Nokia: free phones for developers
WinPho 7 handset COULD BE YOURS
Nokia is to give all its registered developers an E7 smartphone. And if a Symbian-based handset doesn't appeal - as well it might not given last week's announcement - it's going to give them a Nokia Windows Phone 7 handset too.
There's no confirmation from Nokia itself of the deal, which was made public by mobile games developer Steve Stroughton Smith - he ported Doom to the iPhone, for example - in a Tweet sent out this morning:
"Nokia dev program ftw! '[…] one free Nokia E7 device to all members. Additionally, we will send to you one free Nokia WP7 device' on launch!"
The email Nokia sent to developers has begun to leak out too.
Since WinPho 7 will become Nokia's self-confessed "primary smartphone platform", what better way to get developers quickly porting from S60 to the Microsoft OS than giving them hardware.
It's a costly process, mind, but it could be just what's needed to calm fevered brows and accelerate the switch from Symbian. The E7 provides a little incentive to stay with Nokia for the time being, but it's the prospect of the juicy new tech in the WinPho 7 phone that will really keep the coders happy. ®
COMMENTS
Wait for it...
Standby for next weeks headline from the Nokia PR machine that signups as Nokia developers have reached a record high since announcing the Microsoft deal... Whilst casually forgetting to mention the free phone deal and that 90% of the new signups are just after the freebees...
Time to dust off the ebay account... Now where do I sign up?
Juicy new tech?
AFAIK, the latest Symbian phones have better tech (and more of it) than the current crop of WinPho models.
Hey I like bribes
I'm first to sign up for MS launch events. It means free stuff. I snagged a Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate edition for turning up to the W7 developer launch. Can't say I love Microsoft for their business practices but they sure know how to treat developers.
Re: Sounding more like Microsoft by the day
Hardly. Giving developer hardware is a not uncommon practice for companies, and makes damn good sense.
And let's face it - if it was Apple doing this, people would be praising Apple for wonderful developer support, whilst moaning that Nokia "doesn't get it" and will lose out by not supporting developers.
@It has started even sooner than I thought
I am not surprised that you posted that as an "ac". Especially in the light of the fact that the E7 is not due to launch in the UK until April.
