Nokia Developer Newsletter

The beta version of Qt 4.6 for Symbian devices has been released, along with an initial Technology Preview release for Maemo 5. Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework, and the Qt 4.6 beta release includes full integration of support for Symbian and Maemo development.

Qt helps developers address a wide variety of platforms, while making it easy to create powerful C/C++ applications. Also, Qt's easy-to-use yet powerful set of APIs helps developers create applications that make the most of Nokia mobile devices. Qt 4.6 lets developers deliver applications to both Symbian S60 and Maemo 5 without having to rewrite their source code. Qt also lets mobile developers take their applications to the desktop. All this makes Qt a great choice for developers who need to deliver applications with demanding requirements quickly and accurately.

To further support developers who want to gain expertise using Qt, Forum Nokia will hold several training sessions and events during November and December in California, Denmark, Finland, and Singapore. Also, Forum Nokia Technical Support has been expanded to include Qt for Symbian development. Forum Nokia Technical Support helps mobile developers during the application-development process by solving specific problems and answering focused technical questions on a case-by-case basis.

Download the Qt 4.6 beta.

Explore the Qt port to Maemo 5 Technology Preview release.

Find tools for Qt development.

Write apps with Qt 4.6 with the Qt for Developers Library v0.9.

Get Forum Nokia Technical Support for Qt for Symbian development.

Register to attend Forum Nokia training sessions and events:

Qt for Mobile Developers Training, Palo Alto, California, 5 – 6 November.

Maemo Developer Day and Qt for Mobile Developers Training, Copenhagen, Denmark, 18 – 20 November.

The final version of Maemo 5 SDK has been released by Nokia. The SDK, previously released through maemo.org, now offers new features to help developers create applications for the Maemo 5-based Nokia N900 device. Maemo is a powerful, Linux-based platform for creating mobile applications that deliver PC-style interaction and features. It is built on open source components that are familiar to many PC application developers.

The new Maemo 5 SDK includes all the tools needed to write, test, compile, and package for distribution Maemo 5 software. Also, while the SDK supports development of Maemo applications in C, developers can easily add support for C++ or Python. Further, the SDK makes it easy for developers to use cross-platform frameworks, such as Qt Development Frameworks, to create and deploy applications across multiple desktop and mobile platforms.

Discover the Maemo platform.

Explore and download the final release of Maemo 5 SDK.

Forum Nokia recently updated three tools for developing Web Runtime (WRT) widgets.

Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.2 for Aptana Studio extends support to computers running Linux-based Ubuntu 8.04 and Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Aptana Studio is a free Web-development environment that offers integrated language support for key Web technologies, as well as embedded development platforms and databases. With the new plug-in, developers can use Aptana Studio to create WRT widgets that maximise traffic to their Web sites or Web services from Nokia S60 devices.

Nokia WRT Extension 2.0 for Adobe Dreamweaver adds features that help developers create and test widgets for WRT-supporting Nokia S60 devices, including support for the new home-screen widget capability of the Nokia N97 multimedia device. Adobe Dreamweaver is a Web-development environment that offers integrated language support for key Web technologies.

Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.0 for Visual Studio also adds features that let developers create and test WRT widgets for most Nokia S60 devices, including support for the new home-screen widget capability of the Nokia N97 device. Microsoft's Visual Studio supports several programming languages, including HTML, DOM, JavaScript™, and CSS.

Currently, the updated Nokia WRT plug-ins and extensions are available in English only. Other languages will be available later this year.

Download Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.2 for Aptana Studio.

Download Nokia WRT Extension 2.0 for Dreamweaver.

Download Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.0 for Visual Studio.

Wondering what kind of success developers are having with Ovi Store? Forum Nokia wondered, too. So we recently asked Bernd Wiegmann, a Forum Nokia Champion, and Symbian C++ developer since 2004 about his experience. What he told us was encouraging.

Bernd is Chief Technology Officer of German company MojosMobile. His company produces a wide variety of apps in Ovi Store, including CallRecorder, an app that makes it easy to record phone calls on Nokia S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition devices. The app lets users set rules that define how their device handles and records calls.

In his conversation with Forum Nokia, Bernd said that sales of Call Recorder on Ovi Store have been coming from 35 countries. Most downloads have been for the Nokia N97 multimedia device, followed by the Nokia 5800 and Nokia E71 devices. As for the number of downloads, Bernd adds, 'If it had been just one fifth of the downloads we're seeing, it would have been a success for us.'

Listen to Bernd's full interview in this Forum Nokia podcast.

October's Forum Nokia Champion is Bogdan Galiceanu, a computer-science student who hopes to make a difference in the world of mobile applications. Bogdan is a frequent contributor to the Forum Nokia Discussion Board with more than 2,700 posts, many on the Python and Java™ forums. He codes in three programming languages: Python, Java, and C++. And he speaks three human languages: Romanian, English, and French.

Bogdan's current development projects include applications in Python for S60, Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME), Ruby for Symbian OS, and Qt for Symbian. His insightful contributions to the Forum Nokia Wiki have won awards, and his work with the Forum Nokia Developer Advisory Council is highly respected.

Meet Bogdan Galiceanu.

Browse Bogdan's posts and threads on the Forum Nokia Discussion Board.

Find out about Forum Nokia Champions.

Enter one of the regional Calling All Innovators contests and you could win cash and valuable prizes — and get your locally relevant app featured on Ovi Store in your region.

