Ovi Store has been opened for business. It is a great channel for web developers or designers to distribute their mobile content to tens of millions of Nokia S60 device users. Developers can use their existing web technologies skill sets (HTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX) to mobilize their content using WRT widget technologies.

Currently, the first batch of widgets available in Ovi Store are range from social media, news, sports as below:

- Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, Cricinfo Mobicast, Soccer, AP News..etc

If you have mobile websites, you can use widget as your website launchers. Mippin from UK has taken this approach and quickly distribute a list of widgets via Ovi Store.

- Mens Fitness,  Marie Clarie, Fodor's Travel Guides, Daily Star UK...etc

This could be a good starting point to distribute website content at Ovi Store and eventually migrate the mobile website to widgets to take full advantage of the widgets features, e.g. S60 Platform Services and Homescreen...

At Where 2.0 event at San Jose, Nokia announced the releaes of the Ovi Maps Player API to developers. With this, developers can embed the rich Ovi Maps features into their web sites. Some of the key features of the Ovi Maps are the 3D view, satellite and terrain views and customizable visuals. Developers can also mashed up the Ovi Maps with content from other services, for example latest breaking news from Associated Press. These are done using the familiar standard based technologies such as Javascript. Find out more details at www.forum.nokia.com/ovi

See the videos where Associated Press and Lonely Planet that about their experience with Ovi Maps.

As part of our effort to provide functionalities / features that work for you, we are inviting developers to work with us for the next few months by participating a invitation only beta program. Your experience and inputs during the beta will help us to build a better set of APIs. Do submit your interest via the beta programme registration link and we look forward to hearing from you. if you have any questions / feedback, feel free to post it at the Ovi for developer discussion forum

Last year I experimented how to write Facebook apps, I created two. One of them was created to show Forum Nokia news/feeds. How many of you know about it? If you are interested, you can add it into your Facebook profile. The home page of this app has a link to the source code. You are welcome to reuse it.

Forum Nokia News
App link: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=22623363472

Just a reminder, you can do the same with iGoogle. Here is my previous post on this topic .

- Wai Seto

It's possible... Not perfect yet.

(Disclaimer: I am only writing this to demonstrate the advantage of using standard web technologies to achieve cross (mobile) platforms programming. This is not to promote one or the other platform.)

What I have done

(You do need the SDK and the compilers, etc...)

Step 1) There is a new sample code (dated 2009.04.12) in IPhone Developer web site named "TransWeb" (registered users only). It pretty much gives me everything I need. The sample use a module called "UIWebView" (a webkit based UI control). It loads a HTML page into the view. The control also allows JavaScript to be run, so it is almost like a widget engine.

Step 2) Uncompress the sample code, and you will find an html file named webViewContent.html. I simply cut and pasted the my Google Translator code I had into this html file.

Step 3) Rebuild the sample code and there you have a S60 WTR widget turns iPhone app!

Some findings and limitations

1) I cannot store data, such as user name and password., via JavaScript, since there is no direct file access from UIWebView. Nokia S60 WRT allows you to save data in the preference list and (soon) in file system, so that is handy. A work around for now is (actually, my widget don't need any data to be store, but just for the sake of investigation) I can use the native UI to store username and password. In my JavaScript code, I place something like 'var = "_VAR_";' statement. At the time I load the HTML content, I just substitute the variable to what I need.

NSString *finalHtmlString = [htmlString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"_VAR_" withString:@"username"];

Therefore when the time of the JavaScript is loaded the right content is set in the variable. (if you know of a better way, let me know!)

2) I have found UIWebView zoom out quite a bit by default. I believe the UI control has a property to set autosize or fit to screen. I have not try the property myself. In stead, I put this tag in the HTML <meta name = "viewport" content = "width = device-width, height = device-height">in the <head></head> section. And the zooming works nicely for me.

3) Graphics... I am not able to load any local graphics. For example, <img src="something.jpg"> don't show anything. I am still looking into it. May be I have missed something

3) JavaScript and HTML are in a single file. Related to above, I cannot reference any local file yet. However, external JavaScript is okay; for example, the Google Translate API works perfectly.

Finally, some screen shorts

It would be really nice if there is some local storage... Then graphics can be loaded from the phones and all kinds of interesting can happen. Can someone tell me it is possible and I have just missed it? :-) I am still playing around with this, and hopefully I will have some updates here again soon. It is almost the same as my S60 version. :-)

- Wai Seto

During the Nokia Developer Summit, we have lots of activities around Web Runtime. You can listen to Day 1 Technical Stream on Mobilising the Internet, hands-on lab modules on Web Runtime, If you want to see the latest N97 homescreen widgets, WRT plug-in for Aptana Studio and Joomla plug-in, drop by the Experience Lounge...

