Microsoft and Nokia want Symbian developers on Windows Phone

Microsoft and Nokia are wooing Symbian developers, offering them help in porting applications to Windows Phone ahead of the launch of the Finnish company's first smartphone based on Microsoft's platform.

When Nokia in February announced that Windows Phone would be its primary smartphone OS, the company also made it clear that its existing development environment would not be ported to work with Microsoft's OS. That would just fragment that environment, which would be repeating mistakes of the past, a Nokia spokesman said at the time.

However, to make sure that its old supporters are prepared to start writing apps for Windows Phone, Symbian Qt has been added to the Windows Phone API mapping tool, Nokia said in a blog post.

The mapping tool serves as a translation dictionary between the Windows Phone platform and other mobile OSes. It also helps developers port applications from Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The tool allows developers who are familiar with APIs from other platforms to see the equivalent class, method or notification events inside Windows Phone, according to Nokia.

For developers that have not worked with Windows Phone before, Nokia recommends reading "Windows Phone Guide for Symbian Qt Application Developers," which the company has authored with Microsoft.

Nokia is expected to launch its first Windows Phone or phones at the Nokia World conference on October 26, and start shipping at least one product before the end of the year.