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In September 2009 Nokia launched the Calling All Innovators competition, which was a search for talented UK developers to create the next big thing in mobile applications, and the winners have now been announced.
Taking the top prize is woZZon (from Wozzon Ltd), with the woZZon search engine that gives access to a comprehensive events database of 60,000 geo-coded venues and 90,000 unique events of all genres. The data, checked by editors daily, ranges from large stadium acts to local village hall gatherings and syncs with Ovi’s rich mapping to create a powerful social tool. The top prize includes having the woZZon application published on Nokia’s Ovi Store, £20,000 cash, a ticket and paid travel to a Nokia developer event in the Spring 2010, Nokia’s sponsorship to become an Ovi Store publisher and one year’s membership to Forum Nokia Launchpad.
Other winners across four categories were:
- Business and productivity: Little Spender from Ribot – Little Spender allows you to discover your everyday spending behaviours. Just by having an awareness of where your money is going will result in a positive change in your spending behaviour.
- Communications and social networking: Live Talkback from Greys Mead Ltd – Live audience interaction for mass audiences. Vote on your favourite TV shows, live events and conferences. See what others are thinking in real time.
- Just for fun: Virtual Scorer from Good News 4 Me – The Virtual Scorer Game utilizes advanced mobile handset features and combine them with state of the art motion detection algorithm to create unique virtual interactive gaming environment.
- Social location: woZZon – geo-coded venue and events search engine, whether you fancy a gig in Glasgow, comedy club in London or up to date cinema information.
- Special award (in place of a Games Award): MoviesNow from Endava – MoviesNow is an application that is used for checking the movies running in the local theatres.
Category winners each win their apps published on Nokia’s Ovi Store and a cash prize of £2,500 plus Nokia’s sponsorship to become an Ovi Store publisher and one year’s membership to Forum Nokia Launchpad. Nokia will also review the winning applications in all categories for possible preload on future Nokia devices.
The competition was run by Forum Nokia, and the aim of the contest was to challenge mobile and web application developers in the UK to create best-in-class applications that could be made available on the Ovi Store, Nokia’s one-stop-shop for applications and mobile content.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
