Forum Nokia - Three New Devices; Ovi Store Opens

Three New Phones Bring Music, Messaging, and Style

Nokia this week announced three devices based on the S60 and Series 40 developer platforms.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is an S60 5th Edition device with a resistive touch screen and tactile feedback on its 2.9-inch, bright nHD (640 x 360 pixels) AFFS (advanced fringe field switching) display. Users can input data with a full-screen QWERTY keyboard, full alphanumeric keyboard, or handwriting recognition. Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash; music player with up to 27 hours of playback time; video player; stereo FM radio; accelerometer sensor; Nokia Music Store; Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR connectivity; up to 16 GB of user memory; and 15 days of standby time. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic will retail for 199 euros and be shipped during the third quarter of this year.

The Nokia E72 mobile device, based on S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2, is optimised for messaging and e-mail. It features a full messaging keyboard, two customisable home screen modes, and support for a wide range of messaging and e-mail formats, protocols, and applications. Users can write messages with intelligent text input, enjoy videos and music, and display graphics on the device’s 2.36-inch QVGA screen. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera, built-in global positioning system (GPS), Nokia Maps, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR connectivity, accelerometer sensor, stereo FM radio, Flash Lite 3.0, and up to 16 GB of user memory. The Nokia E72 device will retail for 350 euros and be shipped during the third quarter of this year.

The Nokia 3710 fold, based on Series 40 6th Edition, features the WebKit open source browser, built-in GPS, Nokia Maps, 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, stereo FM radio, music player, Flash Lite 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR connectivity, Ovi Share, and up to 8 GB of user memory. The device’s battery provides 12 days of standby service. The Nokia 3710 fold will retail for 140 euros and be shipped during the fourth quarter of this year.

View technical specifications for the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic.

View technical specifications for the Nokia E72 device.

View technical specifications for the Nokia 3710 fold.

Nokia, Vodafone Launch Nokia 6730 Classic

The new Nokia 6730 classic, based on the S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2, brings together the mobile Internet, Vodafone Music Client, and personal and business e-mail access, all in a sleek black or white case. Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera with video capture, 2.2-inch QVGA screen, stereo FM radio and music player, easy-to-use access to the Nokia Music Store, integrated GPS, and support for 8 GB of microSD storage. The Nokia 6730 classic's navigation service offers turn-by-turn instructions for both drivers and pedestrians; it also provides access to comprehensive point-of-interest databases and both white and yellow pages information, whether that is an address, company, or person. The Nokia 6730 classic, retailing for 195 euros, will be available from Vodafone this month and then elsewhere in the third quarter.

Check out the Nokia 6730 classic.

View the technical specifications.

Ovi Store Open for Business

The much-anticipated Ovi Store opened for business on 26 May, and the early response from mobile consumers has been overwhelming. On the first day of service, people from over 130 countries registered to begin discovering, downloading, and rating content. Since then the count has grown to over 150 countries. Check-out is being facilitated by billing from 27 network operators worldwide.

Ovi Store can be accessed by an estimated 50 million users of S60 and Series 40 devices worldwide — as of today, 75 devices in all. The site can be viewed in any of five languages: English, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish. So far, the top five countries for downloads are (in alphabetical order): Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and the United States.

Ovi Store is benefiting developers and content providers of all types. The top category among free items is Applications; and No. 1 among premium content is Games. By number of units downloaded, the No. 1 application is PhotoTwister from Scalado of Lund, Sweden; the software lets users of S60 devices capture, save, and send images that have been distorted by filter effects. By revenue, the top application is Gravity, an S60-based Twitter client developed and distributed by Mobileways of Berlin. Among both paid and free content, many of the top applications serve messaging and social media.

Sign up to distribute your content through Ovi Store. It’s easy!

Continue the conversation: Visit the Publishing to Ovi discussion board.

Browse Ovi Store.

Calling All Innovators! Your Contest Deadline Approaches

You still have time to submit your working application or mobilised Web site for Forum Nokia's Calling All Innovators competition. But hurry, the deadline for entries is just two weeks away.

