For Ovi Publishers creating Symbian apps there are initial investment costs such as obtaining a Publisher ID and paying a third party to have their apps Symbian Signed. Currently, this can take around four weeks, and impose expenses for the developer up to $215 (USD). Starting from August 18, we are offering to Ovi Publishers to sign their Symbian apps for free, reducing the time for Ovi Publishers to two weeks and bring the cost involved to $0 (USD). Apps written with Qt, Symbian C++, and Flash Lite are supported.

For those Ovi Publishers that do participate, here’s a quick summary of the steps involved:

  • Ovi Publisher emails publisher support and requests more details
  • Ovi Publish support asks publisher to review and accept new terms and conditions
  • Ovi Publisher accepts and signs the new terms and conditions and provides IMEI numbers for up to 5 devices to publisher support
  • Ovi Publish support sends publisher UIDs, a cert installer, and developer cert/key pair for testing their app
  • Ovi Publisher packages their unsigned SIS file using the UID provided and tests on their device making sure it’s tested against Symbian Signed test criteria
  • Ovi Publisher submits their app (unsigned SIS file with the UID provided) to the intake tool
  • The intake tool app base on Nokia content and store guidelines, specific operator guideline and Symbian Signed test criteria. If it passes, it will be expressed signed by Nokia and publish into Ovi Store

It’s important to note that we’re only covering Symbian signing of SIS files that would normally be express signed. For apps (SIS files) that require certified signing, those SIS files will not be signed by Nokia which mean you must go through the usual signing process.

If you’re interested in participating, please send an email to Publish on Ovi with your Ovi Publish username and you’ll receive more details.

Source: Nokia.