Nokia Developer News

It was reported today that Nokia and Microsoft have signed the definitive agreement for their strategic partnership to build a new global mobile ecosystem that is unlike any other.

As Dr. Kai Öistämö, Nokia EVP and Chief Development Officer, along with Andy Lees, President of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business, write in Nokia Conversations today: "It’s a bold claim. But collectively we’ve moved from intent to agreement in [10 weeks]. Actually, it’s even faster than we expected which makes this a perfect example of our commitment to our partnership and the speed at which we plan to move together."

They go on to state: "As a result of our negotiations and discussions, we’ve aligned our teams and assets, and clearly see the potential to change the way people use their mobile devices for the better. Hundreds of our team members are already working together toward a multi-year product roadmap and are on-schedule to deliver volume shipments in 2012 although the pressure is on for first delivery in 2011. In the coming years we will aggressively work to take Nokia products using Windows Phone to new geographies, at new price points and sharing new experiences for customers around the world to enjoy."

Get complete details in Nokia Conversations.

Nokia's Location APIs are embedded in a wide range of services and tools on Ovi Maps with comprehensive maps, routing, navigation and positioning functionalities, and tens of millions of places globally.

With Location APIs, developers and merchants can benefit from a wide range of industry-leading mapping and places functionalities. These APIs work cross-platform and make use of powerful location functionality and truly global content on both web and mobile with minimal coding required.

Nokia's Location APIs include: 

• Ovi Maps API enables you to embed an interactive Ovi Map into websites with the use of a few lines of JavaScript code. It contains customizable map views by adding layers for additional content.
• Ovi Maps Rendering API renders a map in the form of a digital still image from a simple http request. The API can be used on any device; from low-end mobile devices with basic browser functionality to high-end smartphones and computers. Using a wide set of parameters, you can control elements of the image such as geographical area, zoom level, image size, and contents.  
• Ovi Places API - Alpha (JavaScript) allows web developers to create mash-ups with place-related information. It supports local search and discovery, retrieval of place information (such as name, address, contact details, mini map, ratings, and more) to create an interactive user experience. 
• Qt Location API is part of the QtMobility package and provides services for map rendering, geocoding, reverse geocoding, positioning, landmark management (such as points of interest) and routing functionality. A map can be embedded easily into any QML-based UI and customised with overlays and map objects.
• JavaME Location API - Beta offers access to Ovi's powerful location services platform for JavaME-capable mobile phones, giving users the same Maps experience as Symbian smartphone users. Like the Ovi Maps API and the Qt Location API, it also supports map rendering, geocoding, reverse geocoding, routing and positioning. 

Nokia's Ovi Maps leads mobile navigation, offering unique true vector maps and free walk-and-drive navigation for offline and online use for 180 countries. Giving third parties the opportunity to participate in Nokia’s Location platform is the key to Nokia's success with Ovi Maps: the more the platform is used, the better it gets. With the most expertise in mapping and navigation, Nokia also has premium content from more than 55 partners globally, including TimeOut and Yellow Pages, as well as user-created content from services like Qype and TripAdvisor. With customized APIs, additional third parties can benefit from introducing their services on Ovi Maps to a wide and growing global user community.

Developers interested in working with any of Nokia’s five Location APIs can opt for a premium business model of licensed APIs, or a free embedded-ads version.

More information – including how to register* – is available from the Location APIs page on Forum Nokia; and in the FAQ page in the Forum Nokia Wiki.

 

In related news, Nokia today announced photorealistic 3D models of metropolitan areas for the web version of Ovi Maps.  

* Before you access and use of the Ovi Location APIs, you must accept Nokia's terms and conditions, select the license option appropriate to your service or application, and register your service or application.

Nokia today announced two new Symbian devices, the Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7. With the new smartphones, Nokia also introduced its latest software update, known as Symbian Anna.

Inspired by Nokia’s new design philosophy, Symbian Anna delivers a new and unique user experience which makes the family of Symbian-based devices more exciting for consumers and the business opportunity with Nokia even better for developers, as these devices also power apps developed with Qt.   

New software update – Symbian Anna

While the transition to Windows Phone continues, Nokia will carry on shipping smartphones based on Symbian. Nokia plans to ship 150 million Symbian devices in addition to its existing installed base of 200 million Symbian devices including 100 million Qt-enabled devices, 75 million of which are touchscreen devices.