The competition winners will collectively take home cash and prizes worth more than $250,000. Grand prize winners in each of four categories will walk away with $30,000 in cash. Winners will also be awarded business opportunities with Nokia, including premium placement in Nokia's Ovi Store; paid travel to demo their applications at a Nokia-specified event; and a review by Nokia staff for possible preload on future devices. In the Flash category, there is an additional prize of $10,000 for an application that also received money from the Open Screen Project Fund earlier this year.

Sound good? Then complete the contest submission process and turn in your completed mobile application or mobilised Web site for judging right away. The deadline for all submissions is midnight (EDT), 30 June. Finalists will be announced on 17 August, and the winners will be announced at Nokia World in early September.

Enter Forum Nokia's Calling All Innovators competition now.

Learn more about Calling All Innovators: the types of applications that can be submitted, judging criteria, and more.

Mobilise Your Site and Content with New WRT Plug-Ins

Forum Nokia invites you to try three new time-saving mobile development tools that take advantage of some of the most popular software development environments available to Web designers and developers. You will be able to convert standard Web code and scripting languages into engaging mobile applications and services quickly. The new Web Runtime (WRT) plug-ins, all free of charge, make it easy for developers to use standards-based Web technologies — such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript™, and Ajax — to extend Web content to the mobile channel through the fast and efficient creation of mobile widgets. Also, Web developers can use their knowledge of Web-based technologies to mobilise sites and create Web 2.0 mashups of content and services that combine the power of the Internet with the advanced capabilities of Nokia mobile devices.

The Nokia WRT Extension for Dreamweaver: Web developers can create WRT widgets easily and take their Web sites or services mobile with significantly less effort. This plug-in adds features for creating and importing widget projects; code completion for the WRT 1.0 API; the ability to preview in Adobe Live View; and tools to validate, package, and deploy widgets.

The Nokia WRT Plug-in for Visual Studio: Working in the familiar Visual Studio environment, the Nokia WRT Plug-in enables Web developers to concentrate on delivering compelling widgets to S60 devices. This plug-in adds tools to create or import, edit, preview, debug, validate, package, and deploy WRT widgets. To simplify coding, Web Runtime 1.0 API is supported in Visual Studio's code completion feature.

Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.0 for Aptana Studio: This newly updated plug-in features code completion that includes the full set of Web Runtime 1.1 APIs, including those for platform services. Also, preview has been enhanced with support for the home screen view, sample data for the platform services APIs, and the ability to create device events.

Discover free Nokia WRT plug-ins for Aptana Studio, Visual Studio, and the Nokia WRT Dreamweaver extension.

Lower Java Development Costs with Streamlined Testing Criteria

Version 3.0 of the Unified Testing Criteria (UTC) for Java Verified is now available for download. The new version features a significantly streamlined scheme that can reduce developers' testing costs by as much as 60 per cent. Also, a new submission portal lets developers test their applications to make sure the software behaves as expected on a "live" device during the testing and development process. All Java developers should now use UTC. Since April, all applications have been required to meet the criteria before they can successfully pass the Java Verified testing.

Download UTC 3.0 and other Java Verified documents.

Explore the Java Verified program.

Podcasts Kick Off with Discussion of New Flash Lite Components

Podcasts from the recent Nokia Developer Summit were so popular, Forum Nokia has launched a regular podcast series on the community site. In the first episode, Forum Nokia's Bill Volpe speaks with Riku Salminen, a Forum Nokia Senior Technical Consultant, about a new set of components for Flash Lite designed specifically for mobile use. These components include scalable button, component list, scroll bar, and pop-up. Also, developers are invited to suggest other topics for future Forum Nokia podcasts.

Hear the Forum Nokia podcast on Mobile Flash components.

What would you like to hear more about? Suggest developer topics for future Forum Nokia podcasts.

