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Nokia launches beta of Ovi development kit

The Ovi software development kit is a Web-based toolbox for developers that lets them create Web services and apps for handsets running either Symbian or Maemo.

David Meyer Special to CNET News.com

Nokia has released a test version of the software development kit for its Ovi application platform.

The kit's availability was announced Thursday at the Nokia World 09 event in Stuttgart, Germany, along with the release of a new application programming interface (API) for developers who want to integrate navigation capabilities into their applications.

The Ovi software development kit, or SDK, is a Web-based toolbox for developers that lets them create Web services and applications for handsets running either of Nokia's two smartphone operating systems: Symbian and Maemo.

Developers can write applications using standard Web technologies such as CSS, HTML, and Javascript, much as they can when writing for Palm's WebOS or the Bondi widget specification.

The new Ovi Navigation Player API is designed to be used alongside the existing Ovi Maps Player API, according to a Nokia blog post, and lets applications guide users to destinations.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.