Get rewarded by Microsoft for building Windows Phone, Android or Asha apps

Microsoft (the bit that was formerly Nokia) have a program called DVLUP that rewards developers for releasing and updating apps to meet certain challenges.

As of today it's now available to developers in 178 countries.

If you're a developer and haven't already, you should register now and start getting rewards for the apps you're building. Especially if those apps are for the new Nokia X2 devices.

Awkward questions about Nokia-X

Some questions that can't or won't be answered about Nokia-X. Some I've asked, some I've just been thinking about.

When and where will they be available?
It'll impact how much interest it deserves right now. And by whom.

What, if any, is the transition for users from Asha to Nokia-X? 
Aren't they supposed to both be feeder systems to the Lumia range?
If so are both really needed?

What were the reasons for not putting Asha on higher spec devices or getting Windows Phone onto even lower spec devices?
I'm sure there are good reasons but what are they?


One of the arguments for going to Android is the abilitity to get more apps and they're already claiming 100,000 apps in store. However, Windows Phone already has almost 250,000 apps available. No Android app stores other than the Google Play one have considedrably more than low 6 figures. How will Nokia get all those with apps in the Play Store to port over? Even if it is a quick process it still has a cost and until there are lots of devices in use that cost will be hard to justify.

If getting more device sales will be easier by having Android apps on them, what does this mean for trying to get Android developers to port their apps to Windows Phone?

Have any operators signed up to stock devices yet?
Having a new platform is all well and good but if no-one is going to be able to buy devices then what's the point? I suspect that they'll be waiting to see if it has life beyond


Have Microsoft made any commitments to it's future once the purchase goes through?
For many there's a suspicion that Microsoft will just kill it straight away because it's Android. The are rumours about this both ways so it would be good to clear up the uncertainty. Both Microsoft and Nokia have a history with killing new platforms (Kin & N9) so stopping this even though much time, money and effort has been spent on it wouldn't be shocking to some of us.

...


Nokia-X could be a great collection of devices that are both popular and successful. Let's wait and see.

Nokia-X and Android code that "just works"

Desperately trying to not sound like a Nokia apologist but here's a little thing I thought worth trying to clear up.

I've seen a number of people claim that it is rubbish that Nokia are claiming that existing Android code will just work unaltered on the new Nokia-X devices.

Here's the thing though. They're not claiming that but messages like the one above are obviously causing some confusion.

Here's what they have said (I was in the audience at the keynote-trust me)

1. If your existing code uses maps, notifications or in-app-purchase then you'll need to make some changes.
2. You can create a single APK package that can be submitted to both the Play store and the Nokia store. (This is how they claim a single user base.)

If you think you might need to make changes or want to check you can use their analyser to check compatibility.

But, you may argue, what if your existing app integrates directly with other Google apps or services?
Well, no, these won't port without change either. But then you'll have the same issues trying to run on any other version of Android that doesn't come with the Google Play store (e.g. Kindle, Nook, etc.) too.