developers

Nokia has been doing an outstanding job rebuilding not only their own brand, but that of Microsoft's mobile division too. But is hardware enough? Not at all (as many have pointed out). We've previously reported on Nokia and Microsoft investing €18 million on an app development program in Finland, but we'll need much more to combat the skeptical outsider comments and the lack of developer support from the big names - Rovio being a perfect example with Angry Birds (though they have since confirmed it is coming).

Cue the software giant. Mary Jo Foley from ZDNet has revealed some interesting presentation slides that show how Microsoft plans to tackle the above problems. The slides all point at a $10 million campaign over three years to round up developers and companies that aren't supporting the platform yet.

Ensuring that the quality bar remains high with apps by driving the message that highlights built-in features of Windows Phone over bolt ons (comparing with Android). It would appear from the first slide that Google's OS would be targeted in campaigns. The second slide simply states that the company would plan to bridge the gaps in the top 25 apps on other platforms. Pandora being another good example.

The remaining two slides illustrate the need to promote top apps and exclusives consistently, while actually capitalising on the exclusivity. What's interesting to note is the plan for offers to be used to drive platform awareness with ESPN sweepstakes, Xbox Companion and Live giveaways, and Univision sweepstakes as examples. For gamers, "price games at parity with iPhone" will be music to the ears with some titles on Windows Phone costing more than on iOS.

Source: ZDNet

Telerik, the company behind the RadControls suite for Windows Phone Developers, has released an interesting update to their software. The introduced RadHubTile will enable developers to create live tiles within their application (just like the home screen) to further increase the good looks meter.

There are a number of hub tile classes available, which include: RadHubTile, RadMosaicHubTile, RadSlideHubTile, RadPictureRotatorHubTile and RadCustomHubTile. More information about each class is available in the Telerik blog article, do check out some of these supported tile effects in the below video demo. 

RadControls for Windows Phone is a suite for developers that will set you back by about $99 ($1,200 for the full bulk - .NET controls, analysis & data tools, etc.), although there is a free trial available. While it's pretty expensive for the odd garage developer, the results can be absolutely stunning (just look at Tasks - a free todo app by Telerik).

Source: Telerik Blog

The Windows Phone team is set to enable AppHub access for developers to 23 more countries, which were announced late last month by Joe Belfiore, in the next two weeks. Where will we be seeing this new support? Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Todd Brix states that after this batch of countries is rolled out, the total number of supported countries will be bumped to 63 - an impressive amount of targetable markets for platform developers. Do note, however, that there may be some issues with some of the newly added markets, as Brix explains (and Carbon found out):

"Keep in mind that some new markets— Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—are subject to additional certification requirements due to local laws or norms. Check Section 3.10 of our content policy for more details."

As a final note, it's warned that app submissions are taking up to seven days to certify due to volumes, and this delay may well increase. Something for developers to be aware of when submitting apps with a published date in mind.

Source: Windows Phone Developer Blog

Press Play, the game studio behind the Xbox LIVE games Tentacles (our review) and Max & the Magic Marker (our review), has released a beta version of their Unity porting toolkit (Fast Forward - FFWD) for Windows Phone developers who wish to port across a Unity game engine developed title to the mobile platform. 

"The framework has been used for creating the games Max and the Magic Marker and Tentacles for Windows Phone 7, and is currently being used by another project at Press Play."

Developers will be able to use this toolkit (released under the MS-PL license) to export assets in the Unity editor. Full 3D support is present for graphics, but physics are limited to the 2D Farseer Engine. What's great about the toolkit is that it enables developers to do most of the work in Unity 3D and then port it to XNA.

Head on over to GitHub to download FFWD and be sure to check out the wiki.

Source: GitHub, via: WPSauce; thanks David for the tip!

Microsoft has been busy updating the official Windows Phone website to include details surrounding new features and limitations that will be introduced with Windows Phone "Tango". LiveSide has rounded up all the restrictions that will be placed on handsets that sport 256MB RAM - the revised system requirement which will introduce low-end budget devices.

• Windows Phone Marketplace app restrictions – Some processor-intensive apps have memory requirements, and will not work on phones with 256 MB of RAM.
• Podcast Subscriptions and Video Podcasts – You won't be able to manage podcast subscriptions on your phone or watch video podcasts.
• Local Scout – You won't be able to use Bing Local Scout services.
• Fast app switching – Fast app switching (multitasking) will be disabled.
• SkyDrive automatic photo upload – SkyDrive photo automatic uploading will be disabled.
• HD video playback – Inability to play video compressed with some of the listed codecs.
• Background agents – To free up RAM for the foreground on 256MB devices, generic background agents (PeriodicTasks / ResourceIntensiveTasks) are disabled.

As well as the above limitations, there have been a number of improvements seen in previously leaked photos of "Tango" that include multiple file attachments in SMS, ability to record and send voice / video clips, and the recently revealed location services alert icon.

