Nokia today announced two technologies that will enable developers to target hundreds of millions of existing Nokia devices with Qt-based applications. The technologies, both available now, are the Qt port to Maemo 5 , and the Nokia smart installer for Symbian devices Beta.
The Qt port to Maemo 5 is an exciting step forward in that it allows developers to target Maemo 5-based devices, such as the N900, with Qt-based applications. In the coming weeks a new over-the-air update will be made available for download that will include the Qt libraries, meaning that Qt applications will be able to run smoothly.
Of even greater scale in terms of target-able devices is the Nokia smart installer Beta for Symbian. The smart installer enables end users to seamlessly install Qt applications onto millions of existing Symbian devices including the N97, 5800, E72, and many more. By automatically detecting whether the device has the required Qt libraries during the application download (and then downloading and installing the libraries if they are not present), millions of existing Symbian handsets can suddenly be targeted with Qt applications.
“These new Symbian and Maemo technologies that we’ve released are a critical step in delivering our vision of cross-platform development on Nokia platforms,” said Daniel Kihlberg, director, Qt sales marketing and services, Nokia “Being able to target both Symbian and Maemo from the same codebase will open a market of over one hundred million devices to Qt developers.”
