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:Nokia said it will
continue to sell smartphones using
its legacy Symbian software for a
long time after its first phones
using Microsoft's Windows go on
sale. Symbian is due to be replaced by
Microsoft's Windows Phone over
the coming two years under a plan announced in February, raising concerns Nokia
could drop Symbian phones -- which have lost
market share, but generate strong profits -- too
early. In a letter addressed to Nokia developers,
Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Forum Nokia,
talks about future of Symbian, its strategy for
MeeGo and the Microsoft deal. Dear Nokia Developer, Much has been said in the last few weeks about
Nokia's announced strategy. I've heard from many of you with encouragement, concerns and
questions. Please do continue the dialog with me
and the Forum Nokia team. I want to take a moment to focus on what these
announcements mean to you, how Nokia plans to
support your development needs and how this
translates into opportunities today and in the
future. First, let's recap what it is we announced; the three main areas of our strategy: 1. Plans for a broad strategic partnership with
Microsoft on Windows Phone
2. Connecting the Next Billion
3. Future disruptive technologies What about Symbian? What about Qt? Understandably, these are the first questions that
come to mind. Although Windows Phone will
become our primary smartphone platform, we
will continue to deliver a great deal of value from
Symbian. We 're making investments that will help us to engage and attract existing and new
Symbian users and allow us to launch new
competitive smartphones. Over the past weeks we have been evaluating
our Symbian roadmap and now feel confident we
will have a strong portfolio of new products
during our transition period i.e. 2011 and 2012.
These devices will take advantage of the strong
integration of devices and services as well as our strength in areas such as imaging and location-
based services. They will also include
improvements in hardware performance such as
GHz+ processing capabilities and faster graphics
speeds. To further enhance the competitiveness of these
products we will deliver updates to the current
Symbian user experience. The first major update
will arrive in summer, delivering a new home
screen, new flexible widgets, new icons, a faster
browser, new Navbar and a fresh look and feel to Ovi Store and Ovi Maps, including integration of
social media services in Ovi Maps. You may have seen some of these updates in the
latest product we launched at CTIA Wireless this
year, the Nokia C7 Astound. Those plus the rest of
the enhancements will be delivered to all users
over the air in a simple update available from the
Home Screen, and Nokia Astound users will receive the remaining enhancements not already
in their device at the same time. I've been asked many times how long we will support Symbian and I'm sure for many of you it feels we have been avoiding the question. The
truth is, it is very difficult to provide a single
answer. We hope to bring devices based on
Windows Phone to market as quickly as possible,
but Windows Phone will not have all language
and all localisation capabilities from day one. In many markets, including markets where
Symbian is currently the lead smartphone
platform with significant market share such as
China, India, Russia and Turkey, we will continue
to make our Symbian portfolio as competitive as
possible while we work with Microsoft to introduce Windows Phone. For that reason
certain markets will play a more significant role in
selling the 150 million Symbian devices than
others and we will be selling devices long after
Windows Phone devices from Nokia have
already started to appear in other markets. That is why we cannot give you the date when Symbian
will no longer be supported. What I can promise you is that we will not just
abandon Symbian users or developers. As a very
minimum, we have a legal obligation, varying in
length between countries, to support users for a
period of time after the last product has been
sold. Our intention is that when users come to the end of the natural lifecycle of their Symbian
device they will make the change to a Nokia
Windows Phone device and so it would not be in
our interests to undermine their Nokia
smartphone experience. Operators have also
been very supportive in their commitment to help us continue to sell and support Symbian devices
while we make the transition to Windows Phone. We currently stand at 109 operators in 34
countries and no doubt they continue to
recognize the opportunities in a platform that has
great localization, differentiation and flexible
billing services, while we start to build great new
devices with Microsoft. Qt, the development platform for Symbian and
future MeeGo technology remains critically
important and Nokia is committed to investment
in Qt as the best toolset for those platforms and
we are focusing on future developments in part
by our plan to divest the commercial licensing business, used mainly by developers of
embedded and desktop applications beyond the
mobile market. Additionally we are readying app analytics, in-
app advertising, in-app purchasing, a new
browser and hardware enhancements. There are
a lot of new things for developers to take
advantage of in these soon-to-be-released APIs.