Champion of the Month: A Focus on Location

Forum Nokia's Champion of the Month for June is Bernd Wiegmann, a software architect, business owner, and frequent contributor to the Forum Nokia community. You may have seen his contributions under the screen name Bernd42 on recent blogs from the Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco and on the Forum Nokia Discussion Boards. As the owner of WiB Software GmbH, a Braunschweig, Germany, consulting firm, Bernd applies his experience in C++ and Java enterprise architectures to both custom projects and standard products. Bernd's main focus is location-based applications for business and fun. His firm's products include Punch2Go, a mobile time-sheet recording and reporting application; TracLoc, a service for tracking and locating mobile devices; and Open Street Map for S60, a free, editable map of the world. Now Bernd is looking at new technologies that will ease the development of mobile applications and help transform the mobile phone into a truly personal digital companion.

Meet Bernd Wiegmann, June's Forum Nokia Champion of the Month.

Nominate yourself or a colleague to become a Forum Nokia Champion.

Discover New Code with Enhanced Forum Nokia Resources

Code resources have always been among the top Forum Nokia technical services. Developers can now more effectively utilise this comprehensive offering. First, the site's new code examples section makes it easier than ever to find and download complete, installable applications with full source code. Code examples are searchable by date or technology, including Qt, Web Runtime, Symbian C++, Flash Lite, and Java. Second, an improved code snippets table lists supported use cases on different technologies. The table includes direct links to published code snippet articles, enabling fast deployment of code into developers' own applications. What's more, the portfolio of Forum Nokia code snippets now offers more than 400 code snippets on major development technologies. Discovering code couldn't be easier!

Explore Forum Nokia's code examples section.

Explore the code snippets table.

Webinar: Nokia E71x Device Development

Nokia and AT&T devCentral are co-hosting a Webinar for application and Web developers interested in the Nokia E71x mobile device, which is being offered in the United States through AT&T retail stores. Two Forum Nokia experts, Daniel Rocha and Ravi Belwal, will provide a look at the Nokia Web Runtime widget framework, WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio 2.0, Java Runtime for Symbian S60 3rd Edition, and what's new in Java tools and SDKs. They'll also show two applications created with WRT, explain how to create mobile applications and content quickly and easily with standard Web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and WebKit, and provide tips and tricks for Java on Symbian specialists. Attendees will also be entered in a drawing for an AT&T Nokia E71x device. The Webinar will be conducted on 23 June at 10 a.m. PDT (GMT -7), 1 p.m. EDT (GMT -4).

Learn more and register for the Webinar.

Check out the Nokia E71x device, the thinnest U.S. smartphone.

2009 Calling All Innovators contest: Winners in four categories will share cash and prizes worth more than $250,000. All entries due by 30 June.

Americas:

Webinar: Developing Web and Java Apps for E71x: 23 June: 10 a.m. San Francisco (GMT -7); 1 p.m. New York (GMT -4).
Join AT&T devCentral and Forum Nokia for a look at the Nokia Web Runtime (WRT) widget framework, WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio 2.0, Java Runtime for Symbian S60 3rd Edition, and highlights of what's new in Java tools and SDKs.

Europe:

Nokia World '09: Stuttgart, Germany, 2 – 3 September.

Southeast Asia and Pacific:

CommunicAsia 2009: Singapore, 16 – 19 June.

All Forum Nokia events









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Forum Nokia - Five New Devices and the Ovi Store Arriving this Month

Two New Devices: Nokia E52, Nokia 6600i slide

Nokia recently announced the latest productivity-optimised device in its Eseries, the Nokia E52 mobile device. This new device, based on S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2, lets users write messages with intelligent text input, send instant messages, use a variety of e-mail solutions (including Lotus Notes Traveller and Mail for Exchange), and view Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, and Word documents. The Nokia E52 device’s other features include an exceptional battery life that gives users up to eight hours of talk time, a 3.2-megapixel camera, built-in global positioning system (GPS), a compass and accelerometer sensor, Nokia Maps, and Ovi Files. Shipments of the Nokia E52 device will begin in the second half, and the device will retail for 245 euros.

