New Mobile Video Apps Innovation Challenge - $10,000 Prize!

Dialogic Corporation is calling upon mobile application developers to participate in the Second Annual Dialogic Innovator Challenge. The theme of this year’s Innovator Challenge is to create the ultimate sports application based on video. The grand prize winner of the Challenge will receive a cash prize of US$10,000, while the first runner up will receive a cash prize of US$5,000 and the second runner up will receive a cash prize of US$2,500. More details are available at: www.dialogic. com/innovator. Submissions for the contest will be accepted from April 21^st through August 31^st. Winners will be announced at the end of September.

Applicants are also invited to download software from the Innovator Challenge portal to develop their video applications. The developer platforms include Dialogic IP Media Server, Dialogic Host Media Processing Software and the DiaStar Server, as well as to use the Dialogic® Vision™ Servers and Gateways. Dialogic is also offering access to a developer network that will allow developers to use and test Dialogic products for the development of trial applications. Additionally, in-person or online training courses are available to help developers gain proficiency in evaluating, developing and deploying solutions based on Dialogic products.

The contest is open for developers who are ready to trial, go to market or have recently deployed a new video or social networking application, for any kind of smart mobile device, that is sports related. All entries will be featured on the Innovator Challenge web site, where the general public will be invited to rate the applications. The winners will be determined by online rating in conjunction with a global judging panel of independent representatives from telecoms, media, analysts and industry institutions.

Congo to all LBS Challenge Winners!!

The 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge has announced five winners for the North America competition and 12 finalists for the India region. The Challenge is a worldwide competition for developers building innovative location-based services (LBS) using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ maps.

The North American winner is Cypress Solutions of Vancouver, Canada; its VUE application tracks tugboats, barges and log booms for marine fleets. The first runner-up is ZOS Communications, whose zhiing application creates a universal in-box for location communications and interaction. Second runner-up is Spriv, whose application prevents the fraudulent use of stolen credit cards and user/password information. Also, two special-recognition awards were given to 3D Arts, publisher of Hile Arcade; and Cell Storm, publisher of Cell Storm Real Estate.

For the India region, 12 applications have been selected to advance to final judging. These include location-aware applications with the latest features in fitness and tracking services, enterprise solutions, location-based advertising and mobile couponing, social networking, navigation, search and news services. Among the 12 finalists are Ariose Software, maker of Hobby Lobby; Genesys International Corp., developer of GenesysGolf; and Ninad Majumder, developer of LooLoca. The winners of the India region competition will be announced on 29 April.

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge winners in two additional regions will be announced soon: South America on 22-27 May; and Asia/Pacific on 14 June.


Meet the 2010 NAVTEQ LBS Challenge North American winners.

Learn more about the 2010 NAVTEQ LBS Challenge.

13 reach semi-finals at Navteq Global LBS Challenge EMEA region

Thirteen applications selected and competing in the finals for the Grand Prize during Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.

Nokia owned Navteq, a global provider of digital map data for location-based solutions (LBS) and vehicle navigation, has announced the finalists of the EMEA edition of the Navteq Global LBS Challenge.

The Global LBS Challenge is a world-wide developer competition which invites developers to build and submit original, pre-commercialised applications using dynamic positioning technology and Navteq maps. There are five categories: content, enterprise, entertainment & leisure, navigation and social networking.

Over 180 companies registered for this year’s Global LBS Challenge in EMEA. During the preliminary round judging in Paris in December, all competing applications which had passed the eligibility criteria were evaluated on the basis of commercial feasibility, functionality and design by a panel of judges from Navteq and the industry.

Thirteen contestants were been selected to move on to the final judging and awards ceremony during the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.

The Finalists for Navteq Global LBS Challenge in EMEA are:

Entertainment & Leisure

• MSG Software (While on the Move), Finland: SkiInLapland: A ski-guide application that lists the top ski resorts and allows ski enthusiasts to share text, images and videos about the places they visit. Accurate pin points allow you to locate specific areas easily and store comments and evaluations of places visited. It also lets you swap images and videos with friends about the places of interest in that area.

