Why continue with Qt
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Yes, there are serious apps made using Qt and yes, there is hardly anyone who isn't frustrated on how things went on in the last few months and years. Maemo / MeeGo harmattan could have been what Nokia was looking for the smartphone market, Symbian could have been what Nokia was looking for the featureless phone market - both having a properous development community. I'll stop here as this would lead to another Elop discussion.
But as said - nobody can tell you what the future will bring. But this is how our industry works. Has anyone heard about iPhone or Android - or smartphones in general - five years ago?
Using Qt even for mobile projects currently allows me to reuse all the code I've ever written, to reuse all the experience I've gained using Qt to create desktop applications, to not bother with any native SDKs for Symbian, Android, iOS, Maemo or Meltemi (the "next billion" ware) and to easily port the applications to platforms Qt doesn't support yet. May I lose this advantages when Qt goes south somewhen? Probably. But I will lose this advantages immediately if I turn my back on Qt now.
As I said - nobody can or will answer the question you've raised. You better ask yourself why to not use Qt and if there are any better alternatives.
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Still, it was, IMHO, a dissapointing presentation. Lots of praise for the great N9 (lots of those handed out too, by the way!) and how great the new Symbian versions were, not no word on how those platforms are basically dead as there will not be a new Meego/Meamo device, and symbian will be replaced by Windows Phone. The N9 is not even for sale in many countries.
I had hoped for a bit more concrete information on where Qt is going and what its place in the Nokia strategy is going to be. Nice that "the next billion" will run on Qt, but will they also run apps? Is that market willing and able to pay for apps?
Good news is though, that Qt-project is launced. Qt is not bound by the direction Nokia takes it. That brings many opportunities, and also makes it easier to keep support for the desktop as strong as it deserves to be.
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"RIM added Qt to the BlackBerry Native SDK":http://developer.qt.nokia.com/forums/viewthread/4719.
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RIM has added c\c++ support. But the Qt port on Qnx is partial, I think. Nokia may not be interested, but there can be a similar effort like that for Android. The answer to my question can be given only by Nokia, but they are keeping silent. That is what frustrates me. They should have given more details on the ' Next Billion ' thing. If they intend to replace S40 with ' Next Billion ', then what about the current S40 J2me developers ? I think Nokia should clearly address these uncertainties that arise in the minds of developers.
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If there is one thing you should have learned is: do not give much about what is beeing said.
Nokia announced Maemo will be the future, than MeeGo, then Windows Phone 7. Symbian should be the future for featureless phones, but it was dropped from one day to another. The abandoned MeeGo/Harmattan formerly known as Maemo was picked up again and now should be the future. If Windows Phone 7 devices do not sell - what then? I hereby prophesy that Nokia will join the Tizen alliance and Maemo 7 will be released as Tizen/Harmattan.
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[quote author="Gerolf" date="1319545326"]Qt is not only mobile phones. It'S desktop, embedded and phones.
There are even apps that run on android officially.[/quote]I know that. I was thinking about the mobile space. But I believe that Nokia should have communicated to developers in a much better way regarding next billion and Qt's future on phones. May be Nokia world provide some information regarding this. Showing Symbian and N9 as the targets for Qt is pointless since Nokia don't support them.
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As for mobiles, it is very likely that Qt will be present in Tizen, endorsed by Intel & Samsung. That could be a big player in a year or two. Nokia's Harmattan/Symbian devices will be around for a few years more. The excellent Qt Android port seems to work very nicely, adding a whopping amount of devices in the Qt's target sector. And I am hopeful that there will be a Qt port for the Windows Phone, although this remains to be seen. And there even has been talk about a S40 Qt port. In other words, no reason to give up Qt in the mobile world.
As for the desktop world - well, you can build software quickly for both Linux and Windows and even that quirky Mac with Qt which in my opinion is the best framework for native crossplatform development there is. By a large margin.
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[quote author="matti-" date="1319703967"]And I am hopeful that there will be a Qt port for the Windows Phone, although this remains to be seen. And there even has been talk about a S40 Qt port. In other words, no reason to give up Qt in the mobile world.
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Obviously the WinPho SDK will be available at some point. Even though Nokia made an agreement with MS that they wouldn't be actively porting Qt to WinPho7, who is stopping (non-Nokian) individuals from making a lighthouse plugin?If people care, it will come. That's how FOSS generally works.
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The Android port looks promising. There is a chance that Qt will be supported on RIM BBX. Anybody have more info from the Nokia world event ? The ' next billion ' still seems to be the old S40 based devices. That is what I understand from the newly announced ' ASHA ' series of devices. There doesn't seem to be any new announcement related to Qt for next billion on either Nokia world or Qt developer days. I read somewhere that Nokia is still planning to continue with Maemo. Anybody have more information regarding S40, Qt or maemo ?
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[quote author="Franzk" date="1319704790"]Even though Nokia made an agreement with MS that they wouldn't be actively porting Qt to WinPho7, who is stopping (non-Nokian) individuals from making a lighthouse plugin?[/quote]
Well, M$ could do what Apple are doing to prevent people from using free tools and block any such software from their stores / signing process meaning although in theory you could write & run a Qt program on said platform, you would not be able to distribute it. I hope they won't go that way though. I have already given up on Apple devices.
The S40 / "Next Billion" platform is rumored to be a Linux flavor called Meltemi. Some references:
http://androsym.com/symbian/nokia-to-replace-s40-with-linux-based-meltemi-to-connect-the-next-billion/
http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/06/21/qt’s-future-for-nokia-bringing-apps-to-the-next-billion/- Matti
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I had seen the Meltemi rumor. But still no concrete information from Nokia. Neither from Qt developer days nor from Nokia world. As I said earlier, the phones introduced for next billion at the Nokia world are S40 6th edition devices. True that unless there is official support from the OS developers (like MS), distribution on respective stores may not be possible. Hope Google won't block necessitas apps once it matures and lot of people start using it. We really needs a Qt mobile platform that Nokia supports. Currently ' Next billion ' = uncertainty.
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Yes, it was. But that does not mean that it will be able to run apps (what would be the difference with the smartphone market then?), let alone if such a market segment would even be an interesting market for app developers. At the devdays keynote, there was mainly a lot of cheer for the N9 and the new symbians, but no mention of how EOL these platforms are with the current* Nokia roadmap. I'm certainly going to play around with my shiney new N9 and try to build some stuff for it, but I would not invest in it from a business point of view. Then again, I am not a business man, so I might just be overlooking the opportunities.
[*] In so far as that is publicly available, of course.
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[quote author="Lukas Geyer" date="1319715834"]Although no operating system was mentioned it was clearliy mentioned that the next billion will be Qt, wasn't it? And as a Qt developer I usually don't care about the underlying operating system.[/quote]
If I remember right, Qt as core of next billion was announced at Nokia Connection event in June 2011. After that simply no news about it, isn't it ? On the forum nokia home page, under the Qt sdk, two targets are listed, N9 - The beautiful phone which Nokia refuses to sell, Symbian - Killed by Nokia early this year. No next billion. If they have a solid plan for Qt and next billion, is it so difficult to share it with developers ?