Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/18/nokia_winpho_7_handset_dev_giveaway/
Nokia: free phones for developers
WinPho 7 handset COULD BE YOURS
Posted in Phones, 18th February 2011 13:37 GMT
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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 [1] - 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 [2] - 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 [3] 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. ®