• Connecthings, France: ezStroll: An advertising application that allows you to select a geographical area and receive promotional messages from surrounding businesses and visitor sites (shops, museums, etc).

• Yoose GmbH, Germany: Mobile Coupons: A “mobile wallet” application replacing plastic loyalty cards and paper coupons from stores and travel providers, delivering them directly to your mobile. The mobile phone becomes a one-to-one marketing tool with measurable response rates for each individual user. The consumer can save shopping lists on the phone and benefit from greater savings and personalised offers always readily available.

Social Networking category

• Birkett Enterprise Ltd, UK: PhoneLocator, a native S60 realtime GPS tracking application for Nokia S60 phones. It allows you to view the location of your phone and a trail of where it has been using this website. Phonelocator has advanced features like "Intelligent Update" that reduces the amount of data sent by the application and "Battery Saver" that turns off the GPS when the phone is stationary or the GPS signal is too weak. Phonelocator can be run in the background and started when your phone is booted.

Enterprise category

• Carbon Hero Ltd, UK: Carbon Diem: An application using GPS technology to track a person’s carbon footprint based on his/her transportation choices. It tracks your travel and informs you as to how much energy you could save while using different means of transportation (walking, bus, train, car etc). It also keeps track of all the places you have visited.

• MobGeo Ltd, UK: MobGeo: A location-based advertising application that delivers mobile coupons / vouchers to your phone when you select a geographic area on a map along with food or store preferences.

• NaviExpert Sp. z.o.o., Poland: MONAPI (Mobile Online Navigation API): An emergency services application for reporting an emergency event in a specific location. Browse a map, select a point and send an emergency request with a brief text description of the situation. Emergency services' employees are alerted on their mobile phones and can be guided to the emergency location by means of turn-by-turn voice navigation.

Navigation

• CCC, Hungary: Quest4POI: A mobile application that helps you find interesting Points of Interest (POIs) for specific locations. You can move around the map and it will highlight the number of attractions in a particular area to help make the most of your time available for sightseeing.

• Crambo Labs, Spain: Econav: A driving application that helps you save fuel through efficient routing, enabling you to select the most economical route to get to your chosen destination.

• T+1 Solutions, Estonia: EcoRide: A location-assisted car pooling application that allows you to develop your own car pooling community to save fuel costs and be more environmentally friendly by reducing the number of cars on the road. It enables you to find a ride, share a ride or even offer a ride and also gives you the option to share the application with a friend.

Content

• Kishonti Informatics Bt, Hungary: NaviGenie: Mapping information presented in a route planning application using high quality perspective mode 2.5D and 3D views of city and street maps as well as building footprints. There are several different user-customisable view options, including bird, satellite and street-perspective views.

• PH Informática SA, Portugal: CityGuide: An enhanced POI application with high level of clarity and accuracy photos, images and video imagery not typically available on today’s devices. The application also has a simplified process to set up appointments with friends.

• Skobbler GmbH, Germany: Skobbler: An application that allows young, urban consumers to share information, personal comments and recommendations on places and activities around the city. Skobbler provides useful tips on their mobile phones, combining local search of, for example, Navteq dynamic content such as events or movies with sponsored advertising links and GPS navigation to the advertised place.

The final judging will take place on Sunday, 15th February, on site during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The official judges are:

• Dr. Christoph Grote, VP Information and Communication Systems, BMW

• Rakesh Mahajan, Director, Global Mobility Marketing, BT

• Marc Prioleau, VP Marketing & Business Development, deCarta

• François René Letourneur, Partner/Board Member, I-Source Gestion • Jure Sustersic, Business Development Manager, LBS, Forum Nokia

• Steve Glagow, Vice President, Orange Partner

• Dr. Jay Han, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, Advanced Technologies Group, Samsung

• Jens Greve, Senior Manager, Head of Sony Ericsson Developer World, Sony Ericsson

• Carlos Marín Escriche, Telefonica Innovation Lab

• Martin Wirsing, Head of Business Development Special Projects, T-Mobile International AG, T-Mobile International AG (Deutsche Telekom)

• Sergio Cozzolino, VP of ICT Mobile Solutions, Telecom Italia

• Philipp Schläfer, Sr Manager, Internet Partnerships, Vodafone

• Vlad Mihalca, Head of Wind Innovation Lab, Wind


The EMEA winners will be announced during an awards ceremony at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on 17 February 2009.

