community to ensure that they have the best tools, the best training, and the best support for building apps for Windows Phone. We want you to be successful on our platform.”

During his presentation to developers and partners this morning, Marco Argenti, Senior Vice President of Developer Experience and Marketplace at Nokia, made it clear that with the launch of the new Nokia with Windows Phone devices there is no better time than right now for you to join us in your development efforts.  

He emphasized our continued commitment to the developer community in the form of great hardware, great platforms, and new business opportunities. And we’ve made huge strides over the past eight months. He also noted that we will be running a device seeding program to get 25,000 new Nokia Windows Phones in the hands of committed developers.
    
“Since we announced the new Nokia strategy and partnership with Microsoft back in February this year, our transformation has been rapid,” Marco said. “Across the company, we have delivered results faster than ever before – and today, we proudly show the first fruits of that transformation.”  

Our partnership with Microsoft has “rock solid support from the industry itself,” and there will be 31 operators and retailers ranging our new Nokia with Windows Phones as lead devices with unprecedented marketing support.

According to Marco, the pillars of a great new ecosystem consist of three key areas:

• Great products;
• Great platforms; and 
• The ability to realize significant business opportunities with Nokia

“We know consumers love quality apps, and we know it’s what keeps them deeply connected to their smartphone. Our new Nokia Windows Phone will scale-out globally, which for you means a truly worldwide business opportunity to deliver your apps to consumers, everywhere,” Marco said.

He noted that consumers have demonstrated their love for the apps in Nokia Store, and the facts speak for themselves, as Marco provided a whirlwind of stats about the Nokia Store, including: 

• Right now, we have more than 90,000 apps in Store, and industry leading proportion of locally relevant apps that we know consumers really appreciate.
• We’re seeing rapid growth, and the Nokia Store just passed the 10 million downloads per day milestone. That’s 300% growth in just 12 months! 
• We have more than 177 developers who have now achieved more than 1 million downloads with Nokia; 
• Operator billing is supported by 131 operators, across 46 markets which is significant because it drives higher consumer engagement and more downloads for your apps.  

And for Windows Phone, the number of apps submitted to Marketplace has grown from 7,000 to 30,000+ since February this year; there are more than 2.5 million copies of the SDK downloaded, which is a leading indicator of increasing momentum.  

Marco was quick to point out throughout his presentation that none of this would be possible without the developers in attendance at Nokia World – along with the many developers who make up the Nokia Developer community around the world. Quite simply: “You are critical to the success of our ecosystem.”

He extended an opportunity to all of us who are developing mobile apps for Nokia phones to continue on this journey. Our product portfolio is your toolbox to create and connect with consumers all across the world, and success will come to those who embrace the local approach. We invite you to capture these opportunities – partner with us now and leverage our global reach and local expertise to develop and distribute, and grow your business.

Also, a special announcement about the Nokia Developer team

Near the end of his presentation, Marco introduced Richard Kerris, who is joining Nokia as Vice President, Global Head of Developer Relations. Richard was previously VP, Worldwide Developer Relations for WebOS at HP, which followed roles at Lucasfilm where he was CTO, and Apple where he was a senior director of developer relations. In his role, Richard will be responsible for inspiring and enabling developers to design, develop, distribute and monetize App and content-driven consumer experiences across Nokia’s devices portfolio.

Every year at Nokia World– on stage and in demo stations – our team features developers who have introduced innovative new apps and games throughout the year. You can see videos from this year’s featured developers in our YouTube channel. With Nokia World 2011 kicking off today, we thought it was also an appropriate time to use this platform to call out some of the great work our developer partners have been doing all year, all around the world.

This year was a big one for Nokia developers – we had more than a dozen app developers hit download numbers over the 20M mark! With the introduction of two new Windows Phone devices  and four new Series 40 phones  today, this is just the beginning for developing with Nokia. With today’s news, we’re doubling down on our commitment to giving developers the strongest platforms for engaging with their customers and the best possible support – technical, marketing and community – for their businesses.

Don’t just take our word for it. Hear it from this elite group of developers that’s hit, or in some cases blazed right past the 20 million download mark for their apps in Nokia Store.

• Offscreen – They are leading the charge with more than 80 million downloads for games, utilities and media apps. Offscreen has been working with Nokia since the early 2000s and is amazed by the reach of the Nokia platform into thriving mobile tech regions such as China and India.
• Pico Brothers – A Qt developer now boasting more than 56M downloads, Pico Brothers have created more than 65 apps that are available in the Nokia Store, from entertainment and utilities to sports.

