Open C Challenge

Nokia has announced its first Open C Challenge, a global contest for S60 mobile application development on Symbian OS smartphones. The scheme aims to encourage open source and freeware developers to use the Open C environment to create mobile applications for S60 smartphone users worldwide. The event is sponsored by the Forum Nokia global developer program in conjunction with Orange and the Symbian Developer Network. The Open C Challenge will enable developers to apply their desktop and open source development skills using Nokia's Open C POSIX environment, which is built on Symbian's PIPS technology (PIPS is POSIX on Symbian), to create and port mobile applications for next-generation devices based on the smartphone platform.

The challenge will provide contestants with web-based seminars, training sessions and peer-to-peer discussion boards to help their migration from desktop to mobile application development and in porting open-source applications to Symbian OS using the Open C SDK plug-in. The finalists will be invited to present their applications to a select panel of industry judges at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London on 16 and 17 October. The winners will be announced on 17 October.