A first alpha version of a Qt implementation for the Android mobile operating system has been announced by Romanian software developer Bogdan Vatra. Since Nokia in co-operation with Microsoft have announced that it does not intend to develop a Windows Phone variant of the GUI framework, Qt for Android represents the only remaining route/platfrom to providing mobile phone apps developed using Qt.

The intent of this new software, called the Necessitas Suite, is to be able to deploy existing Qt software on any Android platform. The aim is for all Qt applications once compiled and deployed to one android platform, will run on any other newer android platform and will last for years without any recompilation. Developers should be able to create, manage, compile debug and deploy Qt-based mobile apps using a first class citizen IDE.

The the Necessitas Suite, which has been developed independently from Nokia and Google, provides the Ministro installer for system-wide shared Qt libraries, with the Qt framework, and with an Android version of the Qt Creator development environment. Documentation files offering installation and programming instructions are also available. The Necessitas Suite source code is released under the terms of the BSD licence. The developer explicitly points out that the framework is currently in alpha state: the API is not stable, and he recommends that developers not deploy any apps created with it on Google’s Android Market. The release is considered important because it is intended as an incentive for developers to start building a community around this project.