According to Nick Karlstrom, co-founder of Pico Brothers, their new Talking Cat application in the Store has been reviewed by users more than 1,200 times, and is downloaded more than 100,000 times per day on S60 5.0 devices. “We create apps that people want to have – and the downloads have followed.”

• Electronic Arts – With more than 37M downloads in the Nokia Store, EA games use the Symbian, Series 40 and Windows Phone platforms to pack the thrills of console gaming into the palm of your hand.
• Lunagames – With more than 34M downloads, this developer capitalized on worldwide reach and popularity with casual games and social networking to expand into new categories such as dictionary and translation. Additionally, they facilitate competition among users from 200 countries around the world.
• HeroCraft – HeroCraft's catalogue of award-winning mobile games and apps have elevated the company's downloads to more than 33M total downloads from the Nokia Store. HeroCraft apps are available in nearly 200 countries.
• Gameloft – More than 28M game downloads for popular titles including Assassin’s Creed™, Hero of Sparta and GT Racing: Motor Academy. 
• Indiagames – Indian games developer with more than 27M downloads in the Nokia Store. 
• Digital Chocolate – This games developer grew from 4M to 25M+ downloads in the Nokia Store from April 2010 to October 2011 with games including Tower Bloxx: New York, Rollercoaster Rush Revolution 99 Tracks, Crazy Penguin Party, Nightclub Fever, and Dictator Defense.
• Opera Software – Achieved 24M+ downloads with the various versions of their Opera web browser app.
• Mail-Bit – Four gaming and social networking apps reached downloads of 22M+ around the world.
• eBuddy – eBuddy’s more than 20M users spend the equivalent of more than 2,000 years per month on the messaging app, which is available on Symbian and Series 40, as well as Windows Phone devices.
• ThinkChange – ThinkChange uses a variety of Nokia's sensory and gesture technologies to create imaginative and entertaining interface apps. The company has received over 20M free and paid downloads in the Nokia Store from consumers in more than 190 countries.

Look for more success stories in the Nokia Publisher success cases blog from those app developers listed above, and the many more who areactively working on new apps for all of Nokia’s phones after this week’s exciting news from London.

And if you’re interested in learning more about distributing your apps through Nokia, check out the Distribute section of Nokia Developer. 

Here at Nokia World 2011 in London, 18 developers and publishers are demonstrating their latest mobile apps - many of them for Windows Phone. Among them will be such well-known brands as Groupon, Electronic Arts, Foursquare, MSN, and British Airways. Some smaller but equally innovative companies will be demonstrating their wares, too. Here’s a sampling of the 18 demos:

• CNN, the international news network, is giving demos of its CNN mobile app on the Windows Phone platform. The app offers a sleek news feed with customizable content across 12 categories, including video on demand and CNN Live.
• Halfbrick Studio is showing its popular Fruit Ninja game on Windows Phone. Swipe your finger across the screen to splash and splatter fruit!
• PopCap is showing their hit game Plants vs. Zombies on the new Windows Phone. 
• HRS is showing its Hotel Reservation System app running on Windows Phone. The app lets users search and reserve rooms in more than 250,000 hotels worldwide. 
• Groupon is showing its popular discount coupon application running on the Windows Phone platform. The app lets users get discounts as high as 90 per cent off food, entertainment, activities, and goods.
• Seesmic is demonstrating its CRM for Salesforce running on Windows Phone. This social app helps salespeople get information about their prospects while on the road.
• Syntonetic Media Solutions is demonstrating its Moodagent app running on Windows Phone. This app lets consumers match their music to their mood by creating playlists from both their local music library and online sources.

Check out the full Nokia World 2011 agenda.
http://events.nokia.com/nokiaworld/agenda.html

Developers know they've come to the right conference session when the presenter does NOT fire up a PowerPoint deck. In Pimp Your UI during Qt Developer Days in Munich Johannes Zellner built his entire presentation in QML. Some of the presentation was even live-coded in front of the audience. Developers ready to build on what Johannes presented don't need to cut and paste snippets from his slides, they can download the entire Qt Quick application from Gitorious.

The presentation covered sophisticated techniques that are possible without any custom coding beyond the basic use of QML elements that ship with current Qt versions.

