Nokia has unveiled two new developer programs at this year's BUILD event. Microsoft's developer focused event saw the Finnish manufacturer give away a Lumia 920 Windows Phone to each attending developer to match Microsoft's free 100GB SkyDrive upgrade. So what are these two developer programs all about?
The Nokia Ad Exchange (NAX) and Premium Developer Program (NPDP) are two initiatives that will aid developers on Windows Phone. The former is a brand new and free opportunity to monetise apps with in-app advertising using Nokia's partnership with inneractive. According to the blog article on Nokia conversations, which will open up 120 advertising networks with via a single SDK.
Developers will have a degree of control by choosing to allow only relevant adverts are displayed in the app to ensure maximum revenue potential is reached. This is all taken care of automatically by filling out app information (eg.: children's game will not want an 18+ mobile game being beamed on-screen).
Tools are on-hand for developers to effectively track advertisement campaigns. A management dashboard is available that shows detailed reports of impressions, CTR (click-through-rate, as well as the total expenditure for each campaign. Said campaigns support the use of banners, full-screen, and hyper-local adverts. The blog post also reveals plans to open up access to a campaign management tool, whcih will allow developers to use advertisement revenue to directly fund campaigns of their own.
The beauty of Nokia's new Ad Exchange program si that it can be used on platforms other than Windows Phone. These include Series 40, Symbian, iOS, Android and BlackBerry. Neat, eh?
Nokia Premium Developer Program
Nokia has put together a collection of Windows Phone related tools and services that are specifically designed to help developers create more immersive and higher quality apps for the platform - and Lumia smartphones in particular. Signing up costs a further $99 (this is not on top of the $99 Windows Phone Store developer fee per year - see below for more details) and is reported to open up access to the package that's valued at up to $1,500.
So what's included with the yearly membership?
- One year membership in Microsoft Windows Phone Dev Center
- One license to Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone
- 1 million API calls per calendar month with Buddy‘s cloud API offering
- Two Nokia tech support tickets
Essentially it's developers purchasing the Dev Center membership with Microsoft, but by going through Nokia developers can access an array of tools and services for free. The Telerik RadControls is a particularly interesting inclusion, and we've recommended the software in the past.
Both programs offer new opportunities for developers already pumping out content for Windows Phone, as well as those who are waiting for Windows Phone 8 to gain momentum before looking to build apps and games. It would be beneficial if Microsoft and Nokia banded together and offered the above package with every sign up on Microsoft's Dev Center, instead of having developers go through the manufacturer. But we'll not grumble.
Source: Nokia, Nokia Developers
