Training and Support while developing apps

Training and Support while developing apps

Microsoft Corporation is trying to play catch-up in the mobile device market and, in partnership with Nokia, is pumping money into application development.

Microsoft and Nokia, which sells the Windows Phone, will each invest $11.9 million in a new program at Aalto University in Finland — Nokia's home country — aimed at encouraging young developers to create apps for the Windows Phone.

The program, called App Campus, will begin in May when students can apply for grants. Once accepted, students will have training and support while developing apps. They will be able to retain full intellectual property rights for their ideas, but their apps must be exclusive to Windows Phone for six months.

Microsoft has been pushing hard into the mobile market, including launching its newest touch-screen-friendly operating system, Windows 8, at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

In a press release announcing the new App Campus program, Microsoft Western Europe President Klaus Holse said the company wanted to “turn a new leaf in the mobile industry” by fostering Finland’s propensity for mobile technology.

While the Microsoft mobile app store is growing, hitting 50,000 apps at the end of last year, Apple’s iTunes app store has more than 500,000 apps available for its mobile iOS. Google’s inc Android operating system has the largest share of the mobile phone market, however, and has continued to expand, far outpacing Microsoft in the mobile industry.

Microsoft has fought back, though, filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Motorola for its Android products. Motorola then filed a patent lawsuit against Microsoft, and the companies are still duking it out.