Sunday, February 13, 2011

Nokia and Microsoft partnership a boon for developers

The web is ablaze with news of that Nokia will abandon its Symbian platform and move to making the hardware that will run Microsoft Windows Phone 7.

Many including this author have an opinion about whether that decision makes sense for Nokia, but there is one thing for certain. Its a boon for the mobile development community.

Windows Mobile 7 certainly has a distinctive look and feel and has the potential to be something that could turn today's three horse race into a field of four - and that is also good news for developers.


Look for developers like BigTinCan to create new applications and services on Windows Phone 7 (and its likely new versions) that will create possible new dimensions on User Interface design that could then be taken back and used in iOS, Android and BlackBerry.

For developers who had been working on Symbian its a wake up call to move up and get into the real smartphone development community and for the old school smartphone developers its an indication that we need to get serious about Windows again. Corporate customers remain committed to the Windows platform, and this announcement will give the IT teams some teeth in arguing about the choice of mobile platforms.