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Nokia "Suspends" Its Free Developer Program
jbernardo writes "Nokia has put in deep freeze its free developer program, the launchpad. Now, in the Developer Programs page, one can only see a pitch for a paid 'Nokia Premium Developer Program,' and below, in the Nokia Developer Pro and Developer Launchpad box, there is a text merely stating that Nokia are not currently accepting new applications for Nokia Developer Launchpad and Nokia Developer Pro programs. With most (if not all) Launchpad memberships already expired, seems like Nokia no longer is interested in the developer community, which once was one of the mainstays of its domination of the smartphone market. Of course, that domination was destroyed by Elop and its 'burning platforms' memo, together with the failed bet on Windows Phone 7, so maybe giving up on developers would also be expectable."
What are you talking about? Here's its entry in a dictionary from the year 1806. Please don't give the rest of us spelling/grammar Nazis a bad name.
The bet on WP8 is far from having failed. It suffered a major setback my Microsoft not allowing SP7 phones to upgrade to 8, but that was not a fatal blow...
Over the next year Microsoft is going to push Windows 8 in all its incarnations. They are already making a strong push for developers to write apps, having a good stable of apps already and giving away a Nokia phone and Surface tablet to every Microsoft developer at the Build conference.
To count Microsoft out is foolish, they have a lot of money and a lot of strategic connections in the phone world - and on top of that WP8 is actually a pretty well designed system that will attract developers of its own accord just by being pleasant to build for.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nokia no longer sell phones with their own OS. Why do they need to continue supporting developer programs for software they no longer support?
...because they need options, because right now, windows is the burning platform. Unfortunately the goal seems to be to continue throwing good money after bad.