Nokia's first developer competition for Arabic content announced as Ovi Store opens for business

The competition began June 2nd on www.callingallinnovators.com/Bil3arabi and content can be uploaded to Ovi Store until October 30 2009, with winners being announced by December 7th 2009.

"We are also very proud to be introducing our developer competition focused on Arabic content. The Middle East and Arabic speakers around the world represent a large and dynamic group of consumers, and we are seeking native Arabic developers to help us offer them what they want. With the Ovi Store now available, Nokia is offering developers a unique opportunity to publish content with 70% revenue share and a world-wide distribution,"

said Chris Braam, Vice President, Sales, Nokia Middle East and Africa.

Calling All Innovators 'Bil3arabi': Nokia's developer competition for Arabic content

The Nokia Calling All Innovators 'Bil3arabi' developer competition for Arabic content is open to anyone with bold ideas and tremendous talent.

Whether it is someone new to mobile or an experienced coder, Nokia is offering new opportunities for local developers to grow their business. The competition challenges mobile and web application developers to submit entries for Arabic content in any category within Ovi Store (Applications and Widgets, Video, Personalization, Games, Audio, Flash & Active idle widgets) with a focus on Internet Innovation, Flash, and Mobile Games.

The entries can be submitted to Ovi Store and registered on www.callingallinnovators.com/Bil3arabi from June 2nd until October 30 2009, with winners being announced by December 7 2009.

All eligible entries received will be judged by the sponsor, industry experts, promotion entities and local consumers for 1 month from Ovi Store upload. Criteria for choosing the winner include quality and functionality; uniqueness and innovativeness; usability and creativity; and ability to fulfil users' needs in terms of relevancy and customer adoption.

'Spotlight' placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of Nokia's Ovi Store; and paid travel to demo the winning application at a Nokia specified event. The winning application will also be reviewed by Nokia for possible preload on future Nokia devices.

The remaining top ten submissions will be given the 'Judge's Choice Award,' which will give them a one-year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, enabling members to receive access to exclusive resources and support to accelerate mobile application development and elevate developer's business visibility in the mobile world.

Ovi Store by Nokia: Now open for business

The Nokia N97 will be the first Nseries device to feature a dedicated homescreen shortcut for the easy-to-use Ovi Store; a one-stop-shop for thousands of applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services. Ovi Store will contain paid and free content from a range of global and local content providers and developers, including Facebook, MySpace, Paramount Pictures, Shazam and Qik.

Ovi Store by Nokia is now available globally to an estimated 50 million Nokia device owners across more than 50 Nokia device models. Customers can visit store.ovi.com through their Nokia device browser to immediately begin downloading, personalizing and making their devices smarter and more fun.

"Ovi Store is open for business and we've stocked the shelves with both local and global content for a broad range of Nokia devices," said Lorenzo Leone, Head of Services and Software, Nokia Middle East and Africa. "Ovi Store makes shopping for content and applications easy and fun for feature phone and smartphone owners alike."