Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 11 September 2008 10:14
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Seeking to encourage application developers to build ever better and
more innovative location-based services (LBS) on mobile phones and
handheld devices, global mapping company Navteq has announced that Sony
Ericsson and deCarta are the two newest sponsors of its upcoming
challenge.
Navteq, arguably the biggest mapping company in the world, first kicked off its “Global LBS (location-based services) challenge” in 2003. That first challenge was in North America only, and was followed by a European launch in 2005 and then the Asia Pacific in 2008.
The 2009 challenge will also include all three regions, Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), The Americas, and Asia-Pacific (APAC).
The challenge “focuses on driving the development and visibility of creative location-aware solutions for wireless devices - from business to sports, travel and security”, and “invites developers to build and submit original applications using dynamic positioning technology [mobile phones and handheld devices] and Navteq maps.”
Interestingly, there are five categories for entries - content, enterprise, entertainment & leisure, navigation, social networking, all of which are clearly aimed at taking LBS to the next level, further entrenching it into our everyday lives, and for details on entering, please visit the LBS Challenge
website.
To provide some pretty solid incentive, Navteq says that the prize pool for 2009 is “over $5.25 million dollars in cash; tool and data licences; and devices, making the Navteq Global LBS Challenge one of the industry’s most rewarding developer competitions.”
But that’s not all... in addition to the prizes, developers also receive coveted industry exposure provided by the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge.
Navteq also states that the best entries in each region are closely reviewed in every detail by decision makers from the world’s leading operators, device manufacturers and investment firms, as well as industry journalists.
The judging process and the networking events drive industry success for the finalists in each region, and since launching in 2003, approximately 25% of the semi-finalist companies have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially-distributed applications, many on major wireless carriers.
So, what will Sony Ericsson and deCarta provide as part of their sponsorship? Please read on to page 2.