Also recently announced is the Nokia 6600i slide, a Series 40 5th Edition, Feature Pack 1, device that features a 5-megapixel camera, brushed-steel covers and chrome centre key, and discreet tap commands to light the display, set snooze alerts, and silence or reject incoming calls. This new device also includes an accelerometer sensor, Nokia Maps, Image upload service, stereo FM RDS radio, Flash Lite 3.0, up to 20 MB of user storage, and as many as 15 days of standby battery life. The Nokia 6600i slide will begin shipments in the third quarter, and it will retail for 200 euros.

View technical specifications for the Nokia E52.

View technical specifications for the Nokia 6600i slide.

Ovi Store to Launch Globally

Nokia's eagerly awaited Ovi Store is launching at the end of this month. At that time the Ovi Store will become available to millions of Nokia users around the world. The Ovi Store will be available to users of more than 75 different Nokia devices, including devices based on S60 3rd Edition and higher, and Series 40 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2, and higher. In addition, the Ovi Store comes pre-installed on the Nokia N97 multimedia device, and it will be available to PC users via the Web. Next month's newsletter will provide more details on the Ovi Store, and it will also highlight some of the newly available applications and content.

If you're already registered to become a publisher for Ovi, your content and applications will soon be available for users to download. But if you're not yet a publisher for Ovi, and you want to distribute your apps and content for either free or extra revenue, now is the time to register.

Register today and become a publisher for Ovi.

Forum Nokia Enhances Site’s Information Architecture for Easier Navigation

Responding to suggestions from the development community, Forum Nokia has enhanced the information architecture of its forum.nokia.com for greater usability and easier navigation. These enhancements include new tabs, renaming of certain key content tabs, and improved secondary navigation.

Among the new tabs is Technology Topics, which includes secondary navigational elements for device platforms, development platforms, Web technologies, design and user experience, application quality, and mobile technologies. Renamed tabs include Tools, Documents, and Code. Devices, now a standalone tab, brings visitors directly to technical specifications for current Nokia devices. In addition, wherever there is secondary navigation within a specific tab, that information will be displayed on the screen when the visitor mouses over the tab. All of these changes should make it easier to find exactly what you need.

The Forum Nokia team thanks everyone that shared their feedback. Now, take a look and tell us what you think.

Explore the enhanced Forum Nokia site.

What do you think of the enhanced Forum Nokia information architecture? Submit your feedback online.

Mobile Sensor API Released for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Forum Nokia recently released a beta installation package for addingMobile Sensor API (JSR-256) support to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a S60 5th Edition device with a resistive touch screen and tactile feedback. The Mobile Sensor API is used to get data from embedded sensors, as well as from sensors connected via Bluetooth or general packet radio service (GPRS). The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic features several sensors and sensor API channels, including a built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor.

Download the Mobile Sensor API beta add-on for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Download the JSR-256 Mobile Sensor API specification.

Check out the technical specifications of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Calling All Innovators Contest Adds 'Apps on Maps' Category

The new Calling All Innovators category, called 'Apps on Maps', was announced at the recent Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco. Developers are invited to submit innovative ideas that harness the power of location-aware services using Ovi Maps on Nokia devices. All submissions for this new contest category must be based on standard Web technologies; applications for entertainment, travel, gaming, news, and B2B are all eligible.

Ten finalists will be chosen from the entries, and they will be invited to join Nokia in a private beta environment to develop their apps for Ovi Maps. Once the development phase is complete, these 10 applications will receive premium placement in the new Ovi Store, where they will be available to millions of Nokia users worldwide. From this group, three final winners will be selected, and they will have their applications showcased at a major Nokia event. In addition, the Grand Prize winner will receive $30,000, the first runner-up will receive $15,000, and the second runner-up will get $10,000.

Submit your location-aware applications to the Calling All Innovators contest.

Nokia releases Ovi Maps Player API.

Show Widgets on the Nokia N97 Device Homescreen

Two Forum Nokia Web Runtime (WRT) example applications, AccuWidget Example and RouteWidget Example, have been updated to support the homescreen of the Nokia N97 multimedia device. This Nokia device, based on S60 5th Edition, features a large (3.5-inch) colour display with a resistive touch screen and tactile feedback. The two WRT widget examples also offer improved usability and memory consumption.

