Symbian Horizon promises simplified app publishing

The Symbian Foundation announced the pending launch of Symbian Horizon, a new application publishing program promising developers assistance in developing and distributing Symbian-based apps. According to the non-profit industry initiative, Symbian Horizon will seek to create a single point of management and distribution to reach the Symbian user community, offering access to a host of services including application certification, in-store presence, language translation services and marketing programs. The program will target individual developers and companies striving to reach a broader mobile consumer market--in addition, Symbian will partner with app retail portals like Nokia's Ovi Store and AT&T's MEdia Mall to source smartphone applications.

The Symbian Foundation is currently fine-tuning Symbian Horizon with a number of participating companies and developers, and plans to formally launch the initiative in October 2009. "We're looking to remove the barriers that exist for developers--it's incredibly cumbersome to submit multiple applications to multiple stores," said the Symbian Foundation's head of global alliances Larry Berkin in an interview with FierceMobileContent. "Symbian Horizon is intended to be an enabler to application storefronts. We want to provide them with better stuff in a more timely manner."

For more on Symbian Horizon:
- read this release

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