If you do a Twitter search today with the words "Firefox Mobile", you will find many tweets reporting Firefox mobile available on Nokia N900. It is a very good news for many of us. 

http://twitter.com/#search?q=Firefox%20mobile

I am truelly happy that Mozilla has used N900 (Maemo) as one of the first mobile platforms to develop on. I think that said a lot about the ture nature of the Maemo Platform openness. I think we all know that we are in the middle of some heated mobile platform competitions. One of the key factors of being a winner is and will be about the choices of applications, and we all know developers are the key element of this new era.

When I've first noticed Firefox Mobile beta for the N900, I have had a quick second thought. As a developer advocate for Nokia, I have immediately thought about the MicroB browser we have on Maemo. Afterall, some engineers in Nokia have put a lot of hours to make the default browser works as great as it is, and the MicroB browser has received tons of good comments. Should I be promoting only our own? That's probably what most of the companies out there will do, if they allow competeing software to be installed in the first place. Hey, but Firefox has a great community, many developers on deskstop can benefit from having their work on mobile devices as well... So I've sent some email to Maemo team members to get some advices. After a few emails, it is clear that we are all on the same page. Firefox Mobile is a platform that everybody knows, and the platorm has a bright future. Good work Mozilla guys! We are just too happy to have such a well known browser on our Maemo platform!! And hopefully all  developers in the Firefox community take notices as well and try this exciting mobile plaform combination (Firefox Mobile + Maemo).

Hope you like it too...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/21/nokia-n900-and-the-case-of-the-best-unboxing-ever/ 

Noika will be there, and we have to see you there.

Here are the sessions Nokia will be hosting at the event. Come Join us. (I will be speaking in the 2nd half of the Dec 10th 10:45 session ) We also have presence at the show floor, Ung-Ping and I will be there too.

DEC 9, 2009 – Plenary Room

10h40
Mobile  Apps Roundtable
Moderated by Jeff Clavier, Founder & Managing Partner, SoftTech VC
Panelists:
Andrew Fisher, CEO, Shazam Entertainment
Christophe Francois, Vice President Mobile Multimedia,  Orange
Andrew Lacy, Co-Founder & COO, Tapulous
Shervin Pishevar, Founder & CEO, Social Gaming Network, SGN
Bjorn Wigforss, Head of Ovi Marcom, Nokia

http://www.leweb.net/program/event-agenda

WORKSHOPS ON DECEMBER 9th

11h00-12h30 NOKIA (Room#1)
Simpler, bigger, faster. How Nokia brings together millions of  mobile users and web developers!

WORKSHOPS ON DECEMBER 10th

10h45-12h15 NOKIA (Room #1)
Nokia N900, Maemo-powered: an open Mobile OS with full browsing experience for demanding 2.0 users
Nokia's latest on mobile widgets and mobile web development tools

14h30-16h00 NOKIA (Room#1)
Simpler, bigger, faster. How Nokia brings together millions of  mobile users and web developers!

http://www.leweb.net/program/workshops

Wai Seto
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/waiseto

Short entry for this one

We have some nice articles about using the Nokia mobile web templates in Forum Nokia Wiki:

http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Category:Mobile_Web_Templates

Last month, we ran a wiki article challenge. The winners of the chanllege will be annouanced shortly.

Wai Seto
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/waiseto

A Nokia WRT UI framework has been posted in Forum Nokia Wiki page. This will accelerate current WRT widget developers to create innovative applications. Up until now a version of WRTKit UI framework has been shipped with our WRT Plug-in tools for Aptana, Dreamweaver, and MS Visual Studio. Web developers have been asking for UI framework that is closer to what is used in the real world. jQuery is a popular JavaScript UI library/framework. With Guarana UI, developers have one more option to create their WRT widget applications.

http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Guarana_UI:_a_jQuery-Based_UI_Library_for_Nokia_WRT

This is the documentation of the Guarana UI - a jQuery-Based UI Library for Nokia WRT. Nokia WRT is a development and delivery platform that allows the creation of applications (widgets) based on standard web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX. 