AccuWidget Example lets the user check current weather conditions and short-term forecasts for a selected city. The example application supports all S60 devices with WRT, both with keypad and touch UI, while the updated version adds support for miniview, which enables adding the widget on the homescreen.

RouteWidget Example displays the user's current location (latitude and longitude), travelled distance, speed, and number of GPS satellites. The updated example supports adding the widget on the homescreen, and it is optimised for the touch UI on S60 5th Edition devices.

Download the WRT AccuWidget Example v2.1.

Download the WRT RouteWidget Example v2.0.

Explore WRT widgets on Nokia devices.

View technical specifications for the Nokia N97 multimedia device.

Mobile Design Challenge: Share Your Best Design Content

Help increase the number of useful design resources available on Forum Nokia — you could win devices and other valuable prizes.

Forum Nokia's new Mobile Design Challenge seeks useful tips and other information about user interfaces, visual approaches, and interaction design. Eligible categories include design patterns, UI components, CSS styling tips, mobile Web design, and more. The top contributor will receive a free copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 and a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device. Two runners-up will each receive a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. But hurry: The competition ends 31 May.

To help developers, Forum Nokia has launched two new design resources. The Design and User Experience Library offers basic information on usability, UI components, and design guidelines — even articles on Chinese mobile culture. The Mobile Design Centre shows developers how good design can lead to successful mobile products. The centre offers developers a design gallery, design tutorials and templates, layout guidelines, articles on the principles of design, downloadable development tools and technologies, a developer discussion board, and a wiki.

Enter the Mobile Design Challenge now.

View the competition rules.

Get instructions on how to create a Wiki article.

Browse the Forum Nokia Design and User Experience Library.

Get valuable resources from the Forum Nokia Mobile Design Centre.

View example entries:

Champion of the Month: Kiran Patel Has a Lot to Contribute

With more than 5,000 posts on the Forum Nokia discussion boards, Kiran Patel is this month's Champion of the Month. Kiran — also known as screen name kiran10182 — works as a senior software engineer and holds a master's degree in computer applications from Gujarat (India) University. A Forum Nokia member since 2006, he has a real passion for S60 C++ development, client-server architecture, location-based services (LBS), messaging architecture, and enterprise development. Kiran's awards include the 2008 S60 5th Edition Wiki Contribution Contest and, in March, the Forum Nokia Poster of the Month. Congratulations, Kiran!

Meet Kiran Patel.

Read the discussion board thread on Kiran's Poster of the Month award.

View the Wiki announcement of Kiran's S60 5 Edition Contribution Contest win.

Java Verified at Java One

If you have a Mobile Java application, then Java Verified wants to help you get it to market. Java Verified provides a streamlined testing and signing process that enables developers and wireless operators to develop, deliver, and monetise high-quality mobile Java applications confidently. As an industry-driven effort, Java Verified utilises the testing framework developed by the Unified Testing Initiative (UTI).

Risto Helin of Forum Nokia will be discussing Java testing at the Java One conference, being held 2 – 5 June in San Francisco. On Tuesday, 2 June, Risto is leading a session entitled 'Signing Java Platform, Micro Edition Applications and the Renewed Java Verified Program'. Risto will also be participating with colleagues from Java Verified in the Java Verified/Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) Mobile Jam on Wednesday, 3 June. Based on the mantra 'No PPT, No Panels, No Ties!' the Java Verified Mobile Jam will be a highly interactive session, driven by and for mobile developers. A full afternoon of activities will be offered, including a quiz with top prizes, a panel driven by the audience, and the chance to book one-on-one sessions with the experts. Risto looks forward to meeting you in San Francisco.

Get Java Verified.

Explore and register for the Java One conference.

Podcasts from Nokia Developer Summit 2009 Now Available

Fresh from the 2009 Nokia Developer Summit, these new audio podcasts with key Nokia executives are available for listening now:

Five Devices Added to Remote-Testing Service

The Nokia 6210s, Nokia E71x, Nokia N97, Nokia 6710 Navigator, and Nokia 6720 classic were recently added to the list of devices available from Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access (RDA) service. RDA lets developers test and demo their content and applications on devices they don't have, live over the Internet. The service also promotes collaboration among colleagues in remote locations.