Demos will full source code included:

• Fading "day" to "night" in response to a mouse click using the smooth property of an Image element to transition between two images.
• Adding interest to a menu by animating icons for shutdown, sleep, logoff, and lock along a path defined as a series of Bézier curves using PathView and related elements. 
• Polishing transitions using EasingCurves to elminate abrupt starts and stops during a movement. 

For all the details of the presentation download Johannes' demo application.

Also check out Symbian Design Guidelines and Nokia N9 UX Guidelines  to achieve the best possible user experience for Nokia devices when using the Qt Quick components.

The Hackathon competition for developers is in full swing at Nokia World this week. Competitors in the contest this year come from an international array of large services firms (including Tieto and ICS); local/regional developers (IronBit, Wyztec); well-known games makers (Halfbrick); and even individuals (such as Tonny Katongole).

The competitors got to work last night and have a total of 40 hours to create an app from an idea submitted to the Nokia IdeasProject, and they can submit their app for use on up to three platforms: Windows Phone, Qt, and Series 40. Winners of this year’s Hackathon will share more than 150,000 euros in cash and prizes, and the top three apps will be presented in live demos at the Nokia World finale on 27 October.

What are the developers working on now?

With less than 20 hours to go before they must submit their final apps, all of the developers are hard at work. Here’s a sample:

Peter Lindgren, from Visiarc, whose company is better known for its enterprise software, said their team is working on a multi-player, turned-based game that tests your doodling skills, noting that this will be their first app for Windows Phone.

Simon Botes, from AppCraft, said his team is working on a preschool aid Web App – which was a winning idea he submitted to the IdeasProject – specifically for use on Series 40 phones.

And Ana-Stefania Rades, is here with a team for Namco Bandai working on a game called “Paper Soccer” for both Qt and Windows Phone that can be played in a multiplayer mode between phones.

Meet the teams competing in Hackathon:

• Dadiaus Misiani: Based in Kenya, Dadiaus is the lead developer for MobiserveWebs, an IT development company that provides web and mobile application-development services across a number of mobile platforms.
• Futurice: This Helsinki-based software agency offers consulting, design, development, and training to help customers develop their digital business. It builds both consumer and business-critical enterprise services for customers from a wide variety of industries.
• Halfbrick: Founded in 2001, Australia-based Halfbrick is now expanding its portfolio with a range of independently released games for downloadable platforms.
• HappyDigital: This Istanbul-based developer offers mobile applications and interactive services.
• ICS: Integrated Computer Solutions, based in Bedford, Massachussets, is the largest independent supplier of professional services, training, and add-on products for Nokia’s Qt developer framework.
• iMobileCode: Headquartered in Turkey, iMobileCode specializes in mobile application development across multiple platforms. ITs team of software engineers provide solutions for a wide range of marketing needs.
• IronBit: This Mexico-based company specializes in web and mobile applications. 
• KSF Technologies: Based in Kiev, Ukraine, this software-development company has been providing our services worldwide since 1992.
• Mobifusion: From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Mobifusion leverages its patented, cross-platform technologies to fuse traditional media with operator and device manufacturer opportunities. 
• Namco Bandai: A leading publisher and developer of wireless games and content that provide instant fun on the go. 
• Persistent Systems: Established in 1990, this India-based company has more than 5,000 employees and specializes in software product development services. 
• Tieto: Based in Finland, Tieto is a leading IT service company in Northern Europe, providing IT and product-engineering services. 
• Tikle: Turkey’s leading provider for mobile-lifestyle services. The company creates cutting-edge applications and services for mobile information and entertainment solutions.
• Tonny Katongole: Tonny is a Uganda-based developer who has created several successful J2ME apps for the Nokia Store.
• Viafo: Founded in 2010, this Seattle-based company’s technology lowers the cost of building and maintaining interesting and compelling mobile and connected applications. Viafo specializes in building social, cross-platform apps.
• Visiarc: Founded in 2002, this Sweden-based mobile-cloud company develops mobile technology with a focus on security and usability, including its award-winning Mobile Documents mobile email system.
• Wyztec: This privately held Danish start-up company develops useful and exciting location-based mobile applications.
• WALI: This Chinese mobile-development company has created many successful and popular applications for the Chinese market across multiple mobile platforms.

