NEW ORLEANS, United States – At CTIA Wireless – the show for “all things mobile” – Nokia has announced a host of new and extended app partnerships to bring leading, exclusive titles to the Lumia smartphone family.
These newly announced apps join more than 80,000 available through the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Marco Argenti, SVP, Nokia Developer said: “With Nokia Lumia smartphones now available in 48 markets, developers are rapidly recognizing the business opportunities and creating their best work for our consumers.”
The new app updates fall across a variety of categories and encompass a host of well-known brands:
SPORT
PGA TOUR – The PGA TOUR app will be available exclusively to Nokia Lumia owners from June 2012. Developed in partnership with Nokia, the app provides scores and player information and also interactive, augmented coverage of the action from the events on a hole-by-hole basis.
ESPN – The exclusive ESPN Sports Hub will receive a number of updates over current months, bringing greater personalisation options, such as panoramas dedicated to your favourite teams. A Windows Phone version of the ESPN Fantasy Football app will launch exclusively on Lumia this autumn.
GAMES
Electronic Arts (EA) – EA’s family of games on Windows Phone is to be increased with a bevy of new titles including FIFA, Madden, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods, Mirror’s Edge and Yahtzee.
Rovio – The company is building a dedicated development team to create titles for Nokia Lumia and the wider Windows Phone ecosystem, with the goal of publishing all future Rovio titles – including Angry Birds Space – on the platform as quickly as possible.
LIFESTYLE
Groupon – Groupon is working on an extensive upgrade of its Windows Phone app, bringing a new augmented reality deal-finder function. It will be exclusive to Lumia owners for six months following its launch in Summer 2012.
TripDots – This is a an app that helps motorists optimise their fuel efficiency, awarding achievements as well as cost-savings in a wider social game while maintaining people’s privacy.
PayPal – Nokia and PayPal are working together to create a Windows Phone app to allow secure, fast and easy payments through PayPal wherever you may be.
ENTERTAINMENT
AOL Entertainment Hub – Exclusive to Nokia Lumia owners for six months from launch, this AOL app brings the cream of AOL’s content to Nokia Lumia owners. That includes the ability to play any of its 55,000 SHOUTcast radio stations, streaming albums with Listening Party. movie trailers and more.
NEWS
TIME – the world’s largest weekly circulation magazine comes to Windows Phone. The app will deliver content from Time.com to mobile making full use of the UI’s possibilities, such as alerts for breaking news, the ability to share news items with your contacts in the People Hub and Live Tiles.
NewsWeek – NewsWeek is creating a Windows Phone version of The Daily Beast, its digital content partner. Designed for consuming the latest news while you’re on the move, the app allows you to access the latest stories in seconds. It also includes access to The Cheat Sheet – a one-stop shop for leading stories across the globe.
PRODUCTIVITY
Box app for Windows Phone – Box provides simple, secure sharing from anywhere in nine languages. The app will allow Windows Phone owners across the globe the ability to browse, search and share files right from their mobile phone.
Industry analyst firm IDC said that developers are moving away from simply porting existing apps to creating new offerings that take advantage of the unique features of the Windows Phone user interface. Crawford Del Prete, EVP, Chief Research Officer, IDC said that:
“With new and exclusive apps launching on a regular basis, and Nokia Lumia rapidly expanding into new markets, Nokia and Microsoft are demonstrating meaningful differentiation for consumers, developers, operators and retailers.”
Which are you looking forward to the most?