GLOBAL – Today sees the release of the Nokia Qt SDK, a single easy-to-use software development kit (SDK) for Symbian and Meego application development. Developers can now develop, test and deploy native applications for Nokia smartphones and mobile computers. The beta version of the SDK is available for download from today, ready for developers to kick off development for new devices including the just announced Nokia N8.
The Nokia Qt SDK has two core themes at its heart: developer productivity and distribution. The SDK comes with a complete suite of tools, including APIs designed to enable rapid creation of robust applications thus increasing developer productivity. Further, the SDK enables developers to build an application once, and recompile it for either a Symbian or MeeGo based device. What’s more, the supported platforms include future versions of Symbian and Meego, as well as the installed base of Symbian S60 (versions 3.1 to 5.0) and Maemo 5 devices. This means Nokia Qt SDK offers a huge range of distribution options for application developers.
Making up the Nokia Qt SDK are a range of components, each designed to make development easier and faster. The modular Qt class library includes GUI controls, WebKit integration, networking, database framework and more. C++ programmers can use Qt Creator, a cross-platform IDE, which includes a GUI layout and forms designer, project and build management tools, debugging functions and code navigation tools.
Sebastian Nystrom, vice president of Nokia Application and Service Frameworks, had this to say:
“With the Nokia Qt SDK we are putting the power to create beautiful and high-performance applications in the hands of the developer. This beta SDK is a significant step in evolving our developer offering into a unified one that lets developers target millions of devices from the same codebase. In the first phase of the beta, we are focusing on testing the cross platform capabilities of the SDK with support for a broad, but initial set of API’s. Over the coming months we will add many more APIs. The beta program is in place for developers to share their experiences with us as we evolve this SDK to meet and exceed their productivity and application creation needs. We are now ready to share our excitement with the developer community!”
Together with the new APIs for mobile development, the whole package is the ideal start point for anyone developing apps for Nokia devices. Right now the Nokia Qt SDK runs on Windows and Linux platforms, with Mac support expected in to arrive in the near future.
This release represents a huge leap forward for users. Having access to tools which enable faster, more efficient development of applications should see a leap in the already growing catalogue of apps and games on offer through Ovi Store. We’re pretty excited by it, let us know what you think in the comments below.
For further info, check out http://forum.nokia.com/Qt or qt.nokia.com. Check out the launch site for more on the Nokia N8.