Motorola announces developer programme


8 Jan 2003

SHANGHAI: Motorola today announced the launch of the company’s new global developer programme, MotoCoder, writes Dick O’Brien from Shanghai.

The interactive programme was created in response to ongoing developer feedback and has been designed to better enable a full mobile development environment.

The new development programme will provide customised support for each developer partner, along with access to free development tools, product portfolio information, technical training and distribution channels.

The US firm is hoping that the new programme will be the engine driving the ongoing application development that has now become crucial to every mobile manufacturer in the light of more advanced software appearing on mobile handsets. Motorola is the latest in a series of handset manufacturers to launch such a development programme. As handsets become more advanced, software is rapidly becoming a key differentiator between competitors. The general hope is that such developer programmes will create a symbiotic relationship between manufacturers and developers, with developers providing the applications which then can be put through a manufacturer’s distribution channels.

The announcement comes at the beginning of Motorola’s annual media conference, which this year takes place in Shanghai, one of South East Asia’s up and coming cities. With a population of over 1.2 billion, China is the world’s biggest handset market. Mobile phones have begun to take off in the country of late and recent figures estimate one million new mobile subscribers every month. With such a large population, even a small slice of the Chinese market could prove extremely lucrative for any manufacturer. In a country where advertising is by no means as pervasive as Europe, it’s easy to notice that the established firms are paying serious attention to this young and booming marketplace.

By Dick O’Brien