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Nokia "Suspends" Its Free Developer Program

Posted by Unknown on from the only-the-best-fart-app-developers-need-apply dept.

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."

19 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. damn that would affect all.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    the 7 devs

    1. Re:damn that would affect all.. by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Funny

      the 7 devs

      ... and Snow White as well. (Sleeping Beauty could not be reached for comment, but it's rumored that she has transitioned to an Apple platform)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:damn that would affect all.. by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 5, Funny

      (Sleeping Beauty could not be reached for comment, but it's rumored that she has transitioned to an Apple platform)

      I'm pretty sure she's running Linux, hence being unable to resume from sleep.

    3. Re:damn that would affect all.. by JackieBrown · · Score: 3, Informative

      Remember that when windows encounters a problem like this, it is the driver/hardware's fault.

      When this happens to linux, it is because linux is not ready for prime time.

      At least, this is how it usually is spun.

  2. Qt/Trolletch by Qwerpafw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess I'm glad they spun off Qt before going back and regressing past the paid-commercial-development trolltech days for Qt.

    Admittedly Trolltech used to offer free GPL noncommercial Qt licenses, but that sort of licensing isn't even possible with Windows Phone. Still painful to see open source transition into the most closed model of all.

  3. Re:to be expected by sideslash · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  4. WP not dead yet by slomike1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Nokia Lumia 920 is a very interesting phone. Many developers just got one last week at the Build event (2000+ attendees). The Lumia 900 sold pretty well also. I think it is a little early to declare that Nokia and Window's Phone are dead.

    1. Re:WP not dead yet by rtfa-troll · · Score: 3, Informative

      Thats just silly. Android is neither a cell phone nor a company... it is just a VM running on linux therefore it has zero market share.

      Let's put this really simply. If you have an app and you want people to run it, you have a choice of binary formats to put it in. If you put it out in Android's binary format, it will run on "75%" of the new phones sold this year (I'd guess 65% actually). If you put it out in iOS format it will run on, say, 20%. If you put it out in RIM's format it's likely to run on about 5%. If you put it out on Bada it will run on about 3% of phones. If you put it out in Windows Phone's format and we assume even a generous 50% growth caused by Windows phone 8, which would exceed every recent new version of Windows for Mobile phones, then it will run on about 3% of phones.

      From the point of view of an App developer what you have to know is that, if you already have the facilities in place to support a Bada port of your app in parallel with you iOS, Android, and RIM ports, and if you really get serious ROI from the Bada version, then you should maybe consider producing a Windows Phone port. Otherwise forget it, come back in 2015 and have a look at the market again.

      Producing ports for different operating systems isn't, as we have always been told for Linux, free. You are more likely to get widespread attention and grass roots marketing for your Windows version of you app if the iOS app is successful than if the Windows version is successful. Now is the chance to take advantage of your competitors who are distracted by Microsoft's Windows marketing and try to overtake them by concentrating all your efforts on the successful platforms.

      --
      =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
  5. Nokia never dominated the developer space by CockMonster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They struggled greatly with it in fact. It was one of the reasons they dropped Sybmian, the 'ecosystem' never took off. Symbian C++ and frameworks were complicated, and the signing program was a disaster. Maemo had a couple of apps sure but nothing like what Apple have. Elop considered the 'ecosystem' to be the most important thing for the survival of the company.

    1. Re:Nokia never dominated the developer space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Hey, here at Slashdot we are not spoiling a good Nokia bashing submission with boring facts.

      Riiight.... Would be terrible to have that. We should never bring up that the Symbian Market Place alone had 80k apps. We would certainly never mention that there were plenty of other places to get apps (e.g. the best SSH apps never made it to the market place at all). We should never mention that most of the "Apps" were actually applications as opposed to 90% being frontends for someone's blog or pictures of food and multi-lingual fart apps. No, it would never do to suggest that a system like that had a more solid eco-system than Windows has on the mobile even though Windows has been there longer than Symbian.

      And I see you've been put to your place already by somebody anonymous with a hell of a life.

      Ahh yes; a person who posts for Nokia on Slashdot. A person who has sat there in the middle as his own country's main employer is destroyed to save it's American shareholder's investment in Microsoft. A person who has seen the company he works for ripped off; selling it's soul and still ending up displaced by a cheap Chinese clone maker. A person basically working to fuck his own countrymen by taking as much of their lifeblood as possible away from them and sending it to Redmond. That person is trying to intimidate anonymous posters on Slashdot by threatening to accuse them of having a "hell of a life". You think we will go off and commit suicide or something? Do you have a sense of irony?

  6. Bet has not failed yet by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    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
    1. Re:Bet has not failed yet by tuppe666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The bet on WP8 is far from having failed...To count Microsoft out is foolish, they have a lot of money and a lot of strategic connections in the phone world

      It is true WP8 has not failed, but then as yet it unproven technology, going against Android which has captured 75% of the market and Apple 14.9%. In fact all I am seeing is the same arguments from the same fans...and yes I do mean you, that I heard with WP7...and 7.5, and where are they now 2%. The sad part is the main reason for its failure is Microsoft not only doesn't have connections in the Phone world, it upset most of Nokia's.

      Its true Microsoft has lots of money, but lets face it so do Google and Apple and they also have market share, an established product, and a devoted following.

  7. Re:Windows Phone is no Slouch... by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for listing the features of my now 2 year old Motorola Defy + CM7.

  8. Re:Makes sense. by tuppe666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  9. Let's get real here by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTS:
    which once was one of the mainstays of its domination of the smartphone market.

    No, just no. It's domination of the smartphone market was due to the fact that it made pretty good hardware and OK software at a time when nobody else could even manage one of the 2. However as others stepped up in both categories, Nokia was slow to react and that is what put it in it's current position.

    --
    Monstar L
  10. Re:Makes sense. by multi+io · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For now, Nokia is downsizing and cost cutting big time. Their credit has been rated to junk and the company is in the red. They're trying to minimize all costs while the transition to WP is underway

    Yeah, just like SGI minimized all costs while transitioning to Windows NT. Selling your soul to MS has worked amazingly well for companies in the past.

  11. I'm with you. by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nokia had developers because they had the dominant platform. Websites looked like garbage at the time one phones, so companies wanted to program for Symbian. With Symbian they could easily make apps which were slightly to somewhat better than garbage. So they did.

    Once any other company came in and made better hardware (RIM first) and a better OS/UI toolkit (Apple), it was over for Symbian and Nokia was put in a tough spot.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  12. Re:to be expected by Kal+Zekdor · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    Excuse me, but the proper term is "Logomachist".

  13. Re:Nokia 920 phones distributed at MS Build 2012 by quetwo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So, the phone got released last week, and they are only "close" to having the SDK available?

    So, that means for the first 6 months we will only have simple demo apps, and quick "fart" apps until everybody gets up to speed, and the big dev houses get their act together. I honestly don't see the platform inertia lasting that long. People who have phone who can't get the Pandora, and other tangential apps they are used to will drop it for the ones who do. By the time the big apps come, there won't be any users left.