We are continuing to explore Qt for use in other strategic investment areas as well. So in short, there are some very exciting things
happening in Symbian and Qt, lots of new devices
and platform improvements and we believe
consumers will be downloading great developer
apps from these devices. All together, this means
your investment in Qt is a safe choice for skill competency, monetization opportunities and
brand awareness amongst our millions of users. The partnership announcement has many of you
wondering how Forum Nokia and Microsoft will
support you in the future. As we carefully plan
this with Microsoft we will be able to share more
information. However, we are listening to your
concerns and comments. Nokia and Microsoft share a view and commitment to make the
transition as smoothly as possible for developers. The second pillar of Nokia's strategy, 'Internet for the Next Billion' also highlights our increased focus on opportunities for developers, especially
Java developers. Nokia sells over one million
features phones a day; a staggering number by
any measure. Developers can already distribute
Java apps to approximately 600 million Series 40
devices. We intend to drive more innovation and
improvement in Series 40 developer engagement.
We are continuing to develop easy-to-use tools
and software developer kits to make it simple,
easier and more affordable for Java developers to
work with us. For example, there is free signing for Java apps; the new SDK for Touch and Type UI
is in the market now; plus we have plans for
increased proxy browsing capabilities on our
device and support for web apps. Consumers around the world are hungry for apps
on Nokia devices. The disruptive technologies area of our strategy
includes our work on MeeGo and Nokia Research
Center, Nokia's future looking, global labs. You will hear more from us on MeeGo in coming
months. Finally, there is still $10M up for grabs in the
Calling All Innovators contest. The deadline is
approaching March 31 so be sure to submit your
app. If the content of your app is applicable to
consumers in the US and Canada, you could get a
piece of the $10M in cash and prizes. Giving out these big checks and seeing your apps get
downloaded by millions of consumers is the best
part of my job! In the coming weeks and months, we will
continue to update you on our progress with
Symbian, Windows Phone and Series 40 and new
programs to assist you in building success in Ovi
Store. We are excited about working with you in
each of these areas. In the meantime, we'll look for your next great Qt or web app in Ovi Store!
Best regards, Purnima Kochikar Vice President,
Forum Nokia
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:Nokia said it will
continue to sell smartphones using
its legacy Symbian software for a
long time after its first phones
using Microsoft's Windows go on
sale. Symbian is due to be replaced by
Microsoft's Windows Phone over
the coming two years under a plan announced in February, raising concerns Nokia
could drop Symbian phones -- which have lost
market share, but generate strong profits -- too
early. In a letter addressed to Nokia developers,
Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Forum Nokia,
talks about future of Symbian, its strategy for
MeeGo and the Microsoft deal. Dear Nokia Developer, Much has been said in the last few weeks about
Nokia's announced strategy. I've heard from many of you with encouragement, concerns and
questions. Please do continue the dialog with me
and the Forum Nokia team. I want to take a moment to focus on what these
announcements mean to you, how Nokia plans to
support your development needs and how this
translates into opportunities today and in the
future. First, let's recap what it is we announced; the three main areas of our strategy: 1. Plans for a broad strategic partnership with
Microsoft on Windows Phone
2. Connecting the Next Billion
3. Future disruptive technologies What about Symbian? What about Qt? Understandably, these are the first questions that
come to mind. Although Windows Phone will
become our primary smartphone platform, we
will continue to deliver a great deal of value from
Symbian. We 're making investments that will help us to engage and attract existing and new
Symbian users and allow us to launch new
competitive smartphones. Over the past weeks we have been evaluating
our Symbian roadmap and now feel confident we
will have a strong portfolio of new products
during our transition period i.e. 2011 and 2012.
