Nokia X opens new market for Android app developers.

(Photo source:google) the new nokia x

The start of salesof the new Nokia X in the Kenyan market is expected to provide local Android developersadditional revenue opportunity by offering new marketsfor their apps. Kenya is among the first wave of African countries where the Nokia X will start sales.

Nokia is encouraging all local developers to embrace the new opportunities X by publishing their existing apps to the Nokia store.

The company has already tested more than100,000 Android apps and approximately 75 percent are directly compatible and ready to be published to the Nokia Store. For the 25 percent that require change, Nokia will be providing a plugin package for the Android SDK, including the services APIs and the Nokia X emulator.

According to Nokia’s Developer Relations lead in East Africa, Moses Sitati, the company is keen to providelocal developers with additional platforms to promote their apps thus Nokia X offers an additional channel to market and as a new revenue opportunity.

“Nokia’s market leadership and brand strength in the fast-growing smartphone and mobile app market provides the launchpad for developer’s success. With Nokia X, developerscan reach an untapped pool of savvy and apphungry smartphone users in Kenya and around the world,” continues Sitati.

Nokia X provides users access to the world of Android applications, with exclusive Nokia experiences and the most popular Microsoft services.Sitati noted that publishing existing Android apps for Nokia will not only enable the developers to access new market for their existing apps but also provide their existing apps with monetization mechanisms for emerging markets.

“If your app uses Google services for maps, push notifications or in-app payments, you will need to replace these APIs with Nokia-specific APIs, which have been built to work almost identically to those they replace. Nokia services have been designed to minimize porting effort for apps using corresponding Google services, and to allow developers develop and distribute a single APK targeting both ecosystems,” he said.

Sitati emphasised that the company will continue offering opportunities to promote the apps to new users and potential customers through the Nokia Developer programs.