Q: What is a widget?
A: Widgets are simple applications that give users easy access to the web
At least, that’s what it says on the Betavine website, and they should know. Betavine is Vodafones research community for mobile apps, and it has just launched a new widget distribution tool. By uploading apps to the Betavine Widget Zone, developers can distribute to roughly one million Vodafone customers through the Vodafone Widget Manager Beta (WMB).
The service is only compatible with ten S60 handsets across the UK, Spain, Germany and Italy at the moment. South Africa will be added to that list next month. Vodafone estimates the potential audience so far to be around one million customers.
What we think?
I’m kind of surprised it took this long, to be honest. The reason I’m surprised is right up there at the top of this article – at the moment, apps and widgets are the easiest way to get mobile users on the mobile web. Nokia has never been shy about showing it’s support for the mobile web and mobile content. It’s interesting that Nokia seems to be striking a middle ground between Apple’s rigorously controlled shop, and Androids open marketplace. The Betavine Widget Zone has a list of terms and conditions under which widgets will be accepted. If the list is compiled carefully enough, Nokia could end up with a community of self-testing developers.
One thought occurs though. Can we handle another app channel? Oh, I’m sure there are Nokia consumers out there to buy these widgets. But I’m not sure developers will really want to re-tool all of their apps for yet another platform, when there are already successful ones in place.
