Qt ecosystem continues to grow, organically and harmoniously

The year of 2011 ends on a very positive note.

The interest in Qt from the software development community is bigger than ever before, allow me to explain. Qt with Qt Quick works more powerfully than ever before, Qt 4.8 libraries are out and initial feedback is really good, on top of this, the preparations for Qt 5 are progressing well. Put simply, this is a really exciting time.

The Qt project has enjoyed a tremendous boost with over 1,000 developers now signed up and regular contributions being made. As an expression of our widespread health, working contributions from non-Nokia employees currently impacting the core modules such as Qt base and Qt creator represent over 20% of all contributions – we have a strong gene pool and you are helping to make that happen.

The Nokia Store has 10 million downloads per day and offers developers an opportunity to target 155 million Nokia devices with Qt apps – and there is ongoing momentum here, as Nokia has plans to make Qt a core part of its strategy in bringing great apps to “the next billion”.. All data points with regard to Qt on the Nokia store are up in 2011 – a lot more Qt apps are being downloaded by Nokia users (10x), so this means more revenue to Qt developers (20x). You only need to look at the Nokia N9 for a good proof point of the “power of Qt”.

During 2011 Qt apps were published on the Android Market and we also saw the first Qt app on the Apple App store and we had Ubuntu (with Unity and Ubuntu one) announced as another opportunity – added to this, RIM is also now embracing and broadening the Qt opportunity with the BlackBerry/QNX initiative. In 2008 we had approx. 250k Qt downloads from Nokia sites alone, now in 2011 it is close to two million and we have seen developers creating mobile apps with great interest shown in the IPTV/ STB market as well as in automotive… Add to all that the strong finish of the year with the Qt Developer Conferences in Tokyo and Beijing, two events that impressed me in different ways, both draw record attendance – and you can see why I am feeling upbeat!

China had the highest number of attendees ever – for any Qt developer event worldwide - with almost 1,100 participants. Japan had 30% more attendees than last year and attendees demonstrated a lot of in-depth Qt knowledge and enthusiasm for Qt 5. At both events we had all the sessions except the keynotes delivered by native speakers, and in many cases this entailed using Nokia employees from different Nokia offices around the world or local Qt partners. Huge thanks go to all of our sponsors, speakers and participants that made these such good events and also to everyone else contributing in different ways – from forums to code - in making Qt such a great product.

For more details, incl. video and pictures from the Beijing and Tokyo please read: Qt Developer events in Beijing and Tokyo, both draw record attendance

And to see the great videos from Qt Developer days: Qt video portal

Daniel Kihlberg
Global Director Qt Ecosystem
Nokia, Qt Developer Relations Team