GLOBAL – To create the new Nokia Conversations app, we’ll be working with Digia, a well-established development company with a pedigree in Qt software and HTML 5. They’re going to be talking us – and you – through each stage of putting the app together. But who are they? We took five minutes with main man Kimmo Tokkari to find more about the company.
Nokia Conversations: So who are Digia?
Kimmo Tokkari: We are a Finnish software solutions and services company. Our history starts long before the Dot-com bubble, and like so many companies, we have grown to today’s company of 1,600 top experts during last fifteen+ years via a series of mergers, larger and smaller. Although based in Finland, our base is where our customers are and we work globally, especially within the mobile industry with majority of our business in EMEA, APAC and North America. We would love to see more business in the Caribbean, the Emerald Islands of Indian Ocean or places like Palawan, but we always seem to get distracted before we get there 😉
NC: What is Digia best known for?
KT: Globally, we’re best known as pioneers of Symbian-related business, and more recently, for our enthusiasm for open source mobile platforms such as MeeGo and cross-platform development technologies with Qt and HTML5, to which extent our name has probably popped out in the news lately.
Forgetting the tech side completely, Digia helps its customers become forerunners in their fields and that is only possible with partners that are capable questioning the obvious and coming up with inventive new solutions regardless of industry. Achieving that requires inspired experts, a desire for great user experience, commitment and – if all else fails – (or nevertheless), perseverance and sitting muscles.
NC: Which are the most important apps on your mobile device and why?
KT: Email and twitter to stay on top of things, and Ovi Maps to help me find my way around, during workdays and leisure time. Being an endurance sports fanatic also means that I can’t live without Sports Tracker and HeiaHeia mobile.
NC: What makes a great mobile app?
KT: A great app ties context and usage together, is always there when you need it and disappears immediately after it has served its purpose, and is somehow personally engaging.
NC: If you were to give one piece of advice to someone new to mobile app development, what would it be?
KT: Harness the technologies, master the context and differentiate.
NC: What’s your favourite Nokia mobile and why?
KT: I’ve always been a great fan of Nokia’s Communicator range. I especially loved my Nokia E90 that served me everywhere, all the time and without glitches for years more than it was supposed to. Call me old fashioned but I just need the keyboard – a proper one, not virtual and that’s why I use the Nokia E7 now.
Thanks, Kimmo for your time! I’m sure we’re in safe hands.