These devices will take advantage of the strong
integration of devices and services as well as our strength in areas such as imaging and location-
based services. They will also include
improvements in hardware performance such as
GHz+ processing capabilities and faster graphics
speeds. To further enhance the competitiveness of these
products we will deliver updates to the current
Symbian user experience. The first major update
will arrive in summer, delivering a new home
screen, new flexible widgets, new icons, a faster
browser, new Navbar and a fresh look and feel to Ovi Store and Ovi Maps, including integration of
social media services in Ovi Maps. You may have seen some of these updates in the
latest product we launched at CTIA Wireless this
year, the Nokia C7 Astound. Those plus the rest of
the enhancements will be delivered to all users
over the air in a simple update available from the
Home Screen, and Nokia Astound users will receive the remaining enhancements not already
in their device at the same time. I've been asked many times how long we will support Symbian and I'm sure for many of you it feels we have been avoiding the question. The
truth is, it is very difficult to provide a single
answer. We hope to bring devices based on
Windows Phone to market as quickly as possible,
but Windows Phone will not have all language
and all localisation capabilities from day one. In many markets, including markets where
Symbian is currently the lead smartphone
platform with significant market share such as
China, India, Russia and Turkey, we will continue
to make our Symbian portfolio as competitive as
possible while we work with Microsoft to introduce Windows Phone. For that reason
certain markets will play a more significant role in
selling the 150 million Symbian devices than
others and we will be selling devices long after
Windows Phone devices from Nokia have
already started to appear in other markets. That is why we cannot give you the date when Symbian
will no longer be supported. What I can promise you is that we will not just
abandon Symbian users or developers. As a very
minimum, we have a legal obligation, varying in
length between countries, to support users for a
period of time after the last product has been
sold. Our intention is that when users come to the end of the natural lifecycle of their Symbian
device they will make the change to a Nokia
Windows Phone device and so it would not be in
our interests to undermine their Nokia
smartphone experience. Operators have also
been very supportive in their commitment to help us continue to sell and support Symbian devices
while we make the transition to Windows Phone. We currently stand at 109 operators in 34
countries and no doubt they continue to
recognize the opportunities in a platform that has
great localization, differentiation and flexible
billing services, while we start to build great new
devices with Microsoft. Qt, the development platform for Symbian and
future MeeGo technology remains critically
important and Nokia is committed to investment
in Qt as the best toolset for those platforms and
we are focusing on future developments in part
by our plan to divest the commercial licensing business, used mainly by developers of
embedded and desktop applications beyond the
mobile market. Additionally we are readying app analytics, in-
app advertising, in-app purchasing, a new
browser and hardware enhancements. There are
a lot of new things for developers to take
advantage of in these soon-to-be-released APIs.
We are continuing to explore Qt for use in other strategic investment areas as well. So in short, there are some very exciting things
happening in Symbian and Qt, lots of new devices
and platform improvements and we believe
consumers will be downloading great developer
apps from these devices. All together, this means
your investment in Qt is a safe choice for skill competency, monetization opportunities and
brand awareness amongst our millions of users. The partnership announcement has many of you
wondering how Forum Nokia and Microsoft will
support you in the future. As we carefully plan
this with Microsoft we will be able to share more
information. However, we are listening to your
concerns and comments. Nokia and Microsoft share a view and commitment to make the
transition as smoothly as possible for developers. The second pillar of Nokia's strategy, 'Internet for the Next Billion' also highlights our increased focus on opportunities for developers, especially
Java developers. Nokia sells over one million
features phones a day; a staggering number by
any measure. Developers can already distribute
Java apps to approximately 600 million Series 40
devices. We intend to drive more innovation and
improvement in Series 40 developer engagement.
We are continuing to develop easy-to-use tools
and software developer kits to make it simple,
easier and more affordable for Java developers to
work with us. For example, there is free signing for Java apps; the new SDK for Touch and Type UI
is in the market now; plus we have plans for
increased proxy browsing capabilities on our
device and support for web apps. Consumers around the world are hungry for apps
on Nokia devices. The disruptive technologies area of our strategy
includes our work on MeeGo and Nokia Research
Center, Nokia's future looking, global labs. You will hear more from us on MeeGo in coming
months. Finally, there is still $10M up for grabs in the
Calling All Innovators contest. The deadline is
approaching March 31 so be sure to submit your
app. If the content of your app is applicable to
consumers in the US and Canada, you could get a
piece of the $10M in cash and prizes. Giving out these big checks and seeing your apps get
downloaded by millions of consumers is the best
part of my job! In the coming weeks and months, we will
continue to update you on our progress with
Symbian, Windows Phone and Series 40 and new
programs to assist you in building success in Ovi
Store. We are excited about working with you in
each of these areas. In the meantime, we'll look for your next great Qt or web app in Ovi Store!
Best regards,
Purnima Kochikar
Vice President,
Forum Nokia
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