Wai Seto
FNDC

Just read Akessandro's post of Flash Lite...

The Forum Nokia online Flash Lite Packager has been off-lined due to technical difficulty. There will be a version of the online packager coming online soon. The outage of the packager does not reflect any change to our current support. Nokia is committed to provide a unify development environment and distribution channel to our Flash Lite developers. Content formats (.nfl) (.sis) will continue to be supported on our Series 40 and S60 devices.

As for distributions, Ovi Store is the best place, over 180 countries visibility, to distribute Flash contents now, and it will remain to be the focus of our strategy.

While our packager tool is offline, you can check out some offline options.

Series 40 (NFL) link

S60 (SIS stub application) link
Go to: Flash Lite Developer's Library 1.5 > Deploying Flash Lite applications > Creating a stub application

Wai Seto
Forum Nokia & Developer Community

From Nokia has now release an APIBridge component for WRT developers. This component was once internal and only available to our selected partners (e.g. facebook, netflix, project). FN has now approval from internal teams to release to general developers.You can find the download here:http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/d697a64f-ddae-4937-8151-be157b542d26/ApiBridge.html

DescriptionApiBridge enables developers to extend the features of Web Runtime widgets by using various capabilities of Symbian OS. The capabilities available include:

• Uploading files.
• Capturing video, image, and audio.
• Reading files.
• Resizing images.
• Creating image thumbnail.
• Using the logging service.
• Using the location service.
• Using the media management Service

Supported platformsApiBridge can be used to access Symbian OS capabilities from WRT widgets on the following platforms:S60 5th Edition.S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2.S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1.Wiki doc is here with a list of features: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/APIBridge_Web_Runtime_API

 -Wai Seto

Oct is a busy month for industry events and so does Ovi. You find the Ovi evangelists at Nokia booth @ CTIA in San Diego (7-9 Oct), Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco (oct 20-22) and Symbian Exchange in London (Oct 27-28). At the Ovi APIs/SDK demo pod, we will show you the latest Ovi APIs/SDK offering and demostrate the Ovi apps from the Calling All Innovators, Apps on Maps winners, websites with Ovi Maps embedded (e.g. www.earthcomber.com, www.tunewiki.com/nokia and etc). If you want to see/touch the Ovi for developer offering, please come by Nokia booth and say hi.

We have been working closely with selected beta developers since Sept 3 announcement at Nokia World. Many of the beta participants provided us great inputs and suggestions on the APIs/SDK. This is a great collaboration between Nokia and developers to work together to improve Ovi developer offering. if you want to be part of the fun, join the beta program here. We are constantly look for innovative Ovi apps and websites so we can work with you to enhance/complete the apps/websites. For those innovative apps/websites, you may get a chance to work with us to demostrate your apps to the industry audience, developers at events or conferences.

Few of us will be going to Adobe MAX 09. There will be developer sessions also

Check out the Forum Nokia Learning & Events for Mobile Developer page for details
http://www.forum.nokia.com/Learning_and_Events/

You can also look at Forum Nokia Twitter account for latest news
http://twitter.com/forumnokia

I will be @ MAX also, come visit... Bring me some food at the booth...

Wai Seto
http://twitter.com/waiseto

I would like to share some of our developers’ websites with Ovi Maps embedded and their quotes. These developers have joined the Ovi for developer Beta Program and gained access to the Ovi Maps Player API which allows them to embed Ovi Maps within their websites.

    * www.earthcomber.com
          o Quote from James Brady, Founder and President of Earthcomber LLC: Not only is the environment is better, and Ovi maps produce amazing visual perspectivies, it’s ultimately control and flexibility that count. We can see immediately that Ovi supports openness and is built, frankly, for orchestrating technologies into the unique experience  you’re always aiming for

    * www.tunewiki.com/nokia
          o Quote from Amon Sarig, President, TuneWiki Inc: Ovi is so cool and powerful we decided to swap our existing maps solution to Ovi Maps. The Nokia team is second to none in their entrepreneurial spirit and the way they go out their way to help us

    * www.nstreet.it/map/esperiene
          o Quote from Stefeno Guerra. IT Manager, The BlogTV : The integration of Ovi Maps Player in Nstreet was easier than expected. Meaning the code is strong and has been developed and tested by a top quality team.

