HansaWorld release E-series development environment

If you’ve ever thought of developing an app for the Nokia E-series smart phone handset range but have been put off by how complicated Symbian coding is, or don’t have the budget to develop a proof of concept, it might be worth checking out SmartApps – a new development environment just released by enterprise software company HansaWorld.

According to their Chief Exec Karl Bohin (pictured), “Smart phones have become powerful computers in their own right. We’ve matched that with a simple, accessible development environment that will enable people to create their own applications for E-series phones.”
Bohlin says SmartApps is an usually easy development tool: “Until now many applications have been too difficult or too expensive to write. Now just about anybody can use SmartApps to create fast database applications, from private individuals to people with new business ideas and professional programmers.”
The development tool is free to download and use – and developers will be paid for applications that find users. “We’ve created an absolutely transparent business model,” says Bohlin. “Anybody can download SmartApps to develop anything they want and publish it. End users pay HansaWorld to use the applications, and in turn we pay developers.”
“We’re hoping the tool will trigger an explosion of new application development for the E-series phones,” adds Bohlin. “There are tens of thousands of possible applications. We’re looking forward to seeing what people come up with.”
Bohlin anticipates two primary categories of use for SmartApps. “Firstly, people will want to create mobile versions of existing applications like timesheets, expenses claims and travel logs,” he says. “But we also expect to see many new applications that are only possible with a mobile device.”
“For example, imagine a technician who is called out to repair a piece of equipment at a customer site and finds the problem can’t be fixed immediately. He could photograph the problem with his phone, type in the serial number, add GPS co-ordinates for the location and upload the entire package for his colleagues.”
“This is just the beginning,” says Bohlin. “We can see exciting possibilities for real estate agents to send individualised portfolios to their clients’ mobiles, for the creation of online marketplaces and for news feeds, to cite just the business uses. There are also many private uses, for example for communities and interest groups to share information including pictures, comments, GPS data about anything from restaurants to birdwatching sites to crime hotspots.”