Last week, I’ve been giving a talk at the first Austrian Android Developers Day (a2d2, organized by T-Mobile) about Android as a mobile operating system. It has been a very interesting experience – is there something that Nokia can possibly learn from this event?

Let’s start with the location: the event took place in Vienna. It was fully booked; nearly all attendants were from Austria. Most developer events that I know of try to gather an international audience and are therefore hosted in the larger cities. But the a2d2 clearly demonstrated that it’s perfectly feasible to host regional developer events. After all, the country size doesn’t say anything about the quality of developers: I've been told that when taking the number of inhabitants into account, most entries/finalists from the Android developer challenge came from Austria.

One of the most interesting aspects about the event was the mixed audience. About one third was actually developing for the platform, while another third didn’t really know a lot about Android beforehand! This is unique compared to most developer events, where attendants are experienced developers or managers who wish to extend their business. At the a2d2, students, small and big companies were all thrown together and enjoyed talking to each other. For example, several of our students (some from 2nd semester!) presented their projects at the tech sessions; on the other hand, there have been representatives from large companies like Red Bull or bwin. This resulted in a very relaxed atmosphere that lead to many new ideas.

The choice of date and time is the last fact I’d like to point out: the a2d2 started in the late afternoon and lasted until 10 pm. This made it a lot easier to attend after work, instead of having to take several days off to drive to some big developer event.

Developer Events

Obviously, huge events like the recent Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco are important as well. These serve the business target group and bring together the dedicated core of development companies, who can and want to spend the time and the resources required to travel there. The events demonstrate the dedication of Nokia to their business and show the value that lies in the ecosystem – which is bigger than on any other platform.

However, smaller companies, individuals and students are more or less left out. They need regional events that are easy to reach and cheap to attend. These events help to build the regional network that's needed to acquire new projects. And: this group is where the real innovation comes from. While they do not generate money for the platform or Nokia in the short term, it’ll pay off in the long run.

The interaction of Nokia with bloggers and with dedicated members of the community (through the FN Champions program) is excellent. Additionally, companies that are really interested in working on Nokia platforms are taken care of through the FN Launchpad / Pro programs.

Now, the goal should be to take care of the rest – developers who are not yet working on the platform, but might be interested. And those who are already doing something, but don’t have the resources to travel to big events or spend time on engaging in the online community. This is vital for creating a buzz around the platforms and for showing developers that they are being taken seriously. Just imagine how great it is for a student to be able to demonstrate his project at an event organized by a company like T-Mobile – or Nokia!