Since its introduction in 2001, the S60 platform has been the world’s most popular smartphone platform. By early 2007, more than 100 million S60 devices had been shipped by six platform licensees. The first S60 device, the Nokia 7650 smartphone, introduced a comprehensive range of features, including personal information management (PIM), browsing, imaging, and music. Since then, S60 devices have become increasingly sophisticated, with high-resolution cameras, full Web browsing, stereo music, mapping, and voice over IP (VoIP), to name just a few of the features now available. The range of S60 devices has also evolved, offering distinct collections of device models for consumers, enterprises, and other specific market niches.

One key factor in the success of the S60 platform is that it enables users to add features to their devices by installing third-party applications and content. At first, the platform supported third-party applications written in the Java and native Symbian C++ programming languages. As the platform has evolved, an increasing number of development options have become available. Application developers can now choose from Symbian C++, Open C, Java platform, Micro Edition (Java ME), Python, Flash Lite from Adobe, Web Run-Time, and Scalable Vector Graphics Tiny (SVGT) technologies. At the same time, Web content developers have been provided with support for standard Web technologies — such as HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax), Flash Lite, and SVGT — to enable S60 devices to browse their websites

This booklet, the first in the Essential S60 series, is a guide to options for developing S60 applications. Its purpose is to help a developer choose the most appropriate development style and language for a particular application. The booklet outlines the key features of each development technology, describes the tools available to assist with development, and provides guidance on where to find more information.

Download