Nokia woos developers with cheaper listing
€50 to you guv, and I'll throw in a signature too
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Nokia has been making itself pretty for developers – launching a new SDK for Qt applications, dropping the cost of Ovi listing to €50 and signing applications for free.
Not only that, but the Finns reckon they can get the average signing time for applications down to two weeks, along with making the whole process a lot cheaper and letting individuals as well as companies put their work onto the Ovi shelves.
The cost reduction is considerable – All About Symbian provides the figures that used to include the purchase of a "Publisher's ID" at $200, then spending €10 to have a basic application signed, and then the company (for it must be a company) has to shell out €50 to register with Ovi before the application gets listed.
That's now replaced with a €50 signing-up fee, which can be paid by individuals as well as companies, with basic applications being signed for free.
Equally important is the launch of a new Qt developer's kit (SDK) which has been in beta for a couple of months but is now available to download. Nokia is betting a lot on Qt, which can be used to create applications that will run across the company's platforms (Symbian and Maemo MeeGo).
New in the release is a Smart Installer that can automatically download any necessary Qt libraries – important to support all those legacy handsets out there.
Lowering the barriers to entry is what Nokia needs, and while some developers fear it will lead to the Ovi store getting clogged up with farting applications and the like, one has to remember how successful that's proved for Apple. ®
COMMENTS
Troll Alert
Yea, yea. We know. Every time someone buys a non-iPhone a fairy dies now please quit trolling.
Look the iPhone isn't and never has been the best phone out there (copy and paste/only just getting a 5Mp camera as others roll-out 12/unable to make calls if you are touching it - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/24/iphone_antenna/ ?), it's just the one with the best marketing.
The iPhone only really had two features that differentiated it from the rest, an intuitive touch UI and an application store that was easy for people to develop for and purchase from.
Android isn't doing too badly on this front and this is Nokia's latest attempt to catch up with Ovi, dropping the barriers to developers in order to increase the number/range of products 'on the shelf'.
UI
..is what users use to interface with the phone. And if they seriously need pictures, they will buy a camera from Canon.
Apple innovated enormously while Nokia was dreaming some dreams of hunting and eating Moose, I suppose. And it seems they don't have a clue what to do about that.
If they had one, they would innovate themselves. Using Linux and Qt is an innovation 99% of end users could not care less. What they want is an easy-to-use UI and great applications and services.
Other than the UI
They need to stop leaving first adopters in the dust. I've already got one expensive non-upgradable Nokia N800 doorstop, I don't need another.
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