Nokia already has given 17,000 Lumias to Developers and few more to go into the hands of developers.

Remember Nokia said at Nokia World that they would give 25,000 Nokia Lumias to Developers. As of today they have handed over 17,000 devices and there are few more to go.

Recently Peggy Albright, editor at FierceDeveloper had a talk with Marco Argenti, senior vice president of developer experience and marketplace at Nokia. Peggy asked “How important is the developer community to the success of these devices and to Nokia’s business overall?”

In a reply to that question Mr. Argenti responded with the importance of Developer ecosystem to the success of Windows Phone and Nokia. He mentioned that when Nokia came into an agreement with Microsoft about Windows Phone on Nokia phones, there were 7,000 apps and now there are 80,000+ apps, a 300 times growth in the Marketplace. He also spoken about Nokia’s commitment to the Marketplace and mentioned about the apps Nokia Drive, Creative Studio etc. He also said that “The growth is also due to the fact that we’ve been working very closely with Microsoft in a lot of practical actions to engage with developers to support our strategy. We announced in Nokia World that we would seed more than 25,000 Lumia devices to developers, and as of today we’ve seeded about 17,000. Those are all part of the developer program and come with developer support.”

He also mentioned that they have 600 developer events from January this year to June worldwide.

Peggy asked “How would you characterize the universe of Windows Phone apps, and what types of apps are you striving for? “

He replied “The short answer is locally relevant apps. That is absolutely at the top of our interest. We are striving to have apps that are catering to specific users, specific brands, specific contexts that are really unique locally.” also “So local and unique are really what we’re trying to go for when we develop for the phone. “

Ok, Windows Phone Developers, take a cue from the above get your app ready and submit. Nokia may give you a free phone, if your app qualifies into their requirements. Check 30 To Launch site to get insipiration.

Source: FierceDeveloper