June 25, 2010 at 15:34Why writing applications for the N900 is profitable!
Recently, Nokia has taken a lot of steps that should make an attractive platform from Nokia. And I just can’t ignore this event and summarize everything that seemed to me significant and useful.
To be honest, I did not even hope that such a giant could so quickly and simply be able to rebuild under the market. But the last two years have shown that Nokia is seriously determined to maintain its position in the mobile market and will fight. Here the last week I was simply surprised and pleased with the events.
As already mentioned here, the Qt release of Nokia SDK for Windows and Linux and beta for Mac Os were released. But this is only the beginning of joy.
Moreover, applications can be either native C ++ or Qt or Flash light.
For those who do not know, I tell. Earlier it was necessary to pay a lot of money to sign their applications. Unsigned applications had functional limitations (the execution of the API part was forbidden for them). This was done for security purposes, but greatly limited individual developers. You can calculate how much it cost:
Of course, you could do without getting Publisher ID through sponsorship of Symbian Horizont , or not sign it at all. But in both cases, making money on your program and promoting it would be extremely difficult.
The need to have a TIN closed OVI for individual developers.
This program is in beta testing, but open to all. In order to sign your application for free, you must write an email to publishtoovi.support@nokia.com with your name in the Ovi Store (as a publisher). In response, receive instructions.
The application approval process (approve) was also redesigned, as a result of which the time for reviewing the application (review) before publication was reduced from 4 weeks to two (we are talking about the OVI store).
This is just a stunning event. Hurrah! It happened. Now, another source of implementing their ideas with the opportunity to make money has been added (“another”, I mean, the Apple Store and Android Market already exist).
Of course, the service is not free, it still costs 50 euros. But the price is comparable to its competitors: $ 100 Apple store and $ 25 Android Store. I am sure that “membership dues” are not necessary in order to capitalize on this. Their main goal is to filter out the "random, trash audience" and inactive developers / publishers (did not update the "membership" - you are excluded from the club).
There are no country restrictions, as the “bourgeois” usually does: first a priority list, and then everyone else. Everything is immediately accessible to everyone. You can see for yourself.At the first step, the registration wizard will ask you to choose the country and type of account (company or individual developer).
The main goal is to lure / lure developers to Nokia platforms. It is no secret that it was thanks to this model that the iPhone broke into the market. You can argue with me, saying that initially there was no store and third-party applications. But the fact that Jobs at each presentation emphasizes that there is a large firebox of applications for the iPhone (now the iPad), in addition to the amount of documentation (very high-quality) and materials (examples, videos, presentations) on the development of these platforms themselves for myself. This is beneficial, and who still doubts, then please watch this video from the second Steve.
And this step from Nokia proves once again that they need us no less than we need them, and maybe even more!
This event has already been discussed in passing on the hub Unfortunately, the author ( Paul ) does not quite understand the essence of the issue. Therefore, the title bar says “Qt SDK 1.0”, but implies the Nokia Qt SDK.
Let's understand the difference between the Nokia Qt SDK and the Qt SDK.
Qt SDK :
The Qt SDK includes the tools you need to build cross-platform applications with Qt in a single install.
I explain that the Qt SDK is a set of tools for writing cross-platform (writing, we are not talking about cross-compiling for all platforms) applications using Qt. And this set of tools is available as a single installation file: downloaded, installed with one click and everything is ready for writing, debugging and assembly. The structure includes Qt libraries (already compiled), source codes (if you need to rebuild the libraries), Qt Creator and auxiliary utilities (Qt Linguist, makeqpf, packager, QLARL and a lot of different stuff).
Nokia Qt SDK :
The Nokia Qt SDK leverages the power of the Qt framework and tools, combining them with tools designed specifically to streamline the creation of apps for Symbian, Maemo, and forthcoming MeeGo devices from Nokia.
