another small step for Nokia, another small step for developing for Symbian
There are five key announcements that will be important for developers:
- Availability of the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.0
- Individuals can now register as Ovi Publishers
- Public beta of Nokia signing Symbian apps for free
- Availability of Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian
- Ovi Store intake for Qt apps
The Nokia Qt SDK allows cross-platform development for both Symbian and Maemo devices. Qt applications will also be supported on MeeGo, when it arrives. Creating C++ applications is quicker and easier than with previous development kits, and there’s a new, faster simulator included and additional APIs for mobile development. Forum Nokia cites the example of Shazam, who said, “It took us a year and a half to get our application developed to our full feature set on Symbian classic. Within 3 to 4 weeks we were able to put together a prototype working on Qt.” As well as Windows and Linux versions, a beta version of the Mac SDK has also been released. They are available for free from the Forum Nokia Qt section.
The announcements also make life easier for independent developers, who can now register as Ovi Publishers and distribute their apps worldwide through Ovi Store. Previously, you had to be part of a specific company or business. There’s a one-time fee of EU50 to register and apps can be submitted that are written in Qt, Symbian, Java, Flash Lite and Web Runtime.
Signing Symbian apps for free means that developers once again reduce their costs, which makes producing Symbian apps for Ovi Store more appealing. Historically, developers have had to pay and wait to have their apps Symbian-signed as part of the approvals process. Nokia has started a beta programme waiving this fee and introducing measures to halve the time required for signing.
The Nokia Smart Installer means that developers can send out their applications as a package without worrying too much about what parts of Qt need to be installed on users’ phones. The installer detects what files and libraries are needed by the app, looks to see what’s missing on the device and then downloads them automatically when you come to install it.
Lastly, the Ovi Store intake means that developers can upload Symbian apps for the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6 and Maemo apps for the Nokia N900. The Nokia N8 will be supported from release, with additional – older and newer – Nokia devices supported in the future.
First, Ewan MacLeod of Mobile Industry Review posts what he described as a diatribe about mobile development and the area of ‘developer relations’ in particular. While it’s rather obvious that his intended ‘target’ there was Vodafone’s 360 effort, many of his points either coincide with mine (on how to handle ‘big’ brands) or nicely augment my ideas.
Then, what you see in the excerpt above happens.
And surely, this is not, in any way, doing any of the things I recommended they do, it’s a (typical of Nokia) small step in the right direction. Will the “small” in “small step” turn out to be the keyword here? Who knows. I’m positive though, that without more explanations, and concise ones, this won’t do much to lure those developing exclusively for other platforms to Symbian. It may, however, have a good impact on those already developing for Symbian, and perhaps thinking of abandoning or maybe just ignoring the platform in the future.
Because while these announcements are cool for people already familiar with every aspect of www.forum.nokia.com for example, your average “iPhone developer” will not even understand most of this. I’m serious.
The single most, umm, legible, if you will, thing in there is that individuals can now register as publishers. About time! The previous limitation of having to be a registered business to develop for the
Ovi store might have made sense 5 years ago, but today, in the world of garage-development, it doesn’t. So glad to see it go away.
Nokia’s Qt efforts have been big news for a while now, but not ‘big’ as in “widely reported and hyped-up” - no, this one is an instance of ‘big’ = important, sadly for the US-based “press”. Good to see advancements there. The Smart Installer is, well, simply smart and much needed for people with older (and C: drive challenged) devices, since, as far as I know, the Qt libraries insist on using this drive to install.
Glad to see Shazam given as an example, and also to hear how quickly you can (in theory) develop an app in Qt, although, let’s face it, anecdotal evidence is still anecdotal evidence.
I left the free signing last intentionally. All I can say about this is that, again, it was about time. This is great news for Symbian developers, and boy was it a long time coming!
Ok.
So.
Good news?
Definitely.
Excellent news?
Umm…no. Sorry. I still believe a lot of other things need to be done, and fast, in order to make developing for Symbian alluring. Today’s announcements mostly consist of things that are being remedied rather than innovated.
What next? Obviously, what I described here.
Get on it, Nokia. There’s still time.
what Nokia should do to lure developers to Symbian
First of all, Nokia should release estimates for the total number of apps for Symbian out there right now. Out there, not in the Ovi Store. I’m sure a forecasting/statistics department could do that.
Then release a “total number of apps for Symbian” stat that adds the number above to the number of apps in the Ovi store.