We continue to work with them to enhance the website experience with Ovi Maps. They have provided lots of good feedback to us to continue improving the Maps Player API. Take a look of the above websites and your comment/feedback is welcome.

For more details of the Ovi Maps Player API for web, check it out here, http://www.forum.nokia.com/Ovi/Ovi_Maps_Player_API.xhtml

Nokia is inviting developers to preview this new developer offering by joining its Ovi for developers Beta programme, and it will make the Ovi SDK Beta and Ovi APIs available to all developers who are approved to join the programme. Applications created with Ovi SDK Beta and Ovi APIs will be distributed through Ovi Store in early 2010, bringing the applications to the hands of millions of consumers around the world.

Developers that register for the programme will have access to the following:  

• Ovi SDK Beta - An easy-to-use, web-based tool which provides resources to create applications for the web, and Symbian and maemo platforms, with integrated Ovi features and a distinct user interface. The Ovi SDK contains the Ovi APIs and all-new Ovi User Interface (UI) libraries, which enable effortless creation of rich applications. The Ovi SDK Beta uses standard web technologies – such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript – that are familiar to the world’s developer community.

• Ovi APIs – Providing developers with a simple way to integrate features and functionality such as maps or navigation into their web applications. To start, Nokia has introduced the first two Ovi APIs:

• Ovi Maps Player API – Bringing maps to mobile and web applications effortlessly. The API is powered by NAVTEQ and features more than 180 country maps, location-based search, and detailed place information. Other features include vector-based maps that give a range of views, including: map, terrain and 3D modes for dynamic map mash-ups. The Ovi Maps Player API for the web was introduced earlier this year

• Ovi Navigation Player API - Allowing developers to bring Nokia’s industry-leading walk and drive navigation features to their applications, including: pedestrian navigation, turn-by-turn car navigation, and route planning. Developers can deliver applications that get consumers exactly where they want to go.

Request access to join the Ovi for developers Beta programme now.

Grand Prize winner in the Internet Innovation category of the 2009 Forum Nokia Calling All Innovators contest: the Tech Buzz Homescreen Widget

Link to Ovi store entry

I have it running on my N97. The developer has spent a log of time to make this widget attractive! There is a little ad box at the bottom, but it is not intrusive at all. A good example of try to bring some money in with your widget. 

I have come across this video on youtube. It is quite good timing because I have just recently switch to a job that is related to mobile web, Web Run-time, Flash, and etc. I will be talking about them more in this blog, and I really hope you will join in the discussions. This particular video is a positive re-enforcement to the mobile web/internet. Let me know what you think.  Toward the end, the "mobi" logo has just stayed there a tiny little bit too long... BTW, it still puzzles me why .mobi extension was chosen... (any one can tell me the reason(s)?)

Let me share a little secret of my own, when I first started as mobile browser engineer, the WAP time (yes almost 10 years ago, if anyone can find some WAP articles I wrote in 1999, I shall give you a small gift. Yeap they are out there in the Internet still), I realized WAP is actually 927 on your traditional phone keypad, two cool things 1) the 3 letters are all first character of the multi-tab. 2) The keys form the perfect triangle (okay this is pushing it a bit). Could it be the standard guys were so clever then to think of all these, or these are just coincidence? Was there a conspiracy? I don't know about you. When .mobi extension came out, I was a bit disappointed... The extension was very difficult to type on a multi-tab keypad. I was thinking... if you going to make a mobile web site extension, why not take a look at the keypad first? Would it nice to have something easily enter with a KEYPAD on a PHONE, for your MOBILE SITE?  I guess my comment is a few years late (well no one would cares about my comment then and now anyway); plus now, a lot of phones have QWERTY or virtual key board.... Anyway, there is the video I've wanted to shared. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. (hey don't forget to post your comments to the creator of the video too!)

-Wai Seto