For more details: EMEA Finalist 2009

Symbian PR Opportunity

Symbian need some exposure for your S60 application? Symbian are offering developers the opportunity to showcase their mobile phone applications on the Symbian Foundation stand at Mobile World Congress (Barcelona 16-19 Feb). To take part, the application should be compelling, and built with S60 5.x.

Successful applicants will also be given two free exhibitor passes worth €599 each allowing you to enjoy the exhibition and network with other exhibitors. You will also get 2 tickets to the Symbian Foundation party.

All applicants will need to complete the call for papers on the Symbian Developer site. The best applications will be demoed on the stand.

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®

Nokia is a global sponsor of the 2009 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®. The LBS Challenge is a global developer competition organized by NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D), inviting developers to build and submit original, pre-commercialized applications using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ maps. Since its inception six years ago, the LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the LBS industry, shining a spotlight on the industry’s most creative location-aware solutions for wireless devices. The prize pool for this year’s competition is valued at over $5.25 million dollars.

Key Dates:

• February 13, 2009 – registration closes for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. You can register regardless of place of residence, if your application targets APAC region.
• February 17, 2009 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – winners for EMEA region announced
• April 2, 2009 at CTIA in Las Vegas – winners for the Americas region announced
• June 17, 2009 at CommunicAsia in Singapore – winners for the APAC region announced

For more information, please visit www.LBSChallenge.com.

Nokia N97 Widget Competition

Here's your chance to be part of the Nokia Nseries innovation process by designing a homescreen widget for the forthcoming Nokia N97, which is available during the first half of 2009.

How to Participate

Download the design package below, design your widget and upload it for others to rate. Keep visiting the site to log your opinions on others' offerings because the ten highest-rated designs will go in front of a panel of judges selected from the Nokia Nseries team. The panel will choose the best home screen widget based on creativity, usability and quality of design.

Prize

The winning widget will go into production, and the winning widget designer will receive a production-mode Nokia N97 ahead of the public release, pre-installed with their homescreen widget.

Deadline

The closing date for the competition is February 27, 2009. The winner will be announced on this site on March 13, 2009.

2008 Mobile Excellence Award Winners announced

The Mobile Excellence Awards (MEA) Monsay announced its 2008 Mobile Excellence Awards winners in Los Angeles.

The Mobile Excellence Awards were founded to recognize the best in mobile categories including media, marketing and technology within the mobile entertainment industry.

The competition finalists and winners were selected based upon strategic initiatives and objectives, impact of technology used, creativity, ease of use and reach, and execution and proven market success. Judges for the 2008 Mobile Excellence Awards were comprised of an esteemed panel of industry leaders and luminaries.

The 2008 Mobile Excellence Winners are:

• Best Mobile Start Up - EQO Communications

• Best Innovator, Mobile Technology – 2Ergo

• Best Mobile for Original Programming - Sony Pictures TV International, Afterworld

• Best Mobile Music – GracenoteBest Mobile Advertising - GoTV Networks for Crecent Heights

• Best Innovator, Mobile Entertainment – Transpera

• Best Mobile for Adapted Campaign - DirectTV/NFL

• Best Mobile Comeback – FusionOne

• Best Mobile Games - EA Mobile for Monopoly

• Best Mobile Community Fan Content – Vringo

• Mobile Ambassador Award – Jack Hallahan, MobiTV

• Peoples Choice Award – GoTV Networks

"We are very proud of all the 2008 Mobile Excellence Award winners. These companies are visionaries and creative leaders who are driving the transformation of the mobile entertainment industry," said Jari Tammisto, CEO of Mobile Monday Global.

