GLOBAL – The latest version of the cross platform application and interface framework, Qt, was announced this week. Alongside new platform support comes new graphical capabilities and support for multi-touch and gestures. With the introduction of the Nokia N900, there’s never been a better time for developers to make the switch the Qt, which simplifies the process of deploying an application to multiple platforms. This latest release isn’t just about mobile platforms though, as developers will also now be able to deploy apps to Windows 7 and Apple Mac OS 10.6 alongside Maemo 6 and Symbian (Qt is also being ported to Maemo 5).
With all the heavy stuff out of the way, what does this mean for us as users? Even better, more powerful apps, is the short answer. These new developments make Qt a really powerful, and incredibly useful, framework for developing and deploying applications. And as it supports a number of platforms, the incentive is there for developers to make an application once before deploying it to millions of users.
The folks at Qt have set up a YouTube channel to show off their wares and some of the videos look very cool. We’ve included one below which shows some apps running on a variety of devices. Right now it’s showing apps off on mobile devices, but there’s no reason why those same apps couldn’t be ported to desktops as well.
This release is ushering in a new era for mobile app development and it looks like a pretty exciting one. What do you think?