Symbian Horizon app store launched, dev program detailed
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 28th 2009 9:36AM
posted Oct 28th 2009 9:36AM
Mobile World Congress came and went all those months ago without an app store for Symbian freaks, but you know what? That's OK -- Rome wasn't built in a day, y'know. Besides, all that is changing now that the Symbian Foundation has announced that Horizon, the publishing program / mobile marketplace, is up and running as we speak. Currently the home of fifty award winning downloads (including Bubblewrap!) users can look forward to "thousands of applications in 2010." What are you waiting for? Hit that read link to get started -- but not before you peep the PR to see how you too can begin developing for the platform. It's after the break.
[Via TrustedReviews]
[Via TrustedReviews]
SYMBIAN LAUNCHES MOBILE PUBLISHING PROGRAM
SYMBIAN HORIZON LOWERS THE BARRIERS OF APPLICATION PUBLISHING AND DISCOVERY
London, UK, 27th October 2009 - The Symbian Foundation announced today the launch of Symbian Horizon, the publishing program for Symbian developers, at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 (SEE 2009). Developers can now sign up for the program to have their applications listed in the Symbian Horizon Directory, processed through Symbian Signed, and published to a growing list of application store partners. The goal of Symbian Horizon is to help developers bring their applications to the largest mobile market in the world in a cost effective way. This publishing program is now being scaled up to process thousands of applications in 2010.
Horizon demonstrates Symbian's commitment to improving the developer experience, including helping developers build applications, place them in a variety of global stores, and provide marketing support. The Symbian Foundation created Horizon in response to developer concerns that there were too many challenges and costs associated with developing and publishing a Symbian application to the global market of potential customers. In addition to reducing these costs, Symbian and its members seek to improve developers' access to global markets through translation and localization assistance.
Since the initial launch plans were announced in July 2009, Symbian has processed an initial group of 50 applications and is helping these developers sign and submit their products to mobile application stores worldwide. A total of five stores now support Symbian Horizon. Along with the initial stores announced, Ovi Store by Nokia, Samsung Applications Store and AT&T's MEdia Mall, two new stores are now participating: China Mobile's Mobile Market, and Sony Ericsson's PlayNow arena.
"We recognize that developers face many challenges in bringing their products to market on Symbian devices," said Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. "In particular, the diversity of application stores in our ecosystem increases the burden on developers by requiring multiple submission and review processes. But this diversity can also offer an advantage over competitors' closed systems, where applications sometimes receive arbitrary or commercially motivated rejections. Symbian Horizon retains this advantage while reducing the burden by becoming a conduit to multiple stores, helping developers reach the largest global mobile market in the world more efficiently."
There are three ways developers will be able to participate in the publishing program. Available today, all developers can have their Symbian Signed applications appear in the Symbian Horizon Directory free of charge. The goal of the directory is to provide a complete guide to every Symbian Signed application, as well as where they can be downloaded or purchased. The directory is live in beta, showcasing an initial group of applications and allowing developers to submit other applications that have already been signed.
Secondly, over the next few months the Symbian Signed process will be revised, providing developers with the option of automatically adding an application to the Symbian Horizon Directory. Developers will be able to register online and edit their application and developer profiles, providing both stores and consumers with complete information about their products.
Finally, the Symbian Horizon publisher program will begin to increase the number of applications processed through Symbian Signed and submitted to application store partners over the next few months. In addition to the first group of 50 applications, another 50 applications will be processed through the review and signing process and submitted to all participating stores at no cost to the developer. A comprehensive program designed to process thousands of applications will be launched in 2010.
In developing the Symbian Horizon program, a careful analysis of the costs of processing applications has been completed and it is clear that this program will require a significant investment. In the course of the next few months, Symbian will be hosting an open conversation (on http://ideas.symbian.org) to explore options for funding the program. This is a critical issue for the Symbian ecosystem to address and the solution will ultimately depend upon collaboration from many contributors, including existing Symbian members, application stores, and the developers themselves. The plan for this program will be developed collaboratively with the input from all of these constituents.