This is also a set of utilities in one bottle, but for developing applications for mobile platforms from Nokia (this is what the word “Nokia” says in the name, and not that Nokia bought TrollTech). It contains compiled libraries for Symbian and Maemo, the corresponding SDK and toolchain for these platforms. This is just about cross-compilation (you are building a project on a desktop for Windows (for example) on an i386 architecture, and it will work on Symbian / Linux on an ARM architecture, do you feel the difference?). In addition, the structure includes Qt Simulator, Qt Creator, Qt Mobility, Nokia Smart Installer and other tools. I already wrote in more detail .
The official comparison chart is right here at the bottom.
So what am I talking about? A! Well, he came out, he. So how is it different from the beta that was already availablebefore?
And here is a little list:
You can read more in the blog and in the laboratory .
I understand that this item is a bit provocative. Nevertheless, MeeGo for ARM is already there, and it is only for the N900 .
The development of the platform is simply pleasing at its pace. According to this information , on June 30 we will be able to see the first MeeGo GUI for phones. And I'm pretty sure that the demonstration will be held on the basis of the N900. Thus, the N900 is simultaneously a mainstream device based on Maemo and a prototype of a new product line based on MeGo.
This is the final chord. Now there is everything you need to start experimenting, making money and growing.
You can realize any of your ideas and get a response from a multimillion-dollar audience. From this moment on, the Ovi Store is open for me. Before that, I treated him like a beta test. And I'm pretty sure that, given the previous points, there will soon be a large number of good Qt programs running on Symbian and Maemo and ready for MeeGo.
An attentive reader can look at the name of the topic and exclaim: “And where does all this come about here ?!” Very much so.
With all of the above, I tried to bring the reader to the conclusion that came to me two hours before the start of writing this article: “Now you can make good money by developing applications for the N900!” Why is that:
Why is it for the N900, and not for Symbian? What is the difference? And the difference lies precisely in the fact that the N line will be the top one and, accordingly, will cover the most solvent audience. This is just a selfish question. Targeting products for Maemo / MeeGo phones, you are primarily focused on profit (in my opinion this is obvious). And the only representative of this future line today is the N900.
Given that official prices for the N900 in the USA have already fallen below $ 500, a successor in this line and an increase in popularity can be expected.
You can continue the list, but I think you caught the main idea: "writing an application for N900 is now profitable and you need to start it as soon as possible."
As evidence, I started developing a small and uncomplicated application. I leave the purpose and essence of the application a secret (at the same time I’ll check my instinct for market demand and my analytical abilities to study the market). I think in a month I can already release it in production. It is with this application that I intend to prove in practice all the arguments that I bring here.
Who is brave and bold can start my own project in parallel with me and it will be very interesting to compare the results. And who is prudent and skeptical, he can wait a month and a half (with a thought like: “wait and see”) and make sure that he just lost this time in anticipation, instead of already releasing his applications !!!
And so the experiment begins and I will try to put some parts of this experiment into small development examples for the N900 on Qt.
The first step in installing and configuring development tools can be considered already implemented .
Well that's it, I ran to write :-)
UPD: added the 4th item.
To be honest, I did not even hope that such a giant could so quickly and simply be able to rebuild under the market. But the last two years have shown that Nokia is seriously determined to maintain its position in the mobile market and will fight. Here the last week I was simply surprised and pleased with the events.
As already mentioned here, the Qt release of Nokia SDK for Windows and Linux and beta for Mac Os were released. But this is only the beginning of joy.
1. Nokia has announced a free application signature program for the Symbian platform.
Moreover, applications can be either native C ++ or Qt or Flash light.
For those who do not know, I tell. Earlier it was necessary to pay a lot of money to sign their applications. Unsigned applications had functional limitations (the execution of the API part was forbidden for them). This was done for security purposes, but greatly limited individual developers. You can calculate how much it cost:
- $ 200 a year was worth getting the publisher ID (Publisher ID), it is issued by the Symbian Foundation , here you can read about the experience of obtaining ;
- 10 or 100 euros for signing the application with an express or certified key, respectively, the difference lies in the levels of access to the API;
- 50 euros for registering in the OVI Store as a publisher, and it was necessary to have a company TIN.