Is this cheating? Actually, no, it’s not. It’s the truth.
Next, get cosy with small developers. No, that shouldn’t mean hire them, but work with them. Invest in their apps. People will jump to point out Jan Ole Suhr, famous for Gravity, a Twitter client that’s very popular due in no small part to lack of serious competition. So, yeah. Invest in Jan’s company. I can’t really define the legalities of all this right now, but the idea would be to take a couple hundred (yes hundred) such developers and help them. By investing money or by volunteering Nokia developers to work alongside them on the apps. To get better integration into the OS, or just to iterate quickly.
Make sure any developer that wants to create an app for Symbian has access to devices (via long-term loans or outright giving them for free). Or at least give them all access to a service like DeviceAnywhere.
Then move on to middle-tier developers, such as Epocware. Make sure they have all they need to keep developing apps for Symbian and come up with new ideas (it’s been a while) for apps on Symbian. Again, not just put out a press release saying how much you love developers. There should be a dedicated team for each developer inside Nokia. So, to continue with my example, 3-4 people should be the “Epocware team” in Nokia, ambassadors, if you wish, for the developer within Nokia.
Next, reach out to the idiotic big developers/companies that only have apps on iOS and Android and work with them to bring their apps to Symbian. If you have to, create the apps for them. It doesn’t matter. But don’t just rush some half-baked WebRunTime widget to the market. Work on complex functionality for these apps (if possible, exceeding that on the competing platforms), thus showcasing what Symbian can do. Do this for 30-40 ‘big’ apps on the other platforms, and the rest of the companies having apps developed only for iOS and/or Android may wake up and remember which the highest selling smartphone OS on the planet is.
And obviously, invest a LOT in hyping all this up. Invest more in WOM World, but also look at creating more events around Symbian and simply flood the market with ads. Have a N8 Make My App style competition every week. Give away 10-20 phones per day for 6-8 months, in different contests, but engaging ones, not just dumb RT this and win type stuff.
Engage more on Twitter and Facebook. Have dedicated accounts/groups/pages for developers, for troubleshooting for developers, and for each service and each individual phone you sell. With employees there to help, naturally.
There.
Easy, step-by-step instructions.
Will any of this actually happen?
Probably not.
Why, you ask?
Well, because Nokia’s biggest issue is not the hardware, nor the software of any of their devices, nor their services strategy. It’s a mentality that, despite the best efforts of many, many employees and middle-management people, still goes something like “here, buy this thing - now leave us alone until you buy the next thing”.
More is needed than their recent countless reorgs for this to change, sadly. And as long as they’re still first in everything (well, except AdMob stats - remember those?), why try to change?
I don’t see a big enough motivating factor. And they don’t either. Which is why things will continue to incrementally get better, but at a much slower pace than they could. And sane people’s perceptions of the company will remain the same.
iLBS
I do understand that the ‘check in, get points to beat your friends, get badges’ mechanic taps into what we call ‘game theory’ which dictates that if you give people things to do and rewards (even ones without any real value) they will have a natural compulsion to complete the tasks and collect the rewards. That’s great for Foursquare, the mechanic is getting people using their service in droves. But to what actual end? What use is any of this to its users? When I’m on my deathbed am I going to think to myself “what was this life all about? What did I do for the world? Oh, I got the ‘Douchebag’ badge and ten others on Foursquare! I wonder if I can check in at heaven’s gates…
Finally, someone besides me and Tomi Ahonen says what needs to be said.
Location BS. That’s what I believe “LBS” stands for.
The future may be bright, but it surely isn’t bright for apps that just let you “chek in” to somewhere. Location may get huge, but as a feature, not as an app/product/service in itself.
This has all been said before, but what I mean is that location will (probably) be integrated into more and more services and products, as GPS sensors are included into more and more gear, and locating people/devices is increasingly possible in different manners (WiFi, cell tower, and so on).
But having an app or a service that just lets you announce the world where you are? And then build a database of all the places you’ve been “for you”?
Not a chance.
It’s time these services actually do something with the location data they collect, something other than give stalkers a field day everyday. I’m looking forward to that.
And you know what’s funny? This all started thanks to the Nokia N95.
Posted via web from iRant | Comment »
getting your own URL shortener
Bit.ly is probably the most used URL shortener in the world right now. Recently they introduced bitly.pro, which is a service that lets you shorten links on a domain you own. It’s still in closed beta, but thankfully I’ve managed to get an invite, and hence my own URL shortening domain was born, bvlad.net. You may see this (a lot) in the links I share on Twitter.