SYMBIAN HORIZON LOWERS THE BARRIERS OF APPLICATION PUBLISHING AND DISCOVERY
London, UK, 27th October 2009 - The Symbian Foundation announced today the launch of Symbian Horizon, the publishing program for Symbian developers, at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 (SEE 2009). Developers can now sign up for the program to have their applications listed in the Symbian Horizon Directory, processed through Symbian Signed, and published to a growing list of application store partners. The goal of Symbian Horizon is to help developers bring their applications to the largest mobile market in the world in a cost effective way. This publishing program is now being scaled up to process thousands of applications in 2010.
Horizon demonstrates Symbian's commitment to improving the developer experience, including helping developers build applications, place them in a variety of global stores, and provide marketing support. The Symbian Foundation created Horizon in response to developer concerns that there were too many challenges and costs associated with developing and publishing a Symbian application to the global market of potential customers. In addition to reducing these costs, Symbian and its members seek to improve developers' access to global markets through translation and localization assistance.
Since the initial launch plans were announced in July 2009, Symbian has processed an initial group of 50 applications and is helping these developers sign and submit their products to mobile application stores worldwide. A total of five stores now support Symbian Horizon. Along with the initial stores announced, Ovi Store by Nokia, Samsung Applications Store and AT&T's MEdia Mall, two new stores are now participating: China Mobile's Mobile Market, and Sony Ericsson's PlayNow arena.
"We recognize that developers face many challenges in bringing their products to market on Symbian devices," said Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. "In particular, the diversity of application stores in our ecosystem increases the burden on developers by requiring multiple submission and review processes. But this diversity can also offer an advantage over competitors' closed systems, where applications sometimes receive arbitrary or commercially motivated rejections. Symbian Horizon retains this advantage while reducing the burden by becoming a conduit to multiple stores, helping developers reach the largest global mobile market in the world more efficiently."
There are three ways developers will be able to participate in the publishing program. Available today, all developers can have their Symbian Signed applications appear in the Symbian Horizon Directory free of charge. The goal of the directory is to provide a complete guide to every Symbian Signed application, as well as where they can be downloaded or purchased. The directory is live in beta, showcasing an initial group of applications and allowing developers to submit other applications that have already been signed.
Secondly, over the next few months the Symbian Signed process will be revised, providing developers with the option of automatically adding an application to the Symbian Horizon Directory. Developers will be able to register online and edit their application and developer profiles, providing both stores and consumers with complete information about their products.
Finally, the Symbian Horizon publisher program will begin to increase the number of applications processed through Symbian Signed and submitted to application store partners over the next few months. In addition to the first group of 50 applications, another 50 applications will be processed through the review and signing process and submitted to all participating stores at no cost to the developer. A comprehensive program designed to process thousands of applications will be launched in 2010.
In developing the Symbian Horizon program, a careful analysis of the costs of processing applications has been completed and it is clear that this program will require a significant investment. In the course of the next few months, Symbian will be hosting an open conversation (on http://ideas.symbian.org) to explore options for funding the program. This is a critical issue for the Symbian ecosystem to address and the solution will ultimately depend upon collaboration from many contributors, including existing Symbian members, application stores, and the developers themselves. The plan for this program will be developed collaboratively with the input from all of these constituents.
I am glad Engadget recognizes that.... Time, patience, and talent are ingredients of success. Step by step they will be developing this into a strong point of the Symbian platform. I don't think Symbian is going to pass out.
a bit too little too late.... Droids are on the loose!
sweet art
Symbian OS will become like.... eh.... OpenTTD :-D Old skool aan awesome!
I was a huge Symbian fan for years and it's certainly functional but just looking at those screenshots of some of the applications it looks so dated. Hopefully Symbian ^2 and beyond will bring the OS to a more modern era appearance wise.
Wow. So nokia has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to what apple has set in place.
Nokia been making cell phones for 15 years. Apple over 2
amazing.
