Nokia today unveiled a number of major improvements in developer tools, said to make it simpler, easier and more lucrative for people to build apps.
Features include ‘significant’ enhancements to the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK) resulting in a 70 percent reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the company’s family of Symbian smartphones; improvements in the Ovi Store user experience including a new look and feel, making it faster and making apps easier to find; and lower barrier of entry and increased monetization opportunities for developers, including free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase, improved revenue share, and advanced developer analytics.
“Our announcements will certainly bring more great apps to Nokia products, especially our new family of Symbian smartphones announced today,” said Purnima Kochikar, Vice President for Forum Nokia. “We have made it much simpler, removed obstacles and made it more lucrative for people to build apps for our phones. We believe that this will convince more developers to build apps for the millions of people, in more than 190 countries, that are using the Ovi Store on their Nokia devices.”
Qt is pre-installed on all new Nokia smartphones and downloadable to millions of smartphones people are already using. Using the Nokia Qt SDK to build their apps, developers will discover a complete, easy-to-use tool that brings a shortened workflow, simplified development and intuitive UI libraries resulting in 70 percent fewer lines of code, cutting creation time dramatically.
New opportunities for developers will include in-app purchase, enabling a wide range of app pricing options in Ovi Store such as subscription models, micro-transactions, or “try and buy.” This means if people enjoy the free version of the app, they can easily upgrade to the paid version. It also allows developers to build added value into their apps such as the sale of virtual goods, additional levels for games, or enhanced or localized in-app features.
Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, the company behind one of the world’s most popular mobile games, Angry Birds, is pleased to bring the game to Nokia devices. Speaking about the new in-app purchase feature in Ovi Store, Hed said, “We now have an elegant mechanism for providing premium content within games, like Angry Birds, in a way that doesn’t interrupt people playing the game.”
With the Nokia Qt SDK, developers can also future proof their app by easily adapting them to run on future mobile platforms such as MeeGo, while taking advantage of any additional features or APIs those platforms bring.
Nokia says it will focus on making developers more money by leveraging the largest operator billing footprint available and greatly improving the operator revenue share for payments made after October 1. Nokia has also removed the time consuming and costly step of app signing. With one click, Java and Symbian apps signing is complete.
Nokia’s acquisition of Motally provides rich in-app analytics for developers and publishers to better track, report and monetize their content; these capabilities will be extended to Qt, Symbian, MeeGo and Java platforms.
In addition to the refinements with the Nokia Qt SDK for smartphones and mobile computers, Nokia also announced an SDK for Series 40 Touch and Type – the industry’s first touch SDK for mobile phones.