Vodafone woos developers with new widget SDK

Vodafone's Betavine community has launched yet more resources on its Widget Zone web site to help mobile developers build widgets to run on its phones.

The Resources page of the Widget Zone site offers a new software development kit (SDK) containing Vodafone Apps Manager, which provides all the tools needed to develop widgets for Vodafone mobile handsets.

The SDK includes a Widget Packager open-source application designed to " streamline the creation, build and deployment of widgets", according to a Betavine blog post.

An Opera desktop browser is also included "for remote debugging and desktop development", and widget usability guidelines will help developers ensure that their creations are as user friendly as possible.

The new resources are the latest in Vodafone's efforts to reach out to the developer community. The firm launched a widget distribution tool last month designed to help mobile developers reach Vodafone customers more easily.

Developers can upload widgets to the Widget Zone, and then use the free Vodafone Widget Manager Beta from Vodafone Live as a distribution channel to reach Vodafone customers, the firm said.