Symbian Anna includes new, fresh icons and usability enhancements (including split-screen view while typing); faster and easier to use browser; virtual portrait QWERTY for fast typing; and refreshed Ovi Maps with simpler and quicker search as well as new public transportation routes. Both the Nokia X7 and Nokia E6 come equipped with Symbian Anna. Nokia will soon make the Symbian Anna software update available to existing users of the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6 and Nokia E7 via OTA downloads.  Running on devices powered by the Qt framework, developers can create applications for these smartphones using Qt SDK 1.1 – currently available as a Release Candidate here on the Forum Nokia website.

Symbian Anna is the first update of its kind and, in order to ensure a continuous stream of new experiences and features, Nokia is planning future software updates to its smartphone portfolio.

Two new Symbian devices announced

The new Nokia E6 is a compact QWERTY and touch-enabled smartphone, ideal for getting things done in all fronts of life: work, home, friends, travel and more.

The Nokia E6 includes an extremely sharp VGA display, and has a capacitive interface and supports pinch-to-zoom. The device has an ARM1176 680MHz processor with Broadcom graphics accelerator (BCM2727), and includes an Ambient Light Sensor, Magnetometer (Compass), Orientation sensor and a Proximity sensor. The Nokia E6 has 8GB of built-in mass memory and support for 32GB on a microSd card; the available device user memory (C:\) is approximately 350MB. The Nokia E6 has 256MB RAM and 1024MB ROM, improved with dynamic data management.

The Nokia E6 seamlessly integrates applications and services, such as  receiving, editing and sending documents on the go, sharing images via social media channels, navigating with Ovi Maps and finding near-by services, and more. The Nokia E6 also includes the best Microsoft messaging experience on a business smartphone, including Mail for Exchange, Communicator Mobile and SharePoint access. Additionally, the Nokia E6 features an 8 Megapixel camera, and gives a month’s worth of stand-by time and enough video playback time to watch three videos.

The Nokia E6 is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2011 for an estimated retail price (before taxes and subsidies) of EUR 345.

The Nokia X7 features a premium design made of seamless stainless steel and Gorilla glass, which delivers a solid feel in the hand as well as outstanding durability. This device features a large 4” display that is great for watching videos and playing games. Users will be able to capture pictures and HD-quality video with the 8 megapixel camera with dual led flash. The Nokia X7 has a capacitive interface and supports pinch-to-zoom, while navigating through lists is done with a simple swipe of a finger.

The Nokia X7 includes a 680MHz processor, with additional graphics accelerator (Integrated Video Engine). It has a 3D Entry Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor and Proximity sensor, and comes with an 8GB memory card (pre-installed in the phone) and has up to 350MB of in-built memory and support for a micro-SD card support of up to 32GB.

Like the Nokia E6, the Nokia X7 is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2011, where it will become available gradually in Europe, Eurasia, China, India and SEAP. The estimated retail price of the Nokia X7 (before taxes and subsidies) will be EUR 380.

For more information about today’s announcements:

• Get up to speed on Symbian Anna.
• Get complete device specifications for the Nokia E6.
• Get complete device specifications for the Nokia X7.
• Develop apps for the new Nokia smartphones with Qt SDK 1.1 release candidate.
• Distribute your apps through Nokia’s Ovi Store.

Nokia today announced that its Ovi Store has grown by nearly eight times over the last year and now reaches up to 5 million downloads per day, propelled by the latest Symbian devices – the Nokia N8, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and Nokia E7 – which account for about 15 percent of the daily downloads.

Increased demand for mobile apps from the approximate 200-million-strong Symbian consumer base has seen the Ovi Store catalogue grow to more than 40,000 apps, with about 1,000 added per week. This momentum has resulted in 158 developers from 41 countries now surpassing the million download milestone each for their apps.

“As consumers continue to download Ovi Store content with increasing frequency, developers have an immediate opportunity to reach consumers worldwide and capitalize on the approximately 150 million Symbian devices we plan to ship in the coming years,” said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia’s Executive Vice President of Services and Developer Experience. “This momentum continues to demonstrate consumers’ appetite for Nokia’s global and locally relevant apps, and will help us plan the future apps store experience for improved and new Symbian devices, as well as Nokia smartphones based on the planned collaborative opportunities with Microsoft.”

