Borland and Nokia speed mobile development

Integration specialist Borland has introduced C++ Mobile Edition, aimed at speeding C++ application creation for the Nokia Series 60 smartphone.

C++ Mobile Edition will be provided as a plug-in for Borland's existing C++ Builder version 6 integrated development environment.

The Nokia Series 60 environment, which is based on the Symbian operating system, is for smartphones - mobile phones that include a graphical user interface and a suite of applications.

Nokia expects to ship 10 million smartphones next year, and is keen to encourage the C++ developer community to write for the phones.

"Nokia is trying to recruit developers to write code," said Andy Brown of analyst IDC. "There is some anxiety as a large number of developers are working on the Microsoft platform. From the developers' point of view, the more seamlessly you can develop and debug, the better."

The plug-in, which lets developers use C++ Builder facilities to speed up Series 60 application development, testing and deployment, will ship with Borland C++ Builder 6 Enterprise and Professional editions at the end of November.

Borland believes it has about one million users of C++ Builder, who will be able to create mobile applications using familiar tools. Developers of existing Symbian C++ mobile applications can import them to C++ Builder Mobile Edition without a code rewrite.