Of course, you could do without getting Publisher ID through sponsorship of Symbian Horizont , or not sign it at all. But in both cases, making money on your program and promoting it would be extremely difficult.
The need to have a TIN closed OVI for individual developers.
This program is in beta testing, but open to all. In order to sign your application for free, you must write an email to publishtoovi.support@nokia.com with your name in the Ovi Store (as a publisher). In response, receive instructions.
The application approval process (approve) was also redesigned, as a result of which the time for reviewing the application (review) before publication was reduced from 4 weeks to two (we are talking about the OVI store).
2. Now an individual developer can become a publisher in OVI store!
This is just a stunning event. Hurrah! It happened. Now, another source of implementing their ideas with the opportunity to make money has been added (“another”, I mean, the Apple Store and Android Market already exist).
Of course, the service is not free, it still costs 50 euros. But the price is comparable to its competitors: $ 100 Apple store and $ 25 Android Store. I am sure that “membership dues” are not necessary in order to capitalize on this. Their main goal is to filter out the "random, trash audience" and inactive developers / publishers (did not update the "membership" - you are excluded from the club).
There are no country restrictions, as the “bourgeois” usually does: first a priority list, and then everyone else. Everything is immediately accessible to everyone. You can see for yourself.At the first step, the registration wizard will ask you to choose the country and type of account (company or individual developer).
The main goal is to lure / lure developers to Nokia platforms. It is no secret that it was thanks to this model that the iPhone broke into the market. You can argue with me, saying that initially there was no store and third-party applications. But the fact that Jobs at each presentation emphasizes that there is a large firebox of applications for the iPhone (now the iPad), in addition to the amount of documentation (very high-quality) and materials (examples, videos, presentations) on the development of these platforms themselves for myself. This is beneficial, and who still doubts, then please watch this video from the second Steve.
And this step from Nokia proves once again that they need us no less than we need them, and maybe even more!
3. The first official release of Nokia Qt SDK 1.0
This event has already been discussed in passing on the hub Unfortunately, the author ( Paul ) does not quite understand the essence of the issue. Therefore, the title bar says “Qt SDK 1.0”, but implies the Nokia Qt SDK.
Let's understand the difference between the Nokia Qt SDK and the Qt SDK.
Qt SDK :
The Qt SDK includes the tools you need to build cross-platform applications with Qt in a single install.
I explain that the Qt SDK is a set of tools for writing cross-platform (writing, we are not talking about cross-compiling for all platforms) applications using Qt. And this set of tools is available as a single installation file: downloaded, installed with one click and everything is ready for writing, debugging and assembly. The structure includes Qt libraries (already compiled), source codes (if you need to rebuild the libraries), Qt Creator and auxiliary utilities (Qt Linguist, makeqpf, packager, QLARL and a lot of different stuff).
Nokia Qt SDK :
The Nokia Qt SDK leverages the power of the Qt framework and tools, combining them with tools designed specifically to streamline the creation of apps for Symbian, Maemo, and forthcoming MeeGo devices from Nokia.
This is also a set of utilities in one bottle, but for developing applications for mobile platforms from Nokia (this is what the word “Nokia” says in the name, and not that Nokia bought TrollTech). It contains compiled libraries for Symbian and Maemo, the corresponding SDK and toolchain for these platforms. This is just about cross-compilation (you are building a project on a desktop for Windows (for example) on an i386 architecture, and it will work on Symbian / Linux on an ARM architecture, do you feel the difference?). In addition, the structure includes Qt Simulator, Qt Creator, Qt Mobility, Nokia Smart Installer and other tools. I already wrote in more detail .
The official comparison chart is right here at the bottom.
So what am I talking about? A! Well, he came out, he. So how is it different from the beta that was already availablebefore?