Nokia’s new monetization opportunities for developers are tailored for local markets and include integrated operator billing with 112 operators in 36 markets, more than 25 times more operator billing integrations than Nokia’s nearest competitor. Ovi Store has seen integrated operator billing increase consumer transactions by up to four times and this, coupled with Nokia’s beta programs for in-app billing and in-app advertising, means more revenue opportunities for developers on Symbian.

“Nokia’s Ovi Store has given our Angry Birds a fighting chance to defeat those havoc-wrecking green pigs and share the joys of clearing levels from every corner of the globe,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “We look forward to continuing development for Nokia’s latest Symbian devices and working with Nokia and the future of the Windows Phone platform.”

These opportunities are also being extended to Nokia Series 40 devices, which will enable apps for the next billion mobile phone consumers. The refreshed Ovi Store experience, previously available only for the new Symbian devices, has resulted in more than 35 percent growth in downloads for Series 40 devices in the last two months, making up about a quarter of the total downloads.  

As Nokia’s developer offering matures, and the Qt family of devices becomes more exciting, Ovi Store is also witnessing a surge in the number of apps developed using Qt.

“In about a year, Nokia’s Ovi Store has gone from approximately 1 million downloads per day to up to 5 million downloads per day today, and the velocity appears to be increasing, fueled largely by Series 40 and new Symbian devices,” said Josh Martin, senior analyst, Strategy Analytics. “At this new rate, that’s nearly 2 billion annualized downloads and with the company’s new direction, app developers can surely capitalize on this growth today and in the future with the estimated approximately 150 million Symbian devices that Nokia expects to deliver.”   

Developers, large and small, are using Ovi Store’s global reach and rapid growth to cultivate new communities. These communities are driven by deeper user connections within their apps, further driving downloads and potential monetization opportunities for developers. Here are some noteworthy examples:

Singapore developer Breakdesign, created its Barking Seed site as an independent mobile gaming community built for players using Nokia Symbian and Series 40 devices. The site tracks top scores, lets gamers compete with other top players around the world and host contests to win Nokia devices and accessories. In just over a year, Breakdesign has reached more than 6.5 million downloads and more than 70,000 members in more than 170 countries. Its top Flash games found on Barking Seed are That Roach Game South Africa, Ninjani – Emperors Revenge, and Dawn of the Fly Chapter 1 and 2.

Denmark’s Gedda-Headz has built a mobile social gaming community for Java supporting Nokia devices. It blends multiplayer head-to-head gaming and in-game chat and challenges to offer players a unique mobile experience. High scores and player rankings are determined by game play and their gaming experience can be enhanced with the purchase of virtual goods. Through Ovi Store’s scale, Gedda-Headz has reached more than 1.3 million downloads in more than 190 countries. 

Moodagent, created by the Denmark-based Syntonetic, is an intelligent music mobile app that uses cloud-based technology to automatically select music and create playlists based on a user’s mood. It also allows them to share their mood and music with their network on Facebook and Twitter. To date, the number of Nokia Moodagent users has reached more than 4 million from Ovi Store and the total number of Nokia user tracks in the Moodagent cloud is more than 4 billion. Both of these numbers are expected to grow even more with its recent availability for Series 40 devices and the soon to be released Moodagent 3.0, with all the same great features of the original app plus music recommendation.

Get more information about distributing your mobile apps through Nokia's Ovi Store.

Can’t attend the MIX ’11 conference in person? Live streams and on-demand content to the rescue! You can watch the keynote speeches live on 12 – 13 April. And listen to Windows Phone 7 sessions on-demand anytime.

MIX, held this year in Las Vegas on 12-14 April, is a conference for professional website designers and builders who want to engage with Microsoft and industry professionals. In light of Nokia’s recently announced strategic partnership with Microsoft, along with Nokia’s plans to make Windows Phone its primary smartphone platform, MIX ’11 deserves a place on any developer’s agenda.

Watch the MIX keynotes live.

Get your MIX fix online – stream or download sessions.

Nokia's strategy to connect the next billion people and make it easier, faster, and more affordable for them to access the internet begins with a new proxy web browser for a fast, affordable web experience and rich web apps for Series 40 devices. The combination of Ovi Browser and Nokia Web Tools for developers are key ways that we plan to achieve this. Today, Nokia introduces Nokia Web Tools for Series 40 enabling developers to create rich, light weight web apps easily and quickly. Let’s take a look at Ovi Browser, the proxy browser that powers the web content and apps first.

