I was wondering if I could give my readers a Christmas present... As it turned out, I can. There's something, that some of you - serious mobile developers - may find attractive.

Some facts...

As you probably know, Nokia has launched a new membership program for developers this year - Forum Nokia Launchpad. It's open to all mobile developer companies. Members need only provide a valid Publisher ID, sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), and pay an annual membership fee of 800 euros per company. In return, they will receive the same access to technical resources, tools and SDKs, platform roadmaps and documentation as do members of the by-invitation-only Forum Nokia PRO program. In addition, Launchpad members also receive a free copy of Nokia's Carbide development tool, discounts on application signing, ASD certificates, Symbian books and access to Nokia's Discounted Device program, which lets members purchase Nokia devices for development and testing purposes at subsidized prices.

What's more, membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad also provides developers a unique opportunity to be screened by Forum Nokia's Business Development team. This team constantly seeks new, innovative developers and applications from among Launchpad's members. Forum Nokia Launchpad members can also take advantage of live events, at which they can share information, network with others in the mobile community, and demonstrate their applications and content.

And the gift is...

As a Forum Nokia Champion I was given a possibility to offer you a 25% discount on a Forum Nokia Launchpad membership (that way you save 200 Euro). If you think that the program is right for you, and the benefits will be useful in your work, and finally - you want to pay less, use the following promotional code - SAVE200 - when applying for membership (the last field in the Launchpad membership application is called 'Promotional code' and that is where you should enter the discount code). And there's more - Santa is so good that the expiration of the code is the end of February 2008! Santa also says: Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy New Year!

• improved Visual Mobile Designer (with version 2 of the VMD you can: drag and drop components like wait screens, login screens, file browsers, SMS composer, and splash screens onto a canvas; the VMD also makes GUI localization easier)
  
• mobile Game Builder (with a visual editor you can now develop mobile games designed for the MIDP 2.0 Game API)
  
• modular build system (you can add new platform types, deployment types, configurations providers, and more)
  
• a solution for the Device Fragmentation Issues (multiple device configurations)
  
• access to Web Services (simplifies writing applications that use Web Services API for devices with JSR-172)
  
• improved SVG Support
  
• integrated tools for JMUnit testing, MIDlet signing, certificate management, automatic code obfuscation, integrated over-the-air (OTA) emulation, push registry emulation, WMA emulation for SMS and CBS messages, new deployment methods, and Wireless Messaging and Multimedia APIs.
  

Click here to download NetBeans Mobility v6.0 (now you have got everything in one package). I'll try to write a small review about interesting features in near feature.

Other Java ME important tool - Sun Java Wireless Toolkit - has been upgraded to version 2.5.2. New version features improved support for multiuser environments and better support for Linux distributions.
Click here to download WTK 2.5.2.