4 ms·

Nokia confirms Qt as app platform for "next billion"

44 points by guruz 15y ago

zitterbewegung 15y ago
So they are keeping Qt development for their low end phones? Shouldn't they have made this announcement a few months ago?
- joe_the_user 15y ago
  I think they said something like that then. But I don't think many people heard or believed them then. I'm not sure if it's any better now. Well, they also sold some of the licensing right to Qt to another company, so at least Qt's future seems reasonably secure.
  - Gravityloss 15y ago
    At least Qt was first used only for Meego but they made compiling to Symbian possible in 2010 or so and the developers switched over to Qt.
maguay 15y ago
I really wonder why Nokia didn't give the N9 a chance in the market before switching focus to Windows Phone 7. It seems that with good marketing and developer support, it could at least have had a chance. Now, seems like few people would buy an N9 over an iPhone, Android, or WP7 from another manufacturer...
- bad_user 15y ago
  Nokia N9 is still going to be released. Probably taking a wait and see approach.
- KeyBoardG 15y ago
  The N9 and Meego will still exist in a limited form. Symbian is whats getting replaced by WP7. They've been giving it a change, Meego development has just been extremely late and riddled with bugs earlier when the decision was made.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    > Symbian is whats getting replaced by WP7 That wouldn't work. Symbian runs on low-end hardware, something WP7 can't.
bh42222 15y ago
Hmm.... I wonder what the political situation is inside Nokia, are the Trolls fighting hard for position or is it coming to them?
aninteger 15y ago
Some of the comments on the page seem to hint at Qt being on S40, but the article never mentions that. S40 phones can currently only run J2ME apps. I doubt S40 would ever get QT. Even if new S40 phones got Qt you then have a market split with old S40 and new S40.. The 100 million devices are S60/Symbian based devices that are slowly being replaced by iPhone, Android, and WP7. I have an S60 phone. I had an S40 phone before. I bought them unlocked/unbranded from Nokia's flagship store in NYC. I did J2ME on the S40 and Symbian development in C++ on the S60. I was a hardcore Nokia fan. The platform is outdated though... and my next phone will most likely be a new Samsung Galaxy based Android phone.
ehutch79 15y ago
I'm really confused. next billion what? I swear i understand the words i read on the internet less and less these days.
- nlawalker 15y ago
  Usually in this kind of context, the phrase "next billion" refers to developing countries where leading-edge technology is not commonplace. It implies that Qt will be a major factor in getting the next billion people on board with mobile phones.
  - hollerith 15y ago
    the next billion on board with mobile phones that run apps from an app store, have a developer community, etc, you mean.
simonh 15y ago
My take is that Nokia bought Trolltech because they realised they needed to drastically upgrade their software chops. Unfortunately while Qt is great stuff, turning it from a GUI toolkit into a top-to-bottom platform is taking more time than Nokia can afford. Hence the MS deal which is just intended to buy them, time. Apple has proved that device manufacturers need to have solid software capabilities in-house in order to be able to compete. Licensing an OS is a ticket to the bottom of the value chain. If Nokia has really learned this lesson, then they should recognise that Qt is their only long-term hope of becoming a top-tier player again. Frankly, they're doing exactly what I would be doing in their situation (except I'd have preferred to go with Android and a Qt compatibility layer as a stopgap, but large tranches of MS cash might have turned my head towards WP7 as well).
forgotAgain 15y ago
Sorry Nokia but that's not good enough. You need to publish a road map giving specific products and release dates for me to give any further thought to Qt. This "confirmation" is lacking in details to the point of being disconcerting.
zokier 15y ago
What a fluff. No real content here. No new platforms for Qt announced, nothing. I find nothing that would reassure me that Qt "will live on in the future with Nokia". All I see is Symbian, which certainly will not "live on in the future", and MeeGo which seems to be in eternal limbo.

44 points by guruz 15y ago

So they are keeping Qt development for their low end phones? Shouldn't they have made this announcement a few months ago?

joe_the_user 15y ago
I think they said something like that then. But I don't think many people heard or believed them then. I'm not sure if it's any better now. Well, they also sold some of the licensing right to Qt to another company, so at least Qt's future seems reasonably secure.
- Gravityloss 15y ago
  At least Qt was first used only for Meego but they made compiling to Symbian possible in 2010 or so and the developers switched over to Qt.

maguay 15y ago

I really wonder why Nokia didn't give the N9 a chance in the market before switching focus to Windows Phone 7. It seems that with good marketing and developer support, it could at least have had a chance. Now, seems like few people would buy an N9 over an iPhone, Android, or WP7 from another manufacturer...

bad_user 15y ago
Nokia N9 is still going to be released. Probably taking a wait and see approach.
KeyBoardG 15y ago
The N9 and Meego will still exist in a limited form. Symbian is whats getting replaced by WP7. They've been giving it a change, Meego development has just been extremely late and riddled with bugs earlier when the decision was made.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > Symbian is whats getting replaced by WP7 That wouldn't work. Symbian runs on low-end hardware, something WP7 can't.

bh42222 15y ago

Hmm.... I wonder what the political situation is inside Nokia, are the Trolls fighting hard for position or is it coming to them?

aninteger 15y ago

Some of the comments on the page seem to hint at Qt being on S40, but the article never mentions that. S40 phones can currently only run J2ME apps. I doubt S40 would ever get QT. Even if new S40 phones got Qt you then have a market split with old S40 and new S40.. The 100 million devices are S60/Symbian based devices that are slowly being replaced by iPhone, Android, and WP7. I have an S60 phone. I had an S40 phone before. I bought them unlocked/unbranded from Nokia's flagship store in NYC. I did J2ME on the S40 and Symbian development in C++ on the S60. I was a hardcore Nokia fan. The platform is outdated though... and my next phone will most likely be a new Samsung Galaxy based Android phone.

ehutch79 15y ago

I'm really confused. next billion what? I swear i understand the words i read on the internet less and less these days.

nlawalker 15y ago
Usually in this kind of context, the phrase "next billion" refers to developing countries where leading-edge technology is not commonplace. It implies that Qt will be a major factor in getting the next billion people on board with mobile phones.
- hollerith 15y ago
  the next billion on board with mobile phones that run apps from an app store, have a developer community, etc, you mean.

simonh 15y ago

My take is that Nokia bought Trolltech because they realised they needed to drastically upgrade their software chops. Unfortunately while Qt is great stuff, turning it from a GUI toolkit into a top-to-bottom platform is taking more time than Nokia can afford. Hence the MS deal which is just intended to buy them, time. Apple has proved that device manufacturers need to have solid software capabilities in-house in order to be able to compete. Licensing an OS is a ticket to the bottom of the value chain. If Nokia has really learned this lesson, then they should recognise that Qt is their only long-term hope of becoming a top-tier player again. Frankly, they're doing exactly what I would be doing in their situation (except I'd have preferred to go with Android and a Qt compatibility layer as a stopgap, but large tranches of MS cash might have turned my head towards WP7 as well).

forgotAgain 15y ago

Sorry Nokia but that's not good enough. You need to publish a road map giving specific products and release dates for me to give any further thought to Qt. This "confirmation" is lacking in details to the point of being disconcerting.

zokier 15y ago

What a fluff. No real content here. No new platforms for Qt announced, nothing. I find nothing that would reassure me that Qt "will live on in the future with Nokia". All I see is Symbian, which certainly will not "live on in the future", and MeeGo which seems to be in eternal limbo.