Application development for mobile phones is not so easy to get into in case you use native languages. For many applications – and especially for prototypes – “simpler” languages are preferable.

The most obvious choices would be Java ME or Flash Lite, but both have their own shortcomings and limitations, which don’t always justify their use. A better choice can be using Python for S60 (PyS60), which allows development in a very efficient way and at the same time offers greatly simplified access to many lower-level features of Symbian OS phones.

If you have not yet had the time to take a closer look at Python, the technical report from Bernhard Famler from the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, Austria might be very interesting for you. On a few pages, he gives an overview of what makes the programming language special, how it is integrated with S60 and how you can distribute your applications – e.g. by building stand-alone applications.

Of course, for a more detailed look, you should take a closer look at the highly recommended “Mobile Python: Rapid prototyping of applications on the mobile platform”-book by Jürgen Scheible and Ville Tuulos. It has just been released at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London – if you didn’t use this event to get your own (signed) copy or at least one of his famous book covers with your own portrait on it :-) , you should order it as soon as possible!

The technical report is freely available at symbianresources.com.