Nokia "Suspends" Its Free Developer Program 136
jbernardo writes "Nokia has put in deep freeze its free developer program, the launchpad. Now, in the Developer Programs page, one can only see a pitch for a paid 'Nokia Premium Developer Program,' and below, in the Nokia Developer Pro and Developer Launchpad box, there is a text merely stating that Nokia are not currently accepting new applications for Nokia Developer Launchpad and Nokia Developer Pro programs. With most (if not all) Launchpad memberships already expired, seems like Nokia no longer is interested in the developer community, which once was one of the mainstays of its domination of the smartphone market. Of course, that domination was destroyed by Elop and its 'burning platforms' memo, together with the failed bet on Windows Phone 7, so maybe giving up on developers would also be expectable."
Qt/Trolletch (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess I'm glad they spun off Qt before going back and regressing past the paid-commercial-development trolltech days for Qt.
Admittedly Trolltech used to offer free GPL noncommercial Qt licenses, but that sort of licensing isn't even possible with Windows Phone. Still painful to see open source transition into the most closed model of all.
WP not dead yet (Score:3, Insightful)
Nokia never dominated the developer space (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bet has not failed yet (Score:5, Insightful)
The bet on WP8 is far from having failed...To count Microsoft out is foolish, they have a lot of money and a lot of strategic connections in the phone world
It is true WP8 has not failed, but then as yet it unproven technology, going against Android which has captured 75% of the market and Apple 14.9%. In fact all I am seeing is the same arguments from the same fans...and yes I do mean you, that I heard with WP7...and 7.5, and where are they now 2%. The sad part is the main reason for its failure is Microsoft not only doesn't have connections in the Phone world, it upset most of Nokia's.
Its true Microsoft has lots of money, but lets face it so do Google and Apple and they also have market share, an established product, and a devoted following.
Let's get real here (Score:5, Insightful)
which once was one of the mainstays of its domination of the smartphone market.
No, just no. It's domination of the smartphone market was due to the fact that it made pretty good hardware and OK software at a time when nobody else could even manage one of the 2. However as others stepped up in both categories, Nokia was slow to react and that is what put it in it's current position.
Re:Bet has not failed yet (Score:1, Insightful)
Don't forget, it wasn't very many years ago that Android was under 2% compared with the likes of Blackberry, and a bit further back Apple could only dream of having the market share Palm had.
The mobile space changes rapidly. Consumers are fickle. iOS is growing old, and people are becoming bored with it. Android might be popular (hey, the devices are cheap), but a lot of people with those devices aren't really enthralled with them. If there's anything the computing and especially the mobile space should have taught us by now, it's not to count someone out just because they're late to the party.
Re:Makes sense. (Score:5, Insightful)
For now, Nokia is downsizing and cost cutting big time. Their credit has been rated to junk [reuters.com] and the company is in the red [nokia.com]. They're trying to minimize all costs while the transition to WP is underway
Yeah, just like SGI minimized all costs while transitioning to Windows NT. Selling your soul to MS has worked amazingly well for companies in the past.