Try RDA to test and demo your applications and content on devices you don't have.

View the complete list of devices available from Forum Nokia's RDA service.


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Nokia Developer Summit 2009 Wraps Up

Hackathon Winners!
The grand finale of Nokia Developer Summit 2009 began this afternoon, when the fruits of 'round-the-clock coding from developers creating Web Runtime (WRT) widgets for use on the Nokia N97 multimedia device came before the judges. 'The quality, creativity, and innovation coming from all the developers competing in the Calling All Innovators Hackathon was extraordinary', noted Srikanth Raju, Head of Marketing for Forum Nokia. Of the widgets submitted for evaluation, three were selected as finalists, and one ultimately won the grand prize of 15,000 euros plus four weeks of spotlight promotion in the Ovi Store. The Ovi Store opens for consumer sales in May.

The Social Location Widget created by Plusmo, named 'Rocket', won the grand prize. The widget, originally proposed in the consumer contest, presents a mini view of the locations of a user's friends. Plusmo created that view by extracting information from users' existing social networks or allowing them to create new networks within the widget environment. Plusmo developers took the concept further. Their application adds information about what a person's friends are doing and allows a user to gift their friends with virtual goods, including a bouquet of flowers sent during the live demo.

Inova IT won first runner-up for the company's Shoppy widget, based on the consumer's idea for a shopping list. The developer innovated on top of the idea by allowing the consumer to share shopping lists with friends and locating and navigating to shops offering the item for sale.

PavingWays won second runner-up for the company's Travel Planner. PavingWays took the basic concept of a widget that would track a person's progress through a trip and added a Twitter feed associated with the location of the destination. During the live demo the destination selected was Monaco, and the Twitter feed was from someone attending Nokia Developer Summit 2009.

Congratulations to the Hackathon winners, and to all the developers skilled enough to be invited to compete in this prestigious — and tiring — 24-hour event!

See videos of the three finalists.

Turning Ideas into Businesses
Delegates learned how Nokia is helping developers turn great ideas into successful businesses during Wednesday's business stream sessions. Tom Henriksson, Head of Nokia Interactive Advertising, discussed how to monetise applications through advertising. Tom presented some research from Nokia corporate strategy, including a projection that even in the current tough economic climate for mobile advertising revenue is projected to grow nine per cent during 2009. Growth is expected to average a 34 per cent compound annual growth rate from 1.7 billion euros in 2007 to 7.4 billion euros in 2012. Tom explained the implementation details, including the Nokia Ad Enabler Framework for S60 and Series 40 platforms and the Nokia Interactive Platform.

In a discussion on corporate finance, the Ovi service strategy will in some cases drive merger and acquisition activity by Nokia, according to Ed Simnet, Director, Strategy and Business Development. 'The core of our Ovi Service strategy is built around context — meaning people and places,' Ed told the audience. 'To make this happen, we need to establish a scalable service infrastructure, create ways to monetise through advertising, work closely with operators and partners, and last but not least, maintain our consumer focus.' He went on to discuss how and when Nokia partners with companies to execute on this strategy, and under what circumstances Nokia acquires companies.

Capital is critical for companies to grow a great idea into a viable acquisition candidate or a thriving stand-alone business. Bo Ilsoe, Partner, Nokia Growth Partners, explained how the fund spots candidates and described the services they bring to their portfolio companies. With $350 million under management for investments, Nokia Growth Partners offers portfolio companies a global perspective on the mobile industry and the strategic guidance, network, and platform to accelerate growth both domestically and internationally. Nokia Growth Partners has offices in Silicon Valley, Finland, China, and India.