Also, there is a N97 homescreen widgets 24 hours Hackathon at the summit. Our Top developers showcasing their skills in completing widget ideas submitted by consumers (http://2009.nseries.com/competition/about.aspx). The widgets will be demo at the day 2 of the Summit and the winning ones will be uploaded to Ovi Store for distribution.

As a Forum Nokia Web Technology Marketing Manager, I will be at the summit working on the above activities and love to 'connect' with you to hear your views / feedback on web runtime technologies.

cheers!
Ung-Ping

In case you couldn't make it...

http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/public/schedule/proceedings

- Wai Seto

HEROES creator to launch new project through Nokia's Ovi Store (Link to Symbian Freak Article)

Mr. Tim Kring and Dr. Tero Ojanpera

We have published a new section on Forum.Nokia.com home page about the business case Why you should mobilize your websites and also talk about the mobile web technologies options available to help you in mobilizing your web sites. Take a look and feel free to provide your thoughts.

If you do have a good mobile web or widgets, you can submit to the Internet Innovation Category of the Calling All Innovators competition. From the competition, you can win business opportunities with Nokia including device pre-load, premium placement @ Ovi Store, cash prizes, showcase at Nokia global events..etc.

For you, as web developers and web service providers, you can use the plug-in to create widgets that offers you the ability to connect with your consumers more regularly and in rich interactive ways that are simply not possible on the desktop. The Internet has been revolutioning our lives since its inception, now Nokia invites you to write the next chapter of that revolution.

And if that’s not enough, Forum Nokia also announced the launch of the next round of its Calling All Innovators competition. Details are available in the press release that was distributed yesterday. This global contest for developers to submit mobile applications for use on Nokia devices includes “Internet Innovation” as one of the key categories, challenging developers to create WRT widgets that enhance the use of mobile devices in real-world scenarios.   With these two announcements, there is no better time than right now for web developers to start using the new Nokia WRT plug-in to start creating widgets, both for the Calling All Innovators contest, and for global distribution to consumers via the Ovi Store.

Following a public beta trial in December 2008, we release of the commercial version of the free Nokia WRT Plug-In for Aptana Studio on Feb 16 2008, which helps developers create, edit, test and deploy WRT widgets for Nokia S60 devices, using either Aptana Studio or Aptana Studio Pro.

During the beta period at the end of last year, many developers tried the plug-in and provided valuable feedback to us about the features and functionality of this new tool.  Mobile application expert Marian Dholkawala recently wrote in a blog post: "The coolest thing about [the Nokia WRT Plug-In for Aptana Studio] is the ease with which it allows widgets to be created and tested. It not only cuts down the development time but also saves us the trouble of continuously packaging our files for testing within the S60 emulator and for debugging." 

Matthew Miller, author of the “Nokia Experts” blog, tried the new plug-in for himself, and concluded: “It is pretty cool to see how you can create these widgets in just a few steps and then have something you created appear on your device. I deployed the [RSS] widget to my Nokia E71 via Bluetooth and just used the default RSS setup to create my widget. There are even some basic settings in the widget, including when to check for updates.” Developers can also choose to use other Ajax libraries, as well; Aptana Studio makes these readily available. And for rapid testing during development, applications can be deployed to a mobile device via a Bluetooth connection.

We have received many other valuable inputs for the community and will continue to work in enhancing the plug-in(s). Hope this plug-in will help you in wigetizing your web content. Feel free to send your working widget to us at widgets@nokia.com. we are constantly looking out for good quality widgets.

First happy (lunar) new year!

Story: This morning I wanted to send some Chinese SMS msgs from my phone, because today was the Lunar New Year. However, I couldn't find a way to give me easy translated strings... I searched a bit on the Internet; there were some S60 WRTs already, but none seemed to let me cut and paste the results... I was suprised no one (at least I couldn't find) had created a Google Translate version for S60. So I had done the engineer's way, write it myself; here I go... I wrote the whole thing in less then 20 min. Believe me, it took more time to upload the widget to MOSH, create the preview pictures, and write this post to tell you about it.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. If there are updates, I will post the links in this post or my personal blog here.

Some tips:

1) If you interested in reading more about Google AJAX Lanaguage API, here is the link: http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlanguage/documentation/#Examples

2) If your favorite language(s), are not there you can change the code your self. Go into the widget index.html and change this section

    <select id="tlang">
      <option value="zh-TW">Chinese Trad</option>
      <option value="zh-CN">Chinese Simpl</option>
      <option value="en">English</option>
      <option value="fi">Finish</option>
      <option value="fr">French</option>
      <option value="de">German</option>
      <option value="it">Italian</option>
      <option value="ja">Japanese</option>
      <option value="ko">Korean</option>
      <option value="pt">Portuguese</option>
      <option value="es">Spanish</option>
    </select><br/>

 (there are other resources about widget development, for example here, so I am not going into that here.)