The top three teams will demo their apps during the closing ceremonies of Nokia World tomorrow, at which time the winning app will also be announced. We'll bring you that story tomorrow.

Apps for the new Nokia with Windows Phone products will use Windows Marketplace for distribution to consumers. This requires the publisher to be registered with App Hub and use a Windows Live ID to submit apps.

We have great news about joining App Hub:

For qualified Nokia publishers, Microsoft is offering a rebate for the first year of App Hub membership ($99 USD). If you are eligible for this promotion, you will receive an e-mail in early November 2011 detailing the next steps.

With the final release of Windows Phone 7.5, there are 19 new additional countries in which you can distribute your apps, bringing the global total to 38; and Nokia with Windows Phone products will be offered in most of these markets.  Windows Marketplace has also been extended with a web interface, which will provide increased customer visibility and drive more sales of apps.  You will get better ad targeting within your apps too, through the Microsoft Ad SDK.

For more information on Windows Marketplace and App Hub membership, see the Windows Phone Marketplace FAQ.

If you are new to our publishing system, please take the time to register now.

The keynote by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop at Nokia World this morning did not disappoint: Six new phones were unveiled – including four Series 40 mobile phones, and the first of Nokia's two new Windows Phones, the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710.

There was a palpable sense of excitement in the completely packed ExCel Centre in London, and Elop’s delivery only furthered the excitement as he demonstrated the “New Now” Nokia devices.

"Eight months ago, we shared our new strategy and today we are demonstrating clear progress of this strategy in action,” said Elop. “We're driving innovation throughout our entire portfolio, from new smartphone experiences to ever smarter mobile phones.” He added: “From the Nokia Lumia 800 to the Nokia Asha 201, we are bringing compelling new products to the market faster than ever before. I'm incredibly proud of these new devices - and the people of Nokia who have made this happen."

Nokia with Windows Phone

For developers this means that a new realm of opportunity is now upon us. With the new Windows Phone devices starting to hit shops this year and with a continual global roll-out over the next six months, we will see the opportunity for developers to reach this new exciting ecosystem continue to evolve and grow.

Near the end of his keynote, Elop brought us a live view of the factory in Salo, Finland ...

In the factory, the new Nokia Lumia 800 was being packed into boxes for shipping today to France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK in November, with 31 leading operators and retailers who will provide unprecedented marketing support in those countries. Take a look at one of the commercials for the new campaign:

After all, as Elop said during his speech, Lumia means light, and signals a “new dawn” for Nokia calling them the “first real Windows Phones.”

Series 40

Mr. Elop also introduced four new mobile phones – under the brand “Asha” which is Hindi for ‘hope’ – feature stylish design, a rich social experience and location-aware technology. The Nokia Asha 300, Nokia Asha 303, Nokia Asha 200 and Nokia Asha 201 blur the line between smartphones and feature phones, offering QWERTY and touch screen experiences, combined with fast and easy access to the Internet, integrated social networking, messaging and world-class applications from the Nokia Store.  

These phones clearly demonstrate the opportunity for developers, just as the Nokia Store serves as a fantastic distribution platform for mobile apps. Elop stated that Nokia Store now has more than 10 million downloads per day, and there are 175 developers who have each exceeded 1 million downloads from the Store, too.

More information about all of the new Nokia phones announced this morning at Nokia World is also available:

• Series 40 adds four Nokia phones for today's connected consumer
• Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 usher in era of new opportunities

To get started building apps for these amazing new devices, check out the device specifications pages.

Today we announced our first Windows Phone devices, the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710. These gorgeous smartphones, along with the great features found in  Windows Phone 7.5 software signal a new era of opportunities from Nokia, as well as for you to create amazing everyday experiences.

As Nokia CEO Steven Elop said during his keynote speech at Nokia World this morning, Lumia means 'light', and signals a "new dawn" for Nokia calling them the "first real Windows Phones."

The Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 will start shipping in early November in a number of select markets. Nokia and Microsoft are working in hand with operators and other partners to raise the visibility of Windows Phone devices to consumers. Through unprecedented retail support and marketing campaigns, you can expect to see the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 smartphones in the hands of millions of consumers. The Nokia Lumia 800 will retail for 420 euros; and the Nokia Lumia 710 will be priced at 270 euros.

