Now Ericsson wants apps

Ericsson has announced the launch of this year’s Ericsson Application Awards. An annual competition for developers to gain exposure in the telecommunications channel and to stand a chance of winning Sony Ericsson handsets and ‚Ǩ15,000.

Ericsson has announced the launch of this year’s edition of the Ericsson Application Awards (EAA), an annual competition for application developers worldwide organised by Ericsson Research. The competition provides a unique opportunity for developers to gain exposure within the telecommunications world and a chance to reach out to customers via Ericsson’s distribution channels in addition to the opportunity to win the latest top of the range Sony Ericsson phones and ‚Ǩ15,000 in prize money.

The EAA 2012 awards themed ‚Apps for the Networked Society’, will run till May 2012, and is designed to promote innovations that connect people, things and places and empowers people and society in variety of environments and situations.

The first stage is an optional mini-challenge in which members of winning teams will each receive a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc phone. In this stage, as part of their commitment to using Technology for Good in a Networked Society, Ericsson is looking for innovative ‚apps for good’, i.e. applications focused on solving global challenges such as education, poverty alleviation, refugees, disaster relief, agriculture, access to energy, transportation solutions, smart homes and buildings, and weather. The mini-challenge closes on the 10th of October 2011.

Lars Linden, Head of Ericsson, Region sub-Saharan Africa said, ‚We are very excited by the competition and hope to see more local developers participating in it. The awards are aligned to our vision for sub-Saharan Africa, where we have been engaging with various industry stakeholders to drive the development of a networked society, where people, knowledge, devices, and information are networked for the growth of society, life and business‚ .

The competition is global and open to both students and small & medium sized enterprises. Interested developers are required to register teams of 2 to 4 people online at: www.ericssonapplicationawards.com before the February 1st, 2012 and submit an Android based application that addresses the theme and makes use of at least one Ericsson Labs API (e.g. Mobile Location or Text To Speech) before February 28, 2012.

Entries will be judged in 2 categories, one for students and one for companies and the 1st and 2nd place winners from each category will be rewarded at the Ericsson Application Awards ceremony in May 2012.

The competition launch follows the second awards ceremony which took place in the Ericsson Studios in Sweden in June. ‚The 2011 competition was inspiring, we had over 1800 registered users, 158 registered teams and received more than 120 submissions from over 50 countries” said Konstantinos Tzingakis, Head: Innovations and Partnering for Ericsson, sub-Saharan Africa.

‚We saw some very impressive contributions sent in from developers around the world and hope to see even more diversity in EAA 2012.‚ Tzingakis added.

First place in the company category went to team HipSnip from the UK comprised of two entrepreneurs for an online personal shopping application called HipSnip, which allows shoppers share what they’re shopping for and get suggestions and recommendations from their friends on Facebook or from an expert community.

In the student category, first place went to team JustBit made up of four students enrolled in a Master’s program at Tor Vergata University of Rome for their ‚what’s in my kitchen’ application, which allows users connect to their refrigerators to check what products have been added, removed or are past their sell-by date and look up general product information, recipes, and the closest shops with stock.

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