Nokia Application Developer Population Surges
May 10, 2005
Forum Nokia Registrants Reach 2 Million Mark
Espoo, Finland - Nokia, the global leader in mobility, today announced that its
global developer community, Forum Nokia, has now passed the 2 million mark in registrations,
reflecting the surge in interest in building applications for mobile devices. Nokia's
global developer program also announced that its Forum Nokia PRO program has concluded
its first year, with more than 400 member companies receiving advanced levels of
technical and business development support.
"We've just completed the most exciting year ever in the history of Nokia's developer
relations activities," said Lee Epting, vice president, Forum Nokia. "With 2 million
registrants, the Forum Nokia community is the world's largest dedicated mobile application
developer community and our Forum Nokia PRO program has surpassed our goals by enlisting
400 of the world's most advanced mobile development companies in its first year."
The growing market for advanced mobile applications and services is evidenced in
adoption of the Symbian OS(TM), the world's leading platform for smartphones, including
the Series 60 Platform, developed by Nokia and licensed to seven manufacturers.
Approximately 50 Symbian OS device models have already been launched and more than
200 operators worldwide are selling Symbian OS based devices. Nokia estimates it
will ship 25 million Symbian-based smartphones in 2005.
Additionally, Java(TM) has established itself as the leading language for mobile
applications, supported by over 580 models of mobile handsets and with Java services
being deployed by approximately 150 operators globally.
"Developers from all segments of the IT industry have responded to the growth in
deployment of open standards-based technologies such as Symbian OS and Java in the
mobile environment and today view the handset market as the next major frontier
in the digital revolution," added Ms. Epting.
Registrants at the Forum Nokia community (www.forum.nokia.com) gain access to a
wide range of free technical information as well as free resources including downloadable
tools and SDKs. The site hosts approximately 14,000 unique visits each day. Forum
Nokia registrants represent more than 230 countries, territories and colonies around
the globe, with the EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa) region accounting for the largest
number, followed by Asia and the Americas. The top 10 countries by number of registrants
are: United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Italy, China, India, Australia, Finland,
Spain, and the Netherlands.
Members of the Forum Nokia PRO program gain advanced technical support that ensures
close integration of their software with Nokia's devices and also benefit from exclusive
access to Nokia's extensive worldwide software distribution channels. Participation
is limited to companies that meet stringent membership qualifications and pay a
€4,000 annual fee. Among the PRO members, 66% are engaged in developing Music &
Media applications, 64% in Personal Productivity, 55% in Enterprise and 54% in Games.
Java and C++ are the technologies most widely used by PRO members, with 85% and
83% adoption, respectively.
The program draws roughly half of its members from the EMEA region with approximately
one in four representing the Americas and about one in five from Asia.
Nokia's global developer program is based on a developer platform strategy which
provides a large addressable market to application developers. By offering development
platforms that remain consistent across multiple handsets, Nokia maximizes developers'
volume opportunities and minimizes the need to port applications and services to
individual handsets. Presently, Forum Nokia supports the Series 40 and Symbian-based
Series 60 and Series 80 Platforms, which taken together represent a market of almost
200 million devices.
About Forum Nokia
Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical
information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market
applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and
Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers
and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications
and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.
About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability
of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information
that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones,
devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment,
solutions and services for network operators and corporations. www.nokia.com.