Ovi Browser brings consumers a faster, more affordable web browsing experience on Series 40 devices. Available as a download on more than 35 Series 40 devices already in market, it will be the primary browser on future Series 40 devices. Ovi Browser on Series 40 enables consumers to use rich web applications downloadable from Ovi Store. (Ovi Store will begin taking Web Apps for Series 40 within a few weeks.)
 
Ovi Browser uses hosted servers with high speed Internet connections to fetch a Web page directly from a Web site on behalf of the user and then transform the content to an optimized, smaller result for display on the mobile device.  The service leverages caching and compression to minimize what must be transmitted over the mobile networks. Ovi Browser provides consumers a localized start page giving users access to most popular, local content; a tabbed start page for easy access to favorite or previously viewed content or featured pages; a search bar for searching in popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo! or Yandex; and a URL bar for entering any Web destination. Additionally, Ovi Store will offer a number of merchandising and promotion programs that make Series 40 web apps visible to the consumer from the Ovi browser start page. For consumers, minimized data transmissions equates to less cost so the barriers to access web content are lifted.
 
Developers can take advantage of the power of Ovi Browser with Nokia Web Tools for Series 40. With Nokia Web Tools, developers have a new way to leverage standard web technologies: anyone who can build a web page can build an app. In most cases there is no need to be a Java developer. Additionally, Series 40 web apps can be developed with less time and effort which means a shorter time to market.

The Web Tools, built on Eclipse, contain templates/ sample codes; documentation and samples; an emulator and Ovi Browser/runtime for testing, Developers can build, test and preview through the tools or on device. Additionally, the Mobile Web Library (MWL) is a JavaScript Library that handles basic on-device operations such as page transitions and AJAX updates. It allows excellent interactivity in web applications which might otherwise be impacted by interaction delays from code running remotely on the server. Mobile Web Library is a native implementation in the Ovi Browser, a JavaScript implementation for 3rd party browsers.
 
Together, with web apps - created by developers using the Web Tools - and Ovi Browser consumers have access to a fast, affordable web experience and rich web content.
 
Developers have a large addressable market of consumers eager to access web content and easy-to-use tools to build their Web Apps.
 
Nokia sells more than 1M feature phones a day the majority of which are Series 40. As the world’s largest volume mobile platform, Series 40 continues to be vital in bringing affordable Web access and applications to millions in emerging markets. By continuing to invest in future assets that deliver affordable, highly competitive and consumer-focused mobile experiences to the traditional Series 40 consumer, Nokia will deliver the best low-cost devices that deliver the richest experiences and applications that consumers will love.

Resources to get started: 

• More about Nokia Web Tools for Series 40

• Download Nokia Web Tools for Series 40

• More about Ovi Browser

• More about Series 40 web apps

• Publication of Series 40 web apps in Ovi Store > for information on readiness see the DiBo

New Groups in the Forum Nokia Community make it easier than ever for you to follow your passions, lead new teams, and connect with fellow developers. Through Groups you can start worldwide discussions on subjects that interest you most, or find developers in your area ready to share a pizza and a few laughs.

Any registered Forum Nokia member can start a Group. skumar_rao started a Group for Nokia Developers in Singapore, one of ten Groups already established for local connections. Local languages are also supported, with Groups already supporting Russian, Croatian and Italian languages.

If you don't see a group discussing what's on our mind, here's your invitation to start one. You can configure your group as open (anyone can automatically join), moderated (anyone can request to join) or Invite only. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for additional Groups features, check out the Group Help group.

Today Nokia has published the release candidate for Qt SDK 1.1. This version of the SDK now includes Qt 4.7.3 and Qt Mobility 1.1.2., and is entering its final stage of testing. The testing is taking place over the next two weeks, after which the final SDK will be published. With the final release, your applications will be supported by Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian and Ovi Store will be ready to accept your apps.

There is also an important change in the proposed implementation of Qt support on Symbian devices you should be aware of. Qt 4.7 is NO LONGER supported on S60 3rd Edition devices. For these devices your applications can use Qt 4.6.3 and Qt Mobility 1.1.2. This change has been implemented following your feedback from the beta testing. Given that touch devices are driving the demand for applications in Ovi Store, it was decided that the most benefit will come from focusing effort on ensuring Qt Quick is the best it can be on touch devices.