Symbian is Symbian. Nokia is Nokia. Symbian is not Nokia. Capiche?
I could have sworn that Nokia bought Symbian.
Oh,
I could have sworn that Nokia bought Symbian and immediately reformatted it as a non-profit organisation called Symbian Foundation. After that Nokia also sold the remaining parts (which didn't fit the Foundation plan) of Symbian workers to Accenture.
So Symbian is not Nokia. Nokia is the biggest player in Symbian Foundation but saying that Symbian is Nokia's is saying like GNU/Linux is Samsung's because Samsung is the biggest player in Linux Mobile Foundation.
Try 30 years.
@Eric: actually, most of us Symbian folk are still here, in Nokia. Some went to the Foundation it's true but it was only the Technical Consulting arm that was sold to Accenture. The rest of us are still doing what we do.
Are they still doing that assinine Symbian Signed nonsense? If so, there's no way I'm developing for Symbian. My resources would be much better spent on iPhone and Android development.
I thought iPhone and Android apps had to be signed, too. What's different about Symbian Signed?
How is that good/bad compared to Apple's App approval process? Atleast in symbian you don't need
to hack your phone for installing applications that are available out of the app store. You can sell your apps for differernt models without going through Nokia's Ovi store or Symbian's app store? Do you have that flexibility in Iphone(except jailbreaking)
Symbian Signed evilness:
a) the process can take over 6 months.
b) you can be rejected by every single mistake, and the rules are extend and complex.
c) you must pay over $100 for every signing process (freewares are for free) plus the price of the developer cert.
d) if you fail the certification then you must pass the process again from zero, and you must pay again.
e) if you want to upload a new version, then you must pass the process again.
f) And even if you pass the signing process, you are not automatically allowed to sell in Nokia/ovi Store, instead you must choose to sell it using another company, for example Handango (they take from 40%-60% of the commission x sale).
Most (freeware) application are distributed "unsigned as-is", the user must sign it before it can be used.
We Symbian users don't need an app store, we find our apps on Google.
Well, we try to, anyway. I've had trouble finding good apps for my phone. Everything either costs money, or it's buggy as hell.
@CtrlBurn: I think you'll have trouble finding good apps in Horizon, too. I didn't look at all 44 (ooh, ahh), but I did look at all 15 that would work on my N75. Most were foolish froo-froo like video ringtones and prettier SMS apps. Two were fairly mediocre-looking games, one was a toy to create an animated video clip with your voice (could be amusing, if it's decent quality).
The one that actually looks useful is "Fleatch Presence Service", which, if you get a call from someone in your contacts, will decline the call, check your calendar, and send them an SMS telling them when you'll be free. (Presumably it does this only if you've got a mobile number for them.)
It's not a "mobile marketplace", it's just a directory. You can't buy any of the apps on the site; you just get a link to the vendor's store (or to Ovi, if the app is available there).
Too bad the front page takes one minute to render on my Satio. But actually, that's the kind of attention to detail I have come to expect after two weeks of experience with this OS.
I admit, buying a Symbian handset was my mistake. I promise I will not do it again!
Symbian foundation has no clue about why they will eventually lose the battle.
Despite the closeness, Apple's app store can still nourish usefull applications without clear market value.
If they won't follow the practice demonstrated by Android market to eliminate the cost of pursuing early adopters, there will be no change to current Symbian ecosystem.
That "Long Tail Effect" can only be reproduced by loose constrol and share the burden among developers and early adopters (Software quality vs. Market value).
anyone actually read the original press release?
@Paul - At SEE09 which ended yesterday, there was def talk about major UI contributions and enhancements in the works. I think this will be a welcome change for all.
From the FAQ, Symbian Horizon is much more than a directory. The publisher program is what counts. Helping developers through the development process (including signing) and offering a distribution mechanism that goes beyond a single handset manufacturer/operator.
As developers begin to take advantage of this, we'll start to see more and more exciting apps come through.