Forum Nokia has recognized eight mobile developers, six of them from the United States, for innovative applications that include widgets, location-based services, social networking, multimedia, back-up and enterprise connectivity.

The recognition is part of Forum Nokia’s 2008 Innovation Series, which selects applications based on internal Nokia reviews and consumer focus groups globally. The program targets small- and medium-sized developers and provides them with business and market support. One of the qualifications is that the applications must have a clear market demand, the Forum said.

Video demonstrations of the first group of developers are posted on Nokia’s Share on Ovi website.

The eight developers include Plusmo, Santa Clara, Calif., for its standards-based widgets; Pelago, Seattle, for its Whrrl location-based social discovery tool; Qik, Foster City, Calif., for its multimedia communications application for streaming video, audio and instant messaging; WebMessenger, Los Angeles, for its Symbian client for Microsoft Office Communications Server; Advanced Wireless Solutions, Burbank, Calif., for its Backup-Pal; Monsoon Multimedia, San Mateo, Calif., for its Hava Mobile Player that place-shifts home TV content to phones; JoikuSpot, Espoo, Finland, for an application that enables an S60 device to act as a WLAN hotspot; and UbiEst, Treviso, Italy, for its UbiSafe LBS application for security and emergency uses.