Nokia has announced plans to increase its engagement with learning institutions in a bid to equip instructors from various Institutions in Kenya with technical knowledge regarding mobile application development techniques.
These engagements will involve trainers, established and upcoming mobile application developers who will then be expected to rollout the same training at their own institutions and colleges enabling knowledge sharing to a wide audience.
“We have just concluded our very first Nokia bootcamp in Kenya, where we trained over 30 participants on Java and QT app development techniques. With the training, mobile application developers have the powers to be more creative, by using state of the art devices, platforms, services and cross platform technologies,” said Teemu Kiijarvi, Forum Nokia trainer, adding that Nokia is betting big on Qt and Web as cross platform enablers.
Using Qt, one can write web-enabled applications once and deploy them across desktop, mobile and embedded operating systems without rewriting the source code.
Ovi Store, the distribution channel for Nokia device users is also gaining momentum. Since July 1, 2010, Nokia handset users downloaded around one million applications in East and Southern Africa and a 51 percent increase in revenue for African developers, which is a great leap for the region. Notably Kenya accounted for 60 percent of these downloads once again indicating steady growth in the number people downloading content on the Ovi Store.
“Nokia understands that mobile phone penetration in Africa surpasses the availability of the PC and therefore mobile devices and relevant software will play a crucial role in entrenching ICT development in sub-Saharan Africa. We want to see more University and college students taking advantage of our latest devices and platforms to design and develop mobile applications.” said Agatha Gikunda, Head of Solutions, Nokia, East & Southern Africa.
About Forum Nokia
Nokia’s global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical business development to support developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at forum nokia.