“We congratulate them all and look forward to seeing them all and other new companies participate in another successful and innovative awards program in 2009.”

BlackBerry Storm Developer Competition

Vodafone is looking for the best application for the BlackBerry Storm. Resourceful developers taking part in the Vodafone innovations competition for the BlackBerry Storm
not only have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win 50,000 euros – the three best software applications will be provided as downloads for all users in the BlackBerry Application Center.

To enter the competition register here.

Here’s what you can win:



However here is catch :)

the winners of the SDC also agree to accord VF the following rights of usage for the prize-winning applications:
The winners acknowledge VF’s rights of usage (reproduction, duplication, distribution, publication, transmission, presentation, promotion, etc.) pertaining to the respective applications for all currently known forms of utilisation exclusively, in full, and without any limitation of content, regional restraints or time limits. The granting of such rights is in no way limited solely to online use, but also applies to the exploitation of said applications by other means. This granting of rights of usage also applies to any subsequent rights arising from new or future legislation or for any other reasons. VF reserves the right to transfer all or any of the aforementioned rights, in full or in part, to third parties, in particular to RIM.
VF is authorised to exploit any or all applications in conjunction with other works, and also to process, subsequently modify, enhance or expand the respective applications as they see fit. As the granting of rights detailed above is equally applicable to the relevant object and source codes of the respective applications, the winners are bound over to provide VF, on request, with the object and source codes free of charge.

Reading this, if you were to ‘win’ 1st prize of 50,000 Euros, you are giving your application away to Vodafone for this sum. It’s even worse if you ‘win’ 3rd place - only 5,000 Euros for all your intellectual property. Unbelieveable.

Mobile Design Challenge 2008

Design a Mobile Application to Empower the Farming Community of India!

Design an easy to use mobile application (Concept & the UI) that can help in the agriculture productivity and socio economic development of the rural population.

Design should take into consideration NOKIA S 40 series phone such as N6300.

PRIZES

Prizes as per the following will be awarded to the best three entries:

• 1st Prize: Rs. 40,000/-*
• 2nd Prize: Rs. 25,000/-*
• 3rd Prize: Rs. 15,000/-*

ELIGIBILITY

Students and Professionals from India

IMPORTANT DATES

Registration: July 31st, 2008

Submission: August 17th, 2008

For registration send email to usid_designchallenge@usidfoundation.org with your name and institution/organization.

Full details at:

http://www.usidfoundation.org/usid2008/designchallenge/

N78 Fusions Challenge

If you are a shutter bug, a techie, an explorer, a wanderer, a sports enthusiast, an adventure lover or simply someone who loves to share discoveries as you travel…then you need to be a part of Nokia Nseries Fusions Challenge!

The Fusions Challenge is your chance to lead a team of your friends and rediscover your passions with them. So sign up, register your team, play the Fusions Game and get as many people to become your teams fans to be selected for the Fusions Challenge. You can visit www.nokia.co.in/fusion to register your team. The last day for registrations is July 27, 2008.

Fore more details visit official blog.

Forum Nokia Announces Code Camp Competition Winners

Forum Nokia has announced the winners of the 2008 Code Camp Competition. The contest aimed at inspiring Forum Nokia Code Camp attendees to build Web Runtime (WRT) widgets and Flash applications. The winners are:

Grand Prizes

Flash: CityLite by MSCorp of Coral Springs, Florida. A mobile guide to night life, restaurants, and entertainment venues in Latin American cities.
WRT: Flickret from Mark Caunter of the U.K. A mashup that combines the Flickr photo-sharing application with MapQuest APIs to let users look for and get directions to places of interest.

Regional Winners


Europe/Middle East/Africa
Flash: Kuneri Easy Vote from Kuneri of Oulu, Finland. One-button mobile voting lets users vote by mobile phone call, text message, or Web service.
WRT: Flickret from Mark Caunter of the U.K. This mashup is a grand prize winner.

