What is Symbian Horizon?

Symbian Horizon is an application-publishing platform designed to reduce barriers to success and increase the profitability of delivering applications on the Symbian platform. Horizon will provide a service that allows developers to write an application once, and publish in dozens of stores worldwide.

How will Horizon differ from other application store providers?

Symbian Horizon is an application publishing platform modeled after book publishers. The purpose of the platform is to simplify the process for developers to publish applications to the dozens of the existing Symbian app stores. Horizon services will include assistance with application certification, technical development issues, language translation, application publishing to third party stores, and co-marketing opportunities.

Which application stores will participate in the program?

Symbian is in discussions with 7 stores. We have already initiated strategic relationships with Ovi Store by Nokia and AT&T MEdia Mall. Many others will participate as Horizon grows.

What will it cost for developers to participate in Horizon?

Horizon Symbian is a non-profit organization and as such does not intend to add commission or profit margin charges to any application published through the Horizon platform. The entire purpose of this program is to increase developer revenues, not add to the burden developers already experience. As the program evolves we may introduce optional benefits which carry some cost. However as a general principle, Horizon will only pass along to developers the direct costs of providing such benefits. This is part of lowering the barrier to entry for developers.

What is the market opportunity for developers in the US?

Symbian smartphone distribution was less than 5% of the total North American smartphone market in 2008, however, distribution of Symbian devices in Q109 is three times that of Q108. We expect to see these numbers grow as Symbian Foundation focuses on driving application growth through Symbian Horizon.

What is the market opportunity globally?

Symbian smartphone distribution globally was more than 50% of the total market in 2008. The opportunity for developers lies in large markets such as APAC, where, in Q109, Symbian has 80% smartphone market share, EMEA with 60%, and Latin America with 40%.

Source: Canalys Smart Phone Analysis, 2008 and Q109 shipment estimates.

What is the benefit to developers and/or companies that participate?

The benefit for developers is the opportunity to broaden their distribution opportunities, gain additional visibility, and to simplify the administration associated with an application in multiple stores. Distribution opportunities go beyond access to multiple stores – Horizon is helping developers with global distribution and all of the necessary administrative, technical, and marketing services the need to be successful. Increased visibility will come through improved application discovery services, as well as co-marketing activities with OEMs and Carriers.

The benefit for application store providers is the opportunity to increase the traffic, revenue, and available applications/content. One of our goals with Horizon is to work with application stores to simplify financial reporting and tracking. This is an area of opportunity that would be a benefit to everyone involved – stores and developers alike.

Who can participate in Horizon?

Horizon is open to all companies, development firms, and developers worldwide to participate. There are varying levels of participation which Symbian will be defining to make the benefits of this initiative as broadly available as possible. The associated criteria include a varying degree of certification, as well as support, marketing, and other services.

How will Horizon manage the device differences that previously prevented adoption?

The primary objective of Symbian Horizon is to remove the barriers to distribution and lower the costs of entry into the Symbian global ecosystem. Symbian will assist developers to help them understand how to write their applications in the best way to target multiple devices and assist in helping them cope with any cross device issues to enable them to access the biggest market.

Has Horizon addressed the issues with the signing process? Will it be easier?

Symbian is currently engaged in discussion with its community about how to evolve the signing process to enable all developers to get their applications to market as fast as possible. Symbian is taking many actions to simplify signing policies including allowing many widget apps onto the publishing platform without requiring signing.

How many applications can a developer submit? Can they all be submitted at once?

A developer can submit an unlimited number of applications. However, acceptance to the program will depend far more on quality than quantity. Multiple application submissions are allowed, but the submission process must be repeated for each application so that they can be individually tracked.

Does a developer need to have a completed application to apply to Horizon?

A developer can submit a great idea for an application to Horizon in order to apply, but will need to complete it themselves in order to take it to market. Symbian is looking for interesting and useful applications, unique ideas, free applications and those that have some local appeal.

If a developer is accepted to Horizon, can they later withdraw their applications?

Yes, an application can be withdrawn. However, any metadata created within the marketplaces (download numbers, feedback and so on) will be lost when it is removed.

Does the developer retain ownership over the submitted application?

A developer does retain ownership over a submited application, but in order to meet with the requirements set forth by the application stores, Symbian needs to obtain fairly broad licenses to use, promote and sell the application. These licenses are then transferred to the application stores mainly for commercial and marketing purposes, as well as testing of the application. However, these licenses do not interfere with your position as the sole owner of the application and any rights related thereto.

What version of the Symbian platform should a developer target?

A developer can select to target any Symbian device/platform combination. We are especially interested in applications created for the newest Symbian devices based on the Symbian^1 platform.

What are the guidelines to submitting applications?

Please see the Symbian Horizon Publisher Program guidelines for more details.