Hoping to spur the growth of innovative applications and services, Forum Nokia is going to provide additional help to developers who already have received venture funding, providing more technology, marketing, business development and distribution services than previously.
The new help comes in the form of a new level in Forum Nokia’s developer community, called the PRO Accelerator developer support program. Only developers who have been granted funding from top-tier venture capital firms like Nokia Growth Partners are eligible, according to Rob Taylor, director of Forum Nokia Americas.
In creating the new accelerator program, Forum Nokia also eliminated all the fees for developers in the current PRO program. PRO was created in 2004 and has had a EUR 4,000 annul fee. PRO members get an insider’s view of Nokia software and services strategies.
Forum Nokia also reduced the fees for its Launchpad program, which provides resources and support for mobile application development as well as marketing.
Nokia Growth Partners manages $350 million in investments, including fund-of-fund investments.
The two charter members of the PRO Accelerator program are Kyte, a San Francisco-based digital media platform for distribution of multimedia content online and to mobile devices, and Morpho, a Tokyo company specializing in image-processing software for mobile devices.
