Google has
awarded £2m to developers who produced
software applications for its
Android mobile phone
operating
system.
The
money went to the developers of
20 different applications, with 10 receiving £150,000, and
another ten getting £50,000.
The awards were part of a competition which initially saw 50
finalists getting £12,500 each.
Location-based services for the
Android system were a big feature of the awards.
The cab4me application lets users book a nearby cab without the
number of a local taxi company or the address they want to be
picked up from.
The GoCart application turns a user scan of a product's bar code
into a comparison-shopping exercise. The application uses data from
other stores near the user's location.
Locale will change the settings on an Android phone according to
the phone's location. For example, Locale will set the phone to
vibrate when entering a cinema or theatre.
Google plans to distribute the applications through its recently
launched Android Market on the web.
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