Microsoft has also published a new blog entry for developers, which goes into some detail surrounding the issue of optimising apps for the lower system specifications. From improving startup time and lowering memory usage to handling feature reductions. Mike Battista, who wrote the blog article, also recommends developers make use of the 256MB emulator in the SDK to test the app with identical runtime behaviour as a 256MB sporting device.

Source: Windows Phone Team Blog, via: LiveSide

With the upcoming "Tango" update to Windows Phone, OEMs will have the ability to make phones with just 256 MB of RAM, shaving off a few precious dollars from their bottom line. Of course in doing so, about 5% of the apps currently on the Marketplace (including ours) won't work unless the developer re-works aspects to make it more efficient on memory usage. Such phones include the Nokia Lumia 610 and possibly the ZTE Orbit. Those devices display a similar notification in their "About" section too:

Of course there are instances where developers may not want to adjust their app--either they don't want to compromise performance/esthetics or they use periodicTask or a ResourceIntensiveTask. In that case, developers can actually opt-out of making their app compatible and instead a message will appear alerting users that this app won't work on their phone.

Nokia has now published details on both how devs can enable this feature as well as what the user experience will be like. The latter part involves a message noting that the app cannot be installed and when tapped a pop-up window will notify them that they need a phone with more RAM.

Source: Nokia Developer; Thanks, anon, for the tip

Of all the cool things we've seen so far at Mobile World Congress this upcoming web tool for developers gets our high marks. As an extension of the Nokia banner creation tool we saw a few weeks ago, Nokia is taking the concept further for developers by allowing them to make full-length Lumia commercials but with a twist.

Instead of just showing a Nokia phone with the Windows Phone OS, it will feature your app. You simply enter the site, give it your URL for the Marketplace, add some music and screenshots, some key words that describe your app and the program will dynamically create an Amazing Everday-esque commercial for your app. You can then download or embed the video into Facebook or your website.

It's a brilliant tool that allows devs to concentrate less on marketing and more on app development. It's free to use and should make some exciting mini-commercials. While the Digital Marketing Toolkit is still in beta, Nokia is soliciting feedback from folks here at MWC and they are looking at a release in about 8 weeks.

Check the somewhat long video demo after the break (the shakiness goes away at 30 secs, sorry). It's a step by step process of how it works so you may want to grab a coffee. Well worth it if you get to the end product though, we swear...

Should you wish to get some extra exposure for your Windows Phone app, how does a chance with Nokia at this year's SXSW (South by Southwest) sound? If you're heading to the event, you could have the opportunity for Nokia to showcase your work inside the Nokia Lab, a free-standing structure that will be erected near the convention centre for SXSW Interactive.

How does one get the chance to take part, you ask? It's simple. You tell the handset maker about your work, if it's unique and downright awesome they'll showcase it along with other app demos that will be live at the Lab on March 12th. How to enter your app:

• Have an app that works on a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone device
• Send the following brief details via e-mail to nokiadeveloper@thelucidway.com:
  • Your name, company and contact information (include email and phone)
  • A link to your app in Windows Phone Marketplace, or link to the private
  • beta of your app in Windows Phone Marketplace
  • A brief description and any screenshots of your app
  • Why your app is amazing, cool, or unique

Chosen developers will be contacted prior to the event. Visitors to the Nokia Lab at SXSW will experience Nokia's latest Windows Phone handsets, including the Lumia 900, and will get hands-on experience with winning apps. The app demos in the Nokia Lab will run from 11am up until 8pm on March 12th, which provides some solid exposure for both the apps and the Windows Phone platform.

We've been covering the launch of Windows Phone in Indonesia via the Lumia 710 and 800 for a few weeks now. Officially being released over the weekend, the launch was proceeded by numerous events to spark interest and build momentum.

One of those events was a Nokia Developer Day day sponsored by Microsoft and it was attempting to break a record with at least 800 developers coding at once for new Windows Phone apps. Now, the Indonesian Record Museum (Museum Rekor Indonesia / MURI), which is similar to Guinness for world-record keeping, has officially certified the day as a record with more than 800 devs participating in the 24-hour event.

Entered as record number 5308 in the MURI archives, the award was accepted by Narenda Wicaksono, Development Operations Manager Nokia Indonesia and Microsoft's Risman Adnan, Developer Director of Microsoft Indonesia (image above).

Nokia Developer Day was held on February 4 through the 5th at Graha Mandala Siliwangi, Bandung and seems to have been a resounding success in both gaining attention and hopefully a trove new applications for the Indonesian Marketplace. One of those apps evidently is a Reuters Kompass TV video streaming program, making it one of the first on-demand news apps for Windows Phone and it should be available to all users in the next few months.

Source: Tekno Kompass 1, 2; Nokia Developer Day image via Aca S. (@superaca); Thanks, Hermawan S., for the tip!