Smartphone Developer Experience: Nokia Case Study

Abstract

Nokia is facing an increasingly tough battle for the hearts and minds of application and content developers, with a developer offering that is too complex compared with Apple' s iPhone and Google' s Android platform. While Nokia' s efforts to improve this situation are to be applauded, the company still needs to balance its device-side developer proposition with its Ovi web platform developments if it' s to fight back against its rivals - Google in particular.

Table of Contents

• Executive summary
• In a nutshell
• Ovum view
• Recommendations for operators and third-party developers
• Company analysis
• Fragmentation taking a new form in Nokia' s world
• Nokia' s developer experience needs a rethink
• Cross-platform environments must take precedence
• Java ME may become a casualty of rationalisation
• Nokia' s efforts may be overtaken by external forces
• Devices are becoming gateways to the cloud
• Device leadership requires web developer assets
• Nokia should play harder or stick to core competencies

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Nokia developers face a complex choice of programming environments
• Figure 2: User experience and developer experience are closely related
• Figure 3: Reusable skills with maximum reach should be emphasised in future