So that’s the story, in short.
It’s a really cool service and has some neat features, like whenever you’re logged in to your Bit.ly account (even in third party clients like Seesmic, Tweetdeck, and so on), any link you shorten will be shortened with your domain by default. There are a few other niceties, like having all links shortened by anyone through bit.ly be shortened through your shortening domain for one domain you own. So, for example, if you try shortening any iRant posts with bit.ly, (not that that makes much sense given how short the URLs on iRant already are, but hey, I’m proving a point here), the short link you’ll get won’t be bit.ly/something but bvlad.net/something. Cool, as I said, go check it out at their very well chosen domain, bitly.pro.
Now, Darren McConachie asked me why I’d use my own domain for URL shortening on Twitter, saying that he’d be less inclined to click on my links if I did it.
This doesn’t make any sense to me. If anything, you should be feeling better about clicking on short links (which are essentially unknown destinations to you) if you know whose domain it is.
Why?
Well it’s simple. If anything goes wrong you know who to blame. Me. Whereas if you click on a generic URL shortener problem-link, what are you going to do? Tweet that you hate bit.ly? Like anyone will care.
In conclusion, I’m really happy I did this, and for all the social media gurus out there, this is a great way to improve your personal brand. Perhaps I should write an amazing ebook about it (a $3700 value which you can get for only $199 if you act now!).
P.S.: Don’t ask me for invites to Bitly.pro, ask them. Seriously. That’s what I did. Just go to the site and fill in the form. Then wait patiently. Your day will come.
Posted via web from 302! | Comment »
need.to.write.
I think may start to use this blog as my whining avenue. Fair warning.
I don’t like to write. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy creating content (or text, or words, or phrases, or sentences, or whatever else you may want to call it), the activity of writing is something I find rather annoying. The fact is that my brain goes through 200 different ideas (sentences) before I can finish typing 5 of them. So it gets frustrating.
But you may have already noticed this, ‘thanks’ to my obvious lack of writing over the past few months (with some exceptions, granted). The truth is, when you think of it outside the proverbial box, there really isn’t that much news in this mobile and tech sphere, it’s all mostly noise. And when there is news, I usually am good at finding someone who has done a good job of summing up my beliefs and thoughts on the topic, and so I link to such posts on Twitter.
On the rare occasion that this doesn’t happen, I may write a short series of tweets describing my attitude towards a news item, and leave it at that. Fact is, the only time I even consider writing something longer is when I’m outraged by something that happened or I read. Which is why I had to expand my ever-reaching blog network once again and add a dedicated rant blog to it. Which I expect will become the most updated of all my blogs for all the good reasons above.
I’m a big fan of thinking and analyzing news and events. Of putting things in their required context. Of making connections between events or trends. I would say I generally like to create content, but mostly spoken content. When I say I enjoy conversations, I mean that literally, not in the social-media-hyped way.
I have been thinking about doing a podcast, on and off, for more than a year now. Maybe one day something will happen that will finally make me act on that. I’m not sure I want to be on camera yet, but an audio-only start would do, I think. What has (in my mind, at least) hindered my effort so far was that I really don’t want to do a podcast alone. I find that a bit silly. I may experiment with this on services such as AudioBoo, but I don’t think it’s a good long term play.
I have a few people in mind that would make great co-hosts, or even guests, on a hypothetical podcast. I just haven’t asked any of them yet. I’m shy like that. Maybe one day I will.
Time will tell.
In the mean time, if you’re interested in my opinions, I can’t urge you enough to follow me on Twitter (see sidebar for link). Or you could subscribe to this RSS feed, which is a combined feed of all my blog posts and tweets (and hopefully it will work - fingers crossed for this ‘hack’).
Posted via web from 302! | Comment »
iWeep
In his final post, Dan explains that the key reason for closing the site is because, “Nokia have stopped being as creative as they once were.”
Dan goes on to cite bug-filled £500 devices and the Nokia N97 in particular. The main issue for Dan though was content:
“All the [Nokia] phones ended up feeling pretty much the same due to the tired Symbian OS.”
Dan then points out how Android came from nowhere to version 2.2 in just two years, with the chaps behind it iterating fast in response to user and developer feedback.
Dan finishes his explanation with this statement:
“Other players have moved with the times and Nokia is still dragging it’s heels, you only need to see the large quantity of Nokia fans who have parted ways with the company and moved onto a different platform such as Android or iPhone.”
