Three software developers have won $25,000 each in
aninternational
competitionto write applications for Nokia
mobile phones.
Forum Nokia, the
Finnish mobile phone maker's contact point for developers,
announced the awards last night at the
GSMA Mobile World
Congress, and said it would repeat the competition this
year.
The forum challenges programmers to address specific issues. The
theme was to help improve the quality of life on Earth. Grand prize
winners were GreenDrive by Road-Guard of Israel (Eco-Challenge
category), Nano Ganesh by Santosh Ostwal of India (Emerging
Markets) and X Dancery by Simlife of China (Technology Showcase).
First and second-placed runners-up in each category received
$10,000 and $5,000 respectively. (See below for full details.)
The competition attracted almost 1,000 entries from 57
countries. Nearly 250,000 unique visitors and more than 12,000
developers from around the world registered with Forum Nokia.
Forum Nokia director Rob Taylor said he was now looking for
applications to drive the enhanced use of mobile devices in
real-world scenarios that involved the Nokia N97, Flash technology
or users in emerging markets.
Prizes include cash, a chance to demo at Nokia World in
September, and Spotlight placement of the winning applications in
Nokia's new Ovi Store.
The forum is also inviting consumers to submit their best ideas
for new widgets to be featured in Ovi Store. The winner will
receive a Nokia N97 pre-loaded with a working version of the
winning widget.
And the winner is...
Eco-Challenge
Applications or solutions to minimise mobility's global
environmental impact and enable consumers to make sustainable
lifestyle choices that reduce their energy consumption and carbon
footprint.
Grand prize: GreenDrive (Israel) – An
application that promotes vehicle fuel efficiency by sensing
current and impending road conditions that influence fuel
consumption and provides real-time driving directions for the
shortest route in the quickest time legally allowable.
First prize: TigerMap (China) – An eco-friendly
city guide that makes choosing public transport easier, and
combines up-to-the-minute mass transit information with
recommendations of the best restaurants, entertainment, hotels and
shopping in more than 150 cities in China.
Second prize: Ticketek Mobile Ticketing
(Argentina) – A Series 40 and S60 Java
electronic-ticketing application that reduces paper consumption by
allowing consumers to use a barcode stored on their phone to gain
admission to events.
Runner-up: Green Phone (India) – An S60
application that maximises battery life through improved regulation
of device backlight, WLan, Bluetooth and charger power
consumption.
Emerging Markets Challenge
New mobile solutions to improve the daily lives of millions in
developing nations, focused on areas such as education, health data
access, infotainment and agriculture.
Grand prize: Nano Ganesh (India) – This
application allows farmers in India to contact remote,
modem-equipped electric irrigation pumps to check on power supply
and pump operation, so reducing the need to travel long
distances.
First prize: mPedigree (Ghana) – An application
that allows users to send a free text message to check a
quality-authentication code on the packaging of anti-malarial and
other medications against a provisioned mobile shortcode. The aim
is to guard against counterfeit drugs that kill many people,
especially in the developing world.
Second prize: DigitalICS (Digital Internal Control
System) (Mexico) – This application lets agricultural
co-ops inspect the farming practices of their members and upload
the data to a website for reporting and analysis. It allows them to
verify the growers' adherence to standards that include Fair Trade
Certified and Certified Organic.
Technology Showcase
Applications using Flash Lite, Java, Python, open source or
other technologies supported by Series 40 or S60 devices that
create a compelling end-user experience for individuals or
communities.
Grand prize: X Dancery (China) – This
application, fully optimised for the S60 5th Edition's touchscreen
user interface and motion sensor technology, and with advanced 3D
graphics rendering capabilities, analyses any MP3 file to generate
automatically a unique tempo-based game for each selected musical
track.
First prize: kReader Mobile (US) – This
multi-language text-to-speech application with cross-language
translation capabilities uses the camera phone to digitise any
book, letter, receipt or other printed document and translate the
captured text into audio that is "read" back to the user.
Second prize: Neuscreen (Thailand) – This
application uses the drawing, touch-screen and camera
functionalities of a Nokia N95 connected to a normal television set
to track the motion of a pen light and enable "virtual" drawing, as
well as projection and manipulation directly on the TV screen of
images stored on the mobile device.
Runner-up: PhotoMap (Germany) – This
application digitises and stores a photograph of any fixed public
map taken with a camera phone for easy access, browsing and
geo-referencing on the mobile device.
Read more about GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 >>