Forum Nokia is running a series of regional Calling All Innovators contests to support the expansion of Ovi Store to new countries around the world. For developers, this is your opportunity to win cash, paid travel to Nokia events, membership in the premium Forum Nokia Launchpad program, Ovi Store representation, and other valuable prizes. Contests are now being held in Africa, the Middle East, France, the U.K., and Latin America. Each contest has its own rules, deadlines, and prizes. More contests in other regions of the world are coming soon.

Explore and enter Forum Nokia's regional Calling All Innovators 2009 contests.

The Symbian Exchange & Exposition is coming to London on 27 – 28 October, and all mobile developers are invited to attend to share, create, network, and have fun! Keynote speakers will include Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and consultant Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and other business best-sellers. Several Birds of a Feather sessions — informal meetings without pre-planned agendas — will be held on topics that include wiki documentation, Symbian Signed, and mobile social networks. Developers can also meet with Nokia representatives on the show floor to see Ovi Store in action, learn more about getting published on Ovi, and see the latest Nokia product demos, including Qt and Web Runtime.

Nokia is a Platinum Sponsor of the Symbian event, and Antti Vasara, Senior VP of Nokia Mobile Phones, will deliver a keynote on 27 October. Also, Aron Kozak of Nokia will participate in a Day 1 panel discussion entitled 'Fostering the Ecosystem in Open Mobile Software Platform Development'. Nokia will also lead and participate in sessions including next-generation hybrid applications, developing Webkit for Symbian, open source DRM, Symbian Horizon, S60 Web Runtime widgets, and distributing applications. Nokia representatives will also lead hands-on training labs on device debug technologies, extending Carbide C++, and performance analysis and diagnosis. See you in London!

Register to attend the Symbian Exchange & Exposition.

If you're thinking of entering Forum Nokia's contest for Mobile Web Templates Wiki articles, you'd better hurry. All entries are due by 31 October.

The competition is a chance for Web developers to show off their creativity and technical skills while using Nokia's Mobile Web Templates. To enter, create a Wiki article showing how developers can use and improve the use of Nokia Mobile Web Templates. Then submit your article in the Forum Nokia Wiki's Mobile Web Templates category. To be eligible, make sure your entry is submitted before 11:59 p.m. GMT on 31 October. Prizes include at least three Nokia devices. Good luck!

Enter the Mobile Web Template contest.

Explore the Nokia Mobile Web Templates.

Download Nokia's Mobile Web Templates v1.1.

This month a random sampling of mobile developers were invited by Forum Nokia to complete our annual survey. If you are among those invited, please complete the survey. By doing so, you will contribute to the future of Forum Nokia developer services.

The online survey, intended for mobile developers and other professional members of the Forum Nokia community, should take only 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Also, all survey respondents will automatically be entered in a drawing for a chance to win a new Nokia N97 or Nokia N900 multimedia device.

The Forum Nokia survey invitation was e-mailed this week. So please check your in-box to see whether you were invited to participate. And thank you in advance for your participation and support.

Check out the Nokia N97 multimedia device.

Explore the Nokia N900 multimedia device.

Registration for the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is now open! Since 2003 the Challenge has been the premier contest for developers of innovative location-based solutions (LBS) for mobile devices. In addition to having the chance to win cash and prizes, roughly a third of each year's finalist companies receive venture capital funding or launch commercially distributed.

The winners will be chosen by a panel of distinguished judges in each of five regions. The competition is open to pre-commercialised applications created for any platform and any device, provided the applications use NAVTEQ map data. Two new regions have been added: India and South America. Several 'Best of... ' prizes will be awarded in different categories. And the global prize is currently $8.2 million in cash and licenses.

Here are the regional deadlines for submissions:

• EMEA: 6 November 2009 (extended!)
• North America: 20 November 2009
• India: 11 December 2009
• South America: 12 February 2010
• APAC (except India): 5 March 2010

Find out the official rules and key dates for the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge.

Register for the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge.

In a recent Forum Nokia Podcast, episode 013, Forum Nokia's Bill Volpe speaks with Jackson Feijo, Forum Nokia Champion, and Mobile Software Developer with INDT from Brazil. Jackson discusses his most recent application development projects, and provides advice to those who are new to mobile software development.

In episode 014, Bill Volpe and Bill Perry of Forum Nokia discuss key developer news, including new devices, platform opportunities, and updated Ovi Store statistics. And in Podcast 015, Forum Nokia Champion Bernd Wiegmann speaks with Forum Nokia about his experiences publishing apps to Ovi Store and makes suggestions for other developers who are considering publishing content of their own. Have a listen!

Listen to Forum Nokia Podcast, Episode 013.

Listen to Forum Nokia Podcast, Episode 014.

Listen to Forum Nokia Podcast, Episode 015.

Check out all Forum Nokia Podcasts.

Follow Forum Nokia Podcasts on Twitter.

In this session, Ruben Rincon from Forum Nokia will explain how to publish content in the Ovi Store, detailing the key elements for making the content easy to find by the end user. Rincon will also cover topics such as compatibility and content requirements for publishing. If you’d like to participate in the Calling All Innovators contest or simply want to publish your content in the Ovi Store, you’ll certainly find this webinar useful.
Register »

In this session, Daniel Rocha from Forum Nokia will explain how to publish content in the Ovi Store, detailing the key elements for making the content easy to find by the end user. Rocha will also cover topics such as compatibility and content requirements for publishing. If you’d like to participate in the Calling All Innovators contest or simply want to publish your content in the Ovi Store, you’ll certainly find this webinar useful.
Register »