Americas
Flash: CityLite by MSCorp of Coral Springs, Florida. This mobile guide is a grand prize winner.
WRT: Fon11 by Mo'Blast of Berkeley, California. A mobile social-networking utility that lets users share their whereabouts with friends and family and determine if their contacts are nearby.

Asia-Pacific
Flash: WIND from Fieldsystem. This screen saver displays an image of a propeller turning in the wind. If the mobile signal is strong, the propeller spins quickly; if the signal weakens, the propeller spins more slowly. Also, the screen saver's background scenery changes throughout the day.
WRT: Nutrition from Singapore Polytechnic. This widget is used for calculating your BMI and also calories burned on a daily basis, and it can help the user to check typical food nutrition in order to maintain a healthy life style.

China
WRT: Push To Speak from Beijing Motech Technology. This mobile travel guide to China helps tourists search for restaurants, places of interest, streets, and more. Also, when the user clicks a word, the software "speaks" the word in Chinese, a useful feature for asking directions and instructing taxi drivers. The latest version includes information relating to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Congo to MobileRules Competition Winners!

Nokia has just published the results of the Mobile Rules! developer competition . if you want to read about some of the latest ideas in mobile, visit the Mobile Rules! web site, download the PDF or view the slides on SlideShare.

Mobile apli cation// Multiplayer & Connected Games
Grand Prize winner:
Sumo-Sumo by Gamica
Runner-upS:
* Plantastic! by PalmStorm Ltd.
* Hearts and Spades by G-mode

Mobile appli cation // Multimedia
Grand Prize winner:
MyStrands Social Player by MyStrands
Runner-upS:
* PhuneTV by Present Technologies
* MobSensor by Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Mobile appli cation // enterprise
Grand Prize winner:
UpCode parking by UpCode Ltd/UP C Consulting Ltd
Runner-ups:
* Mobile Documents by Visiarc Ab
* Interlecta Translator by Interlecta

Mobile appli cation // Infotainment
Grand Prize winner:
Earthcomber by Earthcomber LLC
Runner-upS:
* Avanutri Mobile by Active Tecnologia e Consultoria Ltda
* Live2Phone Site TV by Intellsys s.r.l.

Mobile BUSINESS PLAN
Grand Prize winner:
* MedApps Mobile Wireless Health
* Monitoring System by MedApps™
Runner-upS:
* BuzzD by BuzzD
* The Mobile Transaction Network by m-Via

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION// Future Architecture
Grand Prize winner:
B4-Flash Memory by Genusion Inc.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION// Multimedia
Grand Prize winner:
Kannuu by Kannuu Inc.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION// Future Touch And Feel
Grand Prize winner:
Kareline Natural Composites by Kareline Oy Ltd

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION// UI Solution
Grand Prize winner:
Tiki® 6 keys by Tiki’labs

Top Mobile 20 - Mobile software competition

Top Mobile 20 is a competition for mobile software development companies and individuals that produce, design, and develop smart phone software. They will enter an internet-based competition that the general public will judge in various categories such as 'Top VOIP software,' 'Top mobile video application,' etc. Judges will also submit their expert opinions on product favorites. This competition will take place during April and May 2008. The purpose is to put the spotlight on applications and the developers behind them that may not know how to get their product "out" if they are not backed by a major corporation. The culminating celebration and awards ceremony will highlight the sponsors and winners. The party after the awards ceremony will focus on building relationships with the contestants and attendees.

What is Top Mobile 20 ?

Why Join?

Join the contest

Categories

Forum Nokia Code Camp Competition

Register your application today for your chance to win up to 15K Euros in cash prizes and an opportunity to showcase your winning application at the S60 Summit in Barcelona, Spain.

The Forum Nokia Code Camp Competition is on and we are looking for the next developer rock star! Registration begins March 18th, so get ready to code your application and enter.