And here is a little list:
- the SDK includes the first official release of Nokia Smart Installer , which I wrote about earlier and now it is part of the Nokia Qt SDK (and not a separate product, as it was before);
- Qt Creator 2.0 - release, which improves integration with SDK for mobile devices;
- Qt Simulator 1.0 - also a release;
- Nokia Remotecompiler - experimental support, this component deserves a separate discussion. In short: a cloud service for assembling Symbian applications on any platform (click the button, the sources are sent to the server, collected there with the necessary tools and executed, and you see the result in the emulator via a special remote access protocol).
You can read more in the blog and in the laboratory .
4. MeeGo is already leaps and bounds and the first device with MeeGo is the N900.
I understand that this item is a bit provocative. Nevertheless, MeeGo for ARM is already there, and it is only for the N900 .
The development of the platform is simply pleasing at its pace. According to this information , on June 30 we will be able to see the first MeeGo GUI for phones. And I'm pretty sure that the demonstration will be held on the basis of the N900. Thus, the N900 is simultaneously a mainstream device based on Maemo and a prototype of a new product line based on MeGo.
5. In the Ovi store, you can publish Qt - applications for Symbian and Maemo.
This is the final chord. Now there is everything you need to start experimenting, making money and growing.
You can realize any of your ideas and get a response from a multimillion-dollar audience. From this moment on, the Ovi Store is open for me. Before that, I treated him like a beta test. And I'm pretty sure that, given the previous points, there will soon be a large number of good Qt programs running on Symbian and Maemo and ready for MeeGo.
Conclusion
An attentive reader can look at the name of the topic and exclaim: “And where does all this come about here ?!” Very much so.
With all of the above, I tried to bring the reader to the conclusion that came to me two hours before the start of writing this article: “Now you can make good money by developing applications for the N900!” Why is that:
- the market is already saturated, but with commercial projects a vacuum, people would be happy to buy, but there is nothing;
- A "correctly" written application for the N900 on Qt can automatically be entered in the future as an application covering the market of MeeGo'sh phones and tablets (devices that have a touch screen), and without alterations or with minimal alterations to the interface;
- due to the use of the “right” development patterns or (as a special case) the use of Qt Quick technology to develop a user interface will allow you to orient the product to a very wide market with minimal costs: MeeGo Intel platform via Intel AppStore and communicators based on Maemo / MeeGo / Symbian on the market very, very much (and also make a desktop version for Mac OS / Window / Linux);
- minimum costs are required to try;
- Qt's development dynamics are very impressive, and the sooner you enter this market, the easier it will be to consolidate your position on it;
- on the basis of existing markets Apple AppStore and Android Market, you can conduct market research and get an assessment of the popularity of products, choose a product in demand and implement it (success from the experience of others);
- if you make a popular product and it will stay on the market in the lead or as a unique big enough time, you can do without the cost of promotion, viral advertising, word of mouth and Nokia itself will do everything for you;
- N900 is now the only representative of the future mobile branch of devices based on MeeGo.
Why is it for the N900, and not for Symbian? What is the difference? And the difference lies precisely in the fact that the N line will be the top one and, accordingly, will cover the most solvent audience. This is just a selfish question. Targeting products for Maemo / MeeGo phones, you are primarily focused on profit (in my opinion this is obvious). And the only representative of this future line today is the N900.
Given that official prices for the N900 in the USA have already fallen below $ 500, a successor in this line and an increase in popularity can be expected.
You can continue the list, but I think you caught the main idea: "writing an application for N900 is now profitable and you need to start it as soon as possible."
As evidence, I started developing a small and uncomplicated application. I leave the purpose and essence of the application a secret (at the same time I’ll check my instinct for market demand and my analytical abilities to study the market). I think in a month I can already release it in production. It is with this application that I intend to prove in practice all the arguments that I bring here.
Who is brave and bold can start my own project in parallel with me and it will be very interesting to compare the results. And who is prudent and skeptical, he can wait a month and a half (with a thought like: “wait and see”) and make sure that he just lost this time in anticipation, instead of already releasing his applications !!!
And so the experiment begins and I will try to put some parts of this experiment into small development examples for the N900 on Qt.
The first step in installing and configuring development tools can be considered already implemented .
Well that's it, I ran to write :-)
UPD: added the 4th item.