"This program benefits both industry stakeholders and end users alike," explains Markus Huttunen, SNAP Mobile Manager, Nokia. "It ensures the uniform quality and functionality of the connected features in the mobile games that play on our platform. If poor quality games are released to the consumer, there is a risk of spoiling a market that is still in its infancy."

According to Huttunen, the program limits costs by combining a self-testing process with a traditional certification program. "We want to make sure that cost factors do not inhibit the developer's ability to ensure that their game meets our standards. Once the game has passed the online-related requirements and functions correctly, it is then validated as suitable for running on the SNAP Mobile platform."

The SNAP Mobile Compliance Testing Program lowers the barrier of entry to this process and enables growth of high-quality game development by publishers and developers who have signed up for the SNAP Mobile Platform. Through self-testing, they can detect any key issues in the design or code of their games before incurring traditionally high industry certification fees. This process means publishers and developers can bring a larger volume of high-quality mobile games to market.

"The program exemplifies Nokia's commitment to developers and the mobile gaming industry," adds Antoine Doumenc, Head of Nokia SNAP Mobile. "Nokia has opened up the development platform for anyone with a great game concept and development skills, without compromising the integrity of the products that ultimately go to market."

The SNAP Mobile Compliance Testing Program has two distinct parts. The first part allows developers to self-test their own games for free using the provided testing tool. After completing the self-testing, developers will be required to submit their application for compliance testing, which will be conducted by SNAP Mobile-authorized testing houses. Babel Media, the leading testing house in the mobile gaming industry, is participating in the initial launch of the program. SNAP Mobile-authorized testing houses will perform the compliance testing on a fixed price basis per application. Games from SNAP Mobile Platform Licensees that have passed through both parts of the SNAP Mobile Compliance Testing Program are eligible to be published and supported on the SNAP Mobile platform.

About SNAP Mobile

Nokia's SNAP Mobile is an industry leading mobile JavaTM gaming solution that covers middleware and technology, hosting, maintenance, and online community management. It is available to 3rd parties for connected mobile game development and publishing, and also offers mobile game community development to operators. The SNAP Mobile platform currently supports a wide variety of Java™ MIDP2.0 compliant phones and has a rapidly growing selection of connected mobile games with the variety and level of challenge that appeals to players of all ages. More information is available at http://snapmobile.nokia.com. For SNAP Mobile development tools and resources, please visit http://forum.nokia.com/snapmobile.