That is really, now here is the link in to download and install the widget:

Here is the first (0.1) version: GoogleTranslator0.1.wgz

Update 01:
I have put the index.html on my web, you can use any browser to use this web app (S40 and others):
http://camelot.net/stage/gtranslator/

Update 02, 2009.02.01:
Symbian Freak site has reported this widget, thanks guys! link

Update 03, 2009.02.25:
This widget has made top 10 freeware for Samsung over at AllAboutSymbian.com, thanks Steve! link

Update 04, 2009.04.06:
Since MOSH will be closing shortly, I have moved the widget file to this site. The link above is updated. Unforunately, I will not have the capability to track how many people have downloaded the widget... My last count of user download from MOSH is...

Update 05: 2009.04.18
If you are a developer and enjoy reading this, you might also be interested in my new article on Turn my S60 WRT into an iPhone app: http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/forum-nokia-web-talks/2009/04/19/turn-my-s60-wrt-widget-to-an-iphone-app

- Wai Seto

I have been doing desktop research for the past week on web browsing on mobile. Come across this recent report about China's mobile web user rise by 113% in 2008. 39.5% of Chinese Internet users  or More than 117 millions chinese users have gone online from their mobile. 

Neilsen Mobile has reported that in their News Release that Mobile Internet Extends the Reach of Leading Internet sites by 13%

There is another recent article on Wall Street Journal that talked about using cellphones to surf the Internet is booming in emerging market like Indonesia.

These are positive signs leading to the trend that web is becoming more integrated with mobile technology. The improvement in handsets technology as well as the robust/high speed mobile network with affordable bundled/flat rate data pricing has helped in the moving the trend. 

Browsers on Nokia S60 (3.1, 3.2, 5th edition) and Series 40 6th edition devices support full web browsing. From our consumer research, Smartphone 360 in UK, Nokia web browser is one of the popular applications used by consumers and its usage increased over the years 2005 - 2008.

Dont you agree that it is increasingly difficult to talk about Internet, without the conversation quickly turning to mobile phones?

Year 2008 has been a 'happening' year for Nokia Web Technologies.  Web Runtime handsets (e.g. N95 8GB, N78, 6220 classic, 5320 XpressMusic..etc) started shipping in consumer hands in mass quantity at the beginning of 2008. All the latest S60 3.2 onwards handsets are WRT compatible. Some of the latest S60 3.1 handsets (e.g. E66, E71..etc) are supporting WRT. We are putting up a filter on the forum.nokia.com device page for you to easily to find out which are the WRT compatible handset. Stay tuned for that...

For consumer, they can find the library of widgets here, http://widsets.mobi/library. From the library, you can find widgets related to news, weather, blogs, travel, tool and etc.. This is one of the steps for Nokia to educate consumers on widgets. Not only finding widgets, users can also share their favourite widgtets with their friends via sms.

In April, Nokia announced that the new version WRT widget (WRT 1.1) which can access to S60 phone's Platform Services like calendar, location, contacts..etc The first handset with this capability is Nokia 5800 which started shipping in Nov. This open up an existing opportunity for web developers to provide a better web experience to their customers. For example, when an user search for restaurant, he will get the list of restaurant according to his location without entering the location. The widget is able to provide a seamless experience by detecting his location and provide the list of restaurant near his location. Here is an example from the lastminute.com fonefood widget

In regards to WRT tool, we have released the public beta version of WRT plug-in for Aptana Studio. This is the first WRT plug-in release for an existing web IDE tool. We want to allow the Aptana tool users to use the familiar Aptana studio environment to build their first widgets. We have been receiving lots of valuable feedback on this tool and the tool team is continuously working to make the WRT tools offer better. You are encouraged to provide feedback at the discussion board and also sign up the coming webinars to learn more about the WRT plug-in.

Not only on the S60 phones, the new Series 40 6th edition handsets (Nokia 6260 slide, 7510 Supernova) has the WebKit browser which allow users to browse full web. This gives web developers to have direct access to the huge market represented by these users. Many of them could be from emerging markets who have their first Internet experience via mobile. see this recent article from the Wall Street Journal, Poorer Nation go online on Cellphone.

Last but not least, the N97 with widgets on its home screen is the latest kids on the block. The personalised homescreen (with widgets) provides users an 'always open' window to social networking sites and Internet destinations. Stay tuned for more info about the home screen widget. Meanwhile, you can study the current Web Runtime Widgets materials at forum.nokia.com/widgets. The widgets on N97 homescreen is based on the same technology but with more advanced features...

Wish all of you have a happy holidays. See you all in 2009!