While these phones offer uniquely people-centric experiences, with the striking Metro UI and feature differentiation that only Windows Phone brings, there is a noticeable brilliance that is built upon Nokia hardware. The Nokia Lumia 800 is a stylish aspirational smartphone with such features as Carl Zeiss autofocus camera and HD video, 3.7” AMOLED clear black display. The Nokia Lumia 710 delivers an attractively simple, durable and affordable smartphone with a large 3.7” LCD clear black display.     

Both of these smartphones offer developers high performance with 1.4 Ghz Snapdragon CPU and 3D accelerated graphics processor. API access to camera, plus a variety of sensors such as gyro, compass, proximity and motion enable developers to offer innovative experiences.  The use of the Microsoft Advertising SDK and available operator billing will ensure solid monetization benefits for your development plans.

You will be able to develop apps for Windows Phone with the proven C# and XAML frameworks. Metro UI and Fast App Switching delivers an elegant user experience. Windows Phone 7.5 features such as App Connect, Live Tiles and Bing Search assure intuitive apps discovery. If games are your thing you can create rich graphical, high performance games on Windows Phone — as well as Xbox. And the improved IE9 browser in Windows Phone means you can deliver compelling web experiences too.

By publishing your apps to the Microsoft Marketplace, your content will be available to the entire ecosystem of Windows Phone users; and we will help you to get your apps there faster. For qualified Nokia publishers, together with Microsoft we are offering you a rebate for the first year of App Hub membership.

To learn more about developing for the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710, please have a look at the new device specifications pages.

We were thrilled to see four new Nokia Series 40 phones announced this morning at Nokia World. They are the Nokia 200 Asha, Nokia Asha 201, Nokia Asha 300, and Nokia Asha 303. All four are based on the Series 40 developer platform and the two primary development environments (Java and Web Apps); and these phones are truly app-ready, like the entire Series 40 platform.  

Here are the highlights:

Nokia Asha 200 and Nokia Asha 201: These fun, colourful, and affordable phones are packed with entertainment features, easy access to social media and email, a 240 x 320 display, QWERTY keypad, 2 megapixel camera, FM radio with recording, Flash Lite 3.0, the Nokia Browser, and a memory card storage of up to 32 GB. The Nokia 200 adds Easy-Swap Dual SIM support. Both the Nokia Asha 200 and Nokia Asha 201 are expected to retail for 60 euros.

Nokia Asha 300: This compact phone features Nokia’s Touch and Type user interface, which lets consumers use both a keypad and a touchscreen, as well as great features for social networking, messaging, and gaming. Users have fast access to messaging, email and instant messaging from the home screen and can swipe to access apps, music or games from the Nokia Store.  We saw today during the morning keynote presentation that the Nokia Asha 300 also arrives preloaded with the popular Angry Birds game. The phone includes a QWERTY keypad; 240 x 320 touchscreen display; fast 1 GHz processor; 5-megapixel Full-Focus camera; Flash Lite 3.0; and memory card storage of up to 32 GB. Wi-Fi connectivity means consumers stay connected to their chats, social networks, email, and more. It will retail for 85 euros.

Nokia 303: This slim and stylish phone features Nokia’s Touch and Type user interface, which combines a full QWERTY keypad with a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen; a 240 x 320 display; 3.2-megapixel Full-Focus camera; fast 1 GHz processor; social networking integration; Flash Lite 3.0; and memory card storage of up to 32 GB. One-touch access to social networks, email, instant messaging, and the internet lets consumers easily stay in touch. The Nokia 303 is also the first Series 40 phone that lets consumers play Angry Birds and other fun and exciting applications. The Nokia 303 is expected to retail for 115 euros.

It is worth noting that around 30 per cent of Nokia Store downloads come from users of Series 40 phones today. If you are developing apps for Series 40 phones today – or if you are thinking about starting – the addition of these new phones to Nokia’s line-up should convince you that there is a real opportunity when it comes to developing mobile apps for this platform.

Strategy Analytics says 90 per cent of mobile phone users want apps – and now we have devices that can truly deliver on those aspirations.

We have seen massive spikes in downloads driven by the great apps, great store UX, and removal of barriers to the use of Nokia Store. Series 40 owners are using apps and downloading premium content like games – we know that developers can generate revenues from this platform. Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity and get started developing new content for Series 40.

Check out the device specifications for more information – and inspiration!

• Nokia 200
• Nokia 201
• Nokia 300
• Nokia 303