Nokia is pushing to boost its apps market for the release of the Nokia N8 at its second Ovi Developer Day, which took place yesterday at the Guinness Storehouse.
The theme of the event was “App Development Made Easy,” and Nokia focused on driving more apps to the Ovi Store.
“For me, in the Irish market, I want to get as much local content as possible,” said Shane O’Brien, software and services manager for Nokia Ireland.
“Lots of other people look at other different platforms that are out there and there’s quite a lot of availability on those platforms.
“Apps are changing consistently the whole time and what we want to do is make sure that people who have a Nokia device can go on to the Ovi Store and have the same, if not more choice,” said O’Brien.
Nokia’s last developer day was in January and the company is keen to update developers on its latest services, such as improved user experience on the Ovi Store and increasing support for developers creating content for numerous Nokia handsets.
Nokia support for app developers
Key features of Nokia’s support include its app wizard, a service it provides that allows budding developers to quickly create an app without programming knowledge.
O’Brien stated that if someone has an RSS feed on their site, they can create an app for it in 15 minutes if it’s the first time they’re using this wizard and in three minutes if they are used to the programme.
Nokia was also enthusiastic to promote Forum Nokia, a mobile developer community with access to resources, tutorials and information. Nokia has supported this forum by holding workshops for developers, providing business development and promoting this forum.
Nokia has found that Irish takeup of app development has increased since January. The firm has been part of the development of Irish apps by giving out loan devices to test its apps on, promoting them on the Ovi Store and working with retailers and operators to drive this market.
The developer day came in light of the upcoming N8, which will be available by Christmas. The smartphone features a 12-megapixel camera, video conferencing services, built-in video and imaging editing software and a customisable homescreen.
Nokia is particularly focused on promoting Symbian 3, the operating system of the N8, and was eager to point out the benefits of developing on an open source platform like Symbian, as it’s not as “closed and gated” as that of Apple.
The revenue split on the Ovi Store is 70:30, with 70pc going to the developers.