Another point to keep in mind, with the final release of the Qt SDK 1.1, the 1.0 version will be withdrawn. The Qt SDK 1.1 supports Qt 4.6 and Qt 4.7 configurations, so it will be the only SDK you need to build apps for all supported devices.

Ready your apps for release by downloading the release candidate.

For more information on the differences from the Beta SDK to the release candidate, check out the Qt SDKs and Tools discussion board where information will be posted as it becomes available.

At the recent CTIA Wireless trade show in Orlando, Florida, several developers and business-development professionals were onsite with Forum Nokia to showcase their new mobile applications on Ovi Store and share their experiences working with Nokia. Five developers also provided testimonials about their relationship with Nokia.

View these videos now on Forum Nokia’s YouTube channel:

•    Bart McCormick, Poynt (local search)
•    Anton Gauffin, BLStream (extended camera functionality)
•    Erik Wood, OTTER (text answering)
•    Steve Cotter, Slacker (personalised radio)
•    Scott Hill, LiveCast (two-way video conferencing)

Here at Nokia, we definitely understand the importance ofcelebrating our developers’ successes. We’re excited to provide you with a recap from yesterday’s Twitter Café with Niklas Karlström from Pico Brothers, a mobile development company based in Vaasa, Finland. Recently, Pico Brothers apps have been downloaded more than 20 million times from more than 190 countries through Ovi Store.

On 31 March, Forum Nokia personnel Bill Perry and Jason Black facilitated a Twitter Café to celebrate that success, and were joined by developers from AppCRAFT(@SimonBotes), Spice Labs (@PacificLeo) and others who contributed their own comments and questions. Topics covered questions ranging from app discovery, how to respond to customer feedback to Pico Brothers’ experience using Qt.

As many of you know, one of the things we do at Forum Nokia is encourage information-sharing between developers, which is exactly what was happening during our Twitter Café.

At the time of this post, other developers are also reaching similar landmarks in both number of downloads and global reach. We’ll have more to share with you soon! It’s great to see the momentum that our developers are having with Nokia and the Ovi Store. We look forward to sharing more successes yet to come!

Conversation between Jason, Bill and Niklas Karlström:

forumnokia: Thank you everyone! We’ll be doing a round-up blogpost soon on Forum Nokia so be sure to check it out. #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash developer the QT Quick is really ease tograsp. You barely have to do any code for advanced animations. about 7 hours ago via web

bperry: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash dev Qt Quick is really ease to grasp.Barely have to do any code for advanced animations about 7 hours ago via DestroyTwitter

loell: RT @forumnokia: Niklas @picobrothers - final Question: What is the best lessonyou've learned so far as a developer? #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia: Thank you everyone! We’ll be doing a round-up blogpost soon on Forum Nokia so be sure to check it out. #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash developer the QT Quick is really ease tograsp. You barely have to do any code for advanced animations. about 7 hours ago via web

bperry: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash dev Qt Quick is really ease to grasp.Barely have to do any code for advanced animations about 7 hours ago via DestroyTwitter

loell: RT @forumnokia: Niklas @picobrothers - final Question: What is the best lessonyou've learned so far as a developer? #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia: Thank you everyone! We’ll be doing a round-up blogpost soon on Forum Nokia so be sure to check it out. #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don't give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can't climb over... about 7 hours ago via web

forumnokia: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash developer the QT Quick is really ease tograsp. You barely have to do any code for advanced animations. about 7 hours ago via web

bperry: RT @picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash dev Qt Quick is really ease to grasp.Barely have to do any code for advanced animations about 7 hours ago via DestroyTwitter

loell: RT @forumnokia: Niklas @picobrothers - final Question: What is the best lessonyou've learned so far as a developer? #PicoNokia about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

forumnokia : Welcome toNokia’s Twitter Café with Niklas from @picobrothers!We’ll be taking questions throughout. #PicoNokia 

forumnokia: Remember to tweet@ForumNokiaand include the #PicoNokiahashtag with your questions. 

forumnokia: Welcome to ourTwitter Café, Niklas @picobrothers!#PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @pacificleo#PicoNokiaOne tip is to have an icon that stands out. 

bperry: RT @forumnokia:Welcome to our Twitter Café, Niklas @picobrothers!#PicoNokia 

forumnokia: @picobrothersHow do you create your icons? Do you help to do that artwork? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @forumnokia#PicoNokiaWe create all our icons ourself in Photoshop. 

