My first attempt at loading my sample 3D scene on an actual device didn’t work out too well.

I have two smartphones handy and one connection cable. Bluetooth died on my netbook long ago anyway. Both devices are 5 years old. Although my E61 is listed as Ovi compatible (the other isn’t), it doesn’t connect. Maybe I just need the right cable :)

Now that I have the Ovi suite installed, I had a quick look and… the prospect isn’t great. I hope they will understand someday that a web browser (versus native software) is just a let-down way to buy apps. So you open the Ovi suite, click on an app and expect pressing a download or buy button. Instead they fire up the default web browser. The UI and store presentation feel unpolished, like they didn’t have UI designers, or CSS enabled coders. Maybe it looks better on-device…

The Ovi suite itself seems like a half baked flash app made by a high school kid. They didn’t even manage a decent scroll bar.

I’m losing interest. And this may be the right time to explain why I’m interested after all. So why should an iPhone dev studio consider other devices?

1. Workflow and release schedule. There are tons (literally tons) of devices out there that have nothing like the screen definition or horse power of an iPod 2nd gen. Meaning you simply can’t put as much content or smart code. Meaning low end devices are a good market for an early release. So with de-spec-ed devices available, you can release a ‘lite’ version earlier, thus abiding to ‘release early, release often’. Meaning that finally you can release a better app (benefiting early feedback etc…) on higher spec devices.
   Just from a technical point of view, java code is safer than compiled code, so even targeting comparable devices, the release cycle is bound to be shorter (that is, unless you mean to release on all and every Java enabled device at once)
2. Not everybody will ever have an iDevice. In my company many people are carrying HTCs running Android. A (happy) few are carrying an iPhone. In the ‘real world’ around us, iPhones are visible exceptions, nothing like the norm. Now don’t tell me everybody will finally get an iPhone. Even taking aside pricing considerations, just imagine what it would be like? A mobile phone is something users carry with them. Consciously or not, their choice of a device reflects their personality as much as their means. One size fits all may be good for OSes – well that’s because an OS is something people don’t care about, as long as it works (and the more it’s like anybody else’s, the more ‘it works’).
3. Anybody can enjoy a nice app. A quick look at the Ovi store shows that people didn’t wait for the iPhone to make mobile games (!). No matter what the store(s) may look like, there is an app market beyond iTunes, and I’m confident this market will grow, part because people see iPhone users enjoy apps on the go, part because manufacturers are making efforts to catch up.

Personally I think plurality is all good, and everybody enjoying the same thing on the same device at the same time is… terrifying. So the sooner competitors put their act together, the happier I’ll be.

But if you stay away from this s**t, I won’t blame you.