Dan’s not alone in pointing this out. Micky over at NokiaDNA raised the same issue a week or so ago too.
Give me a break.
First off, this somehow reminds me of Jason Calacanis giving up on blogging. Only to start an email newsletter the contents of which are published as blog posts on his blog.
Or should I mention MIR’s own Ewan who closed the site at one point, only to resurrect it as (you guessed it!) an email newsletter, that now gets published on the site, along with other posts?
Why am I bringing up these examples? Because this is a good publicity stunt.
Congratulations, Dan Carter, you have successfully managed to put CoolSmartPhone on the map. Because he conveniently isn’t giving up blogging altogether, he’s just giving up on Nokia - and the “farewell” post (wait, I have to wipe some tears… done) contains a link to where he’ll continue blogging about all things mobile (I guess).
Yeah.
Ok.
I gave up on reading Mashable a few months ago. Maybe I should have written a saddening blog post about it. Who knows, maybe Scoble would’ve linked to me and made me instantly famous (you know, as good as instant coffee)?
As for the bug-filled N97, this is all a bit disingenuous. Was it bug-filled when it came out? Sure, but then Dan knew this probably not by buying the bug-filled thing, but by trialling it - a feat he was able to accomplish thanks to his blogging activity. And the thing is, even before getting a loaner in, he (and I, and everyone on the Internet) already knew it was buggy. So why would anyone buy a product knowing that it’s going to be buggy? Especially a 500-pound product?! Beats me.
As for the “but let’s all collectively cry for the average Joe who doesn’t know what the internet is” argument, yes, let’s do that. But let’s not act like five-year olds.
Hey, I know. Now I have a reasonable (?) excuse for why I’ve been blogging less and less frequently. So, in case you were wondering, it’s thanks to Nokia’s lack of innovation.
As for the “tired” Symbian OS… let’s just say it’s really good that there’s no second amendment here. Otherwise…
Not to be misunderstood - the point here isn’t that you should love Symbian^1 or Nokia or anything. The point is that if you feel something better exists for your needs and your use-case, go grab it. Just don’t cry because one company didn’t manufacture the exact product you never knew you wanted and hell couldn’t even describe if were asked to at exactly the time you felt you needed said indescribable product.
As for Android… funny. Yes, it has moved from nowhere to 2.2 in two years. But that’s because it was nowhere to begin with. Get it? You have to root/hack/jailbreak/whatever you want to call it your precious 2.2 Android phone to take a screenshot. Not kidding. So yes, it has come a long way (as has Symbian over the past decade, but hey, the Symbian Foundation is not Google or Apple, right?), but there’s still a very, very, very long way to go.
Biggest mistake Nokia made in their Symbian strategy? Not headquartering the Foundation in Silicon Valley. I’m serious.
Has the hype won?
I guess it all depends on how ignorant the subject is. The more ignorant you are, the more chances there are that the hype has indeed won, and the main use-case for your phone is making it make 690 different fart sounds.
And often times I feel that the only thing some mobile bloggers are after is showing off how much they can lick their new device to their friends. Forget trends, understanding the market, helping people make informed (and educated) buying decisions, providing context to news and generally making people think more about these amazing tiny smart devices.
It’s all akin to mass hysteria.
And it’s not funny. Never was.
So please, Nokia fans, stop acting like you being fans is a religion and God has disappointed you because you prayed for a new toy last night and this morning when you woke up it wasn’t there and now you’re mad at God and tonight you’ll try Allah.
The problem in this narrative isn’t Nokia, or God, or Allah. It’s your childish expectations. Once you understand this, I’m happy to welcome you to the real world.
Note: The religion comparison also applies to other breeds of fanboys, without a doubt. Yet some seem more satisfied with their God than others.
Last note: It would also be cool, from time to time, to remember that the objects of your fanaticism are for-profit corporations who are driven (by the nature of capitalism) in business decisions by their investors’/stock holders’ expectations and not their consumers’ (this is fundamental, not necessarily apparent at all times). If you don’t like this, perhaps a conversation about our current form of capitalism is needed, but please, stop whining and (hopefully) start understanding. And remember, “understanding” something need not be equal to “agreeing” with said thing.
Posted via web from iRant | Comment »
And @jason’s previous “nailed it” moment (imho): Goldman’s Rules of Acquisition http://ping.fm/ZE7FH