forumnokia: Niklas - What’sthe #1 thing that got @picobrothersto 20 million downloads? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @forumnokia#PicoNokiaI would say simple apps, that everyone understands. 

forumnokia: @picobrotherswhen you say simple apps, you mean like single-function? OR ... what are the criteria? Like your Flash Light app? #Piconokia 

picobrothers @forumnokia#PicoNokiaEasy to use. Not necessary feature wise. We test on people who are not so into mobile phones all apps. 

forumnokia: How do you decide what kind of apps to create? Is it based entirely on consumer feedback or isthere another strategy? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @forumnokia#PicoNokiaWe try to identify the needs from the feedback and build upon that. It might not be exactly what the users requested. 

forumnokia: @picobrothersOK, makes sense. How do your users provide ideas/feedback to you? what's the optimal way for them to send ideas? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes#PicoNokiaWe have not approached any VC firms so I cannot tell. 

forumnokia: @DonHaldoThanks for your comment - we think you are raising a good point about market trends! #PicoNokia 

bperry: RT @SimonBotes:@picobrothers!#PicoNokiaWhat would you say is the best price point for selling apps in Ovi? 

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia It’s quite easy to do apps in.. Qt Quick is something I really love. I was up til 4AM yesterday doing some cool UI’s 

bperry: RT@forumnokia: Niklas @picobrothers, can you tell us about your experience using Qt to design apps? #PicoNokia

picobrothers: @Shahood#PicoNokia If you like, you can go to our website andsign up as a beta tester. 

forumnokia: Niklas@picobrothers How has the beta test program changed your QA process? Have you made changes based on beta tester feedback? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia Yes 

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Yes, it has helped find bugs before release. 4 eyes are always better than 2. 

forumnokia: @picobrothers so what is it about Qt Quick that has been soeasy for you? how did you pick it up so fast? #PicoNokia 

forumnokia: RT@loell @picobrothers what’s your advice on devs wanting torecreate non-Qt sym-apps, is it still worth it for aesthetics? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia It would be the flashlight  

picobrothers: @Shahood#PicoNokia If you like, you can go to our website and sign up as a beta tester.

forumnokia: Niklas@picobrothers How has the beta test program changed your QA process? Have you made changes based on beta tester feedback? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia Yes

bperry: RT@picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia It’s quite easy to do apps in Qt Quick,something I really love. Was up til 4AM doing cool UI’s

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Yes, it has helped find bugs before release.4 eyes are always better than 2.

forumnokia: @picobrothers so what is it about Qt Quick that has been soeasy for you? how did you pick it up so fast? #PicoNokia 

forumnokia: RT@loell @picobrothers what is your advice on devs wanting to recreate non-Qt sym-apps, is it still worth it for aesthetics? #PicoNokia  

picobrothers: @loell#PicoNokia I would recommend you trying first with one app, check the performance and then take a decision.

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash developer the Qt Quick is reallyease to grasp. You barely have to do any code for advanced animations.

forumnokia: RT@SimonBotes: @picobrothers #PicoNokia do you develop for Series 40 devices? 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia No, so you don’t have to compete with us there :) 

picobrothers: @EveConnected @forumnokia #PicoNokia It’s a half-way-there release, so expect tosee updates coming 

forumnokia: RT@SimonBotes: @picobrothers #PicoNokia do you have any words of wisdom for other developers out there trying to reach similar success? 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia QA 

picobrothers: @SimonBotes #PicoNokia It was cool chatting. I’ll be in touch. Happy coding! 

bperry: RT@picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia As a Flash dev Qt Quick is really ease to grasp. Barely have to do any code for advanced animations   

forumnokia: OK, we are almost at the end of this Twitter Cafe w/ Niklas from @picobrothers ... any final questions? #PicoNokia 

forumnokia: Niklas@picobrothers - final Question: What is the best lesson you’ve learned so far as a developer? #PicoNokia 

picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don’t give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can’t climb over... 

forumnokia: RT@picobrothers: @forumnokia #PicoNokia Don’t give up because of obstacle in yourway. Just walk around them if you can’t climb over... 

forumnokia: Thank you everyone! We’ll be doing a round-up blog post soon on Forum Nokia so besure to check it out. #PicoNokia

forumnokia: For more on @picobrothers check out the podcast and success story: http://bit.ly/ei37ds #PicoNokia