Download Monetising Applications through Advertising
Download Partnering and Acquisition Strategy for Mobile Developers
Download VC Funding Opportunities for Nokia Developers

Unleashing Innovation for the World with Maps
In his Unleashing Innovation for the World with Maps address, Michael Halbherr, Vice President, Nokia Location-Based Services, Nokia presented a simple but compelling opportunity. Nokia Maps is now shipping on hundreds of millions of devices per year. There has been a sharp rise in the number of consumers who say the embedding of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver is one of the top three criteria in why they choose a mobile phone. However, there is currently a huge gap between people who want GPS devices and those who use their GPS devices on a consistent basis. Michael discussed ways Nokia will stimulate developer innovation built on top of Nokia Maps.

Watch the video for full details.

Tech Focus: Cross-Platform Development
The technology stream on Wednesday presented insights into cross-platform development including desktops, embedded systems, mobile devices, and Internet tablets. Benoit Schillings, Chief Technologist, Qt Software, Nokia, presented an overview of the Qt application and UI framework used by more than 250,000 commercial and open source developers. Benoit noted the framework allows developers to 'write code once while targeting multiple platforms; produce compact, high-performance applications; and focus on innovation, not infrastructure coding'. He also explained recent changes in the licensing model for the Qt offering, now available in Commercial, LGPL, or GPL licenses, depending on the needs of the developer.

The current version (Qt 4.5) includes tight integration with the WebKit browser engine, 'blurring the line between application and content', according to Benoit. The resulting mixed-mode services are efficient to build and deliver functionality that would be difficult or impossible to develop using Web APIs or native development environments.

Benoit also previewed the upcoming Qt 4.6 release, including expanded support for embedded and smartphone development plus enablers for cutting-edge UI development, including declarative UI, multi-touch, and gestures. He explained to the audience that in a declarative UI the developer codes how the UI should look and behave, as opposed to most UI frameworks, which are imperative, meaning the developer codes how the UI should be built.

The cross-platform discussion continued with a focus on mobile development when Mika Rytkönen, Director, Program Management, Qt Software, Nokia, took the stage. Mika put the current work on Qt on S60 and maemo™ in context by describing the path Nokia has taken toward opening up the development environment for mobile devices. It began with the Open C and Open C++ libraries that brought core Posix functionality to the S60 platform. It continued with a search for a common UI approach, which ultimately led to the acquisition of Trolltech by Nokia. And, going forward, it continues with Platform Services, a common way to access platform-level services, including contacts, battery status, position, etc.

Download Qt Overview: Enabling Cross-Platform Application Development from Desktop to Mobile
Download Qt on Nokia Platforms: S60 and maemo

New Nokia WRT Plug-in Beta for Aptana Studio
To further enhance the application potential of the Nokia N97 multimedia device, Aptana Inc. and Nokia unveiled the latest version of the Nokia WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio. Using the latest versions of the Nokia Web Runtime technology and the new Nokia WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio, Web developers can easily create, package, and deploy a whole new range of mobile widgets that integrate with the underlying systems and software on a mobile device. These applications, which install at the click of a button, can utilise the device's contact list and calendar data, determine the device's location, find landmarks within an area, send and get short messaging service (SMS) messages, receive information from a device sensor, such as an accelerometer, and more on Nokia S60 5th edition devices that include the Nokia N97 device.

Install Nokia WRT Plug-in beta for Aptana Studio

Blog Highlights
The Nokia Developer Summit 2009 blog has been quite active during the event, with frequent postings from Forum Nokia Champions and the DevSummit Crew. Here are selected highlights:

AP: Five weeks from concept to product quality blog by kevin_s2f
During yesterday's keynote address, Tero brought to the stage Jeffrey Litvack from the Associated Press to demonstrate his widget for the N97... the AP widget required only 'five weeks from concept to product-quality application'.

An API is open or it is obsolete blog by Bernd42
Lee Williams said in his presentation that an API in Symbian is either open or it is obsolete. This simple statement is one of the best news items at the summit for me.

Ovi Store Update blog by DevSummitCrew
Delegates got an update about the Ovi Store from Eric John, Director, Head of Product Marketing, Media. The store is accepting content for distribution and will launch the consumer experience in May. Eric noted the store will 'allow developers to leverage what they know' while building a next-generation consumer experience.
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