@ GDC: Event Is Good Venue To Woo Developers, But There's No Sign of Apple, Google Or Others

In many ways, Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) keynote this morning was an hour-long advertisement, explaining to developers why they should pick the Ovi platform the next time they build a game. Anssi Vanjoki convincingly stroked their egos, saying he was there to speak to developers because: "We believe it's going to be an important part of our future. We think it's going to be a big part of the open world."

And, yet, surprisingly, more companies aren't here doing the same. Other companies, claiming to be releasing cutting-edge software platforms to make the mobile phone more open, are nowhere to be found. Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) is here with a booth to discuss Flash Lite, and Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) has representatives speaking on panels. In addition to the keynote, Nokia can be found on several panels and sponsored a lunchtime session yesterday to discuss first-party games. Even a panel on the iPhone is not going to be hosted by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), but rather an executive from Amplified Games.

If there's people from Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Apple, Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) or AOL (NYSE: TWX), they are not making any public pitches at GDC Mobile. There are also very few representatives from carriers. During one presentation yesterday, there were hundreds of audience members and only one person raised their hand when the speaker asked if there were any carrier representatives in the room.