 

Learn more about Pico Brothers and how they’ve been successful with Nokia, Qt and Ovi Store:

·        PicoBrothers Ovi Publisher Success Story on Forum Nokia

·        PicoBrothers Forum Nokia Podcast

·        Pico Brothers Successwith Qt

·        Pico Brothers in Ovi Store

 

A cool app that lets you control a miniature four-rotor helicopter using a Nokia touchscreen device is now available as a free app (built with Qt) on Ovi Store, and as open source code you can modify on Forum Nokia Projects. The AR.Drone from Parrot is actually a ‘quadrocopter’ – a helicopter with four rotors; it connects to a controller using Wi-Fi, and it carries two on-board cameras that can be monitored from the screen of your phone. The AR.Drone app currently runs on the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, and Nokia E7.

Learn more and watch a video of the AR.Drone in flight.

Check out the AR.Drone page on Forum Nokia Projects.

Download the free AR.Drone app from Ovi Store.

Nokia is making the latest version of the Symbian platform source code available to its platform development partners. In fact, nearly all of the source code has now been uploaded to collab.symbian.nokia.com, and the few remaining source files, tools, and documents will be uploaded over the next few weeks. ‘We are excited about the completion of the transfer period, during which code delivery from the Symbian Foundation has now been replaced by an open and direct model from Nokia’, says Petra Söderling, Nokia’s head of open source for Symbian smartphones, writing in the Symbian Blog. ‘We need the collaboration with our platform development partners and continue to value an open way of working.’

Read Petra Söderling’s full Symbian Blog post.

Are you a long-time developer wondering how to market your apps to better engage with your customers? Are you new to the Ovi Store and curious how others develop and launch their apps in record time? Are you new to Forum Nokia and its tools and offerings for developers, and want to know how a two-person company can achieve 20 million downloads by developing for Symbian using Qt!?

If any of these are true, tune into Twitter on Thursday (31 March) from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. GMT for an interview with CEO Niklas Karlström, one-half of the dynamic duo behind @picobrothers from Vaasa, Finland. Pico Brothers just passed the 20 million download mark on apps from the Ovi Store. Nick will be chatting with Forum Nokia’s own Jason Black and Bill Perry about tips and tricks for marketing Ovi Store apps, engaging with customers and reducing development time. We’ll also be taking your questions, submitted using the #PicoNokia hashtag.

So be sure to join us on Thursday us at 3 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. EDT and 8 a.m. PDT in the USA). To participate, follow @picobrothers and @forumnokia or #PicoNokia on Twitter and have your questions ready!

Join Nokia and the conversation at MIX, 12-14 April, in Las Vegas.  At MIX you will learn how to get started developing apps for Windows Phone, see the latest tools and technologies and draw inspiration from a professional community of your peers and experts.

Come, join us at MIX and…

• Network with Nokia
  Nokia will be hosting a VIP reception on Monday, April 11th from 5-7 PM at Mandalay Bay, and you are invited! If you are interested in attending, email and let us know.
• Preview The Next Web
  MIX is where you’ll learn about the future of web. There’s no better place to hear about the future of Silverlight, Internet Explorer, Windows Phone, ASP.NET, and technologies like HTML5 and CSS3.  Explore the latest release of Windows Phone sessions, or browse all sessions.
• Get Real Answers from the Experts
  MIX isn’t just about getting a first look at the latest technologies and trends – it’s an opportunity for you to have your Microsoft technical questions answered by Microsoft and industry experts.

Attending the WIMA conference in Monaco next month? Then join Nokia for a developer workshop to hear the latest on Nokia's approach to Near Field Communications (NFC). You will also learn how to develop and publish NFC applications for Nokia devices. In the workshop, Nokia representatives will provide an overview of Nokia’s NFC implementation, review the opportunities offered by Nokia's Ovi Store, cover some of the Qt programming essentials such as Qt SDK and Qt Quick, and provide hands-on support for getting started with development. (And did we mention? There will be cocktails!)

The NFC workshop will be held on 19 April from 2:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time. Space is limited, so if you want to attend, pre-register now to reserve your seat. To attend the workshop, you must first register for the WIMA conference; but you can get a 50 per cent discount on your WIMA registration fee by using the discount code NOKIA2011.

Learn more about the Nokia NFC workshop at WIMA.

Register now to attend the Forum Nokia Developer NFC Workshop at WIMA.