A group of companies, led by Google, today announced the formation of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) and the development of Android, a Linux based software platform for mobile devices. Other companies involved include T-Mobile, Qualcomm, HTC, Samsung and Motorola and the first phones based on Android are scheduled to be available in the second half of 2008. Read on for more.
Forum Nokia recently announced the launch of it device loaner program. For €30 and a variable guarantee fee developers can borrow a device for three weeks. Devices currently available include the N95, N75, E65 and the 5700. A number of plug-ins for the S60 SDK, which enable access to Eseries specific features (such as the notification LED), have also been added to the Forum Nokia website.
On Monday Forum Nokia revealed the new look to the the Community parts of its site. The new section brings together the previously disparate discussion forums, blogs and wiki into a single site. There is a 'lobby' page which summarises the latest updates across these sub areas and adds a personal touch with video and podcasts from Forum Nokia staff.
Symbian has announced two key technologies for the next generation of Symbian OS-powered smartphones, ensuring that superfast mobile broadband and complex interface, video and gaming requirements won't be a problem for the smartphones of 2008 and beyond. Read on for the full press release about the new ScreenPlay and FreeWay and for official reaction from Symbian licensees. And we'll have a video podcast up shortly with a full interview.
The publishing arm of Symbian, Symbian Press, has announced two new titles for developers; Mobile Python, by Jurgen Scheible; and Developing Software for Symbian OS, Second Edition, by Steve Babin.
UIQ has announced its second ‘Open Application Competition’ for 2008 at today’s Symbian Smartphone Show. Aimed at finding some of the best new applications (and developers) in the UIQ ecosystem, the competition runs from today until the end of 2007 (December 31st), where a jury of experts will judge the submitted applications.
Symbian has announced a number of changes to the Symbian Signed program at today’s Smartphone Show in London’s ExCeL center. Joining the existing ‘Certified Signed’ and ‘ Open Signed’ areas of the program is a new ‘Express Signed’ service, which should be welcomed by a large number of smaller developers.
Today at the Symbian Smartphone Show Nokia showed S60 running with a touch interface. The touch interface will support both finger and stylus input, has full multi lingual support, has support for tactile feedback (haptics) and is backwardly compatible with the existing S60 platform. Read the full story for and to view the video showing S60 Touch running on some concept devices.
Sony Ericsson, Motorola and UIQ Technology today announced that Motorola has taken a 50% stake in UIQ Technology. UIQ Technology was previously wholly owned by Sony Ericsson following its purchase from Symbian earlier this year. This represents a very significant endorsement of UIQ by Motorola and underlines Motorola's plan to expand its high end multimedia portfolio using UIQ powered phones.
Red Five Labs has announced the launch of a public beta for Net60. Net60 is a .NET Compact Framework implementation for S60 devices. It enables Windows Mobile applications developed using C# and Visual Basic .NET to run unchanged on S60 devices. The current beta is aimed at system integrators and independent software vendors who are interested in using the product.
BT has launched a developer competition aimed at encouraging the creation of innovative applications and services for WiFi enabled devices. The competition will formally launch at next weeks Symbian Smartphone Show. The overall winner will receive £1000 prize money.
UIQ Technology, now owned by Sony Ericsson of course, is ramping up its profile ahead of next week's show, announcing new partnerships with EMCC, Epocware, Visto, SysOpen Digia and others. SymbianOne has a good article describing the changes and some of the thinking behind it here.
Kuneri today released KuneriLite which is a rapid application toolkit aimed at Flash Lite developers. KuneriLite, which is programmed in Symbian C++, is an extra layer between Flash Lite and the S60 platform which enables extra functionality to be accessed from Flash Lite. KuneriLite also includes a feature to easily create a SIS file for distribution via a Wizard based process.