Prizes

Global Prize

• Cash award of 15 K Euro for the Global WRT and Flash Winner
• Success case/PR on the winning application
• Demonstration opportunity at S60 Summit pod

Regional Prizes

• Cash awards (varies by region)
• Demo opportunities at local events
• Transportation to the S60 Summit on May 29 and accommodation in Barcelona, Spain
  

Competition deadline

You must submit your application between March 18th and May 9th, 2008

For further details please check Forum Nokia Code Camp Competition

Kudos to UIQ Open competition winners!

UIQ Technology announced the winners of the UIQ Open, a developer competition aimed at finding and showcasing the most innovative, useful and entertaining third-party applications created with the UIQ open software development platform.

he judging panel selected two winning applications in each of the five categories.

1. Business:
   
   1. FlyingMoney Manager by FlyingBird Software
   2. Mobile Documents by VISIARC AB
2. Mobility:
   
   1. Handy Weather by Epocware
   2. IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger by SHAPE Services
3. Lifestyle:
   
   1. Spodtronic by Liquid Air Lab GmbH
   2. The World Factbook by jDictionary Mobile
4. Entertainment:
   
   1. MicroPool by Gábor Fetter
   2. Paintball 2 by Crazysoft
5. Utilities:
   
   1. Easy Search by WebGate JSC
   2. GDesk by FiendSoft

For further information about the UIQ Open competition, visit http://uiqopen.uiq.com

2008 Code Example Challenge

Forum Nokia is looking to showcase your abilities in the 2008 Code Example Challenge. We are looking for inspiring code snippets and example applications and will accept entries from all areas of mobile technology. From Open C to Flash, Symbian C++ to Python, Java ME to Web Runtime - if your code is geared for Nokia Platforms - it is eligible.

In order to bring a spotlight onto some focus technology areas - we are announcing a few special prize categories.
S60 Web Runtime Widgets
Flash Lite
Location Based Services

The competition is for code samples placed in the Forum Nokia Wiki. You should contain introductory text and a useful and fully documented code. Bonus points are given if you attach a functional example application (with source code) or can submit many different entries. Entries should be original work not published previously elsewhere.

The contest starts March 11th, 2008 and ends May 31st, 2008 winners will be selected and announced shortly afterwards. There will be a grand prize winner - as well as winners in each announced category.

Before letting your inspiration fly, read the following information:

• Instructions on how to create a Wiki article for the contest
• Rules of the Competition.

Mobile Animation Challenge 2008, Singapore

Mobile Animation Challenge 2008, Singapore This national mobile animation challenge is targeted at secondary school students for the purpose of engaging them to create promotional clips on the mobile platform. Participants are required to assemble original and relevant media contents to create a promotional clip of not more than 30 seconds, based on the following theme: “Living in an Green Island” Tell us how life will be different in an energy-efficient future. The National Energy Policy Report (available at http://www.mti.gov.sg) outlines some policies that can lift Singapore’s energy efficiency. Can infocomm technologies help us to do more with less energy? Assemble an animation clip on a mobile platform of not more than 30 seconds to tell us how this can be done.

For Discussion on this event monitored by lecturers from the ITE institue in Singapore go to Developer Discussion Boards >> Multimedia Technology and Content >> Content >> Graphics & Video & Streaming >> Mobile Animation Challenge 2008, Singapore

S60 Programming Competition

Forum Nokia has launched a new competition for S60 developers. There will be a new programming challenge on a monthly basis and the best solutions will be awarded.

For discussion visit Forum Nokia's newest discussion board.

Problem for January:S60 supports multiple different runtimes and programming languages. The aim in this months competion is to come up with the glue that combines different runtimes. We're asking you to design and implement a framework that unifies the S60 runtimes. The goal is intercommunication of runtimes (f.ex. Symbian C++, Java, Flash, Python, Web Runtimes, you name it…). With this kind of runtime interaction it is possible to access totally new features and re-use existing solutions in a manner that is unheard of. Please provide us with your framework implementation and also atleast one working example of runtimes interworking. If you don't have time to implement all the needed parts let us know your ideas and planned design to score more points in the contest.

The January's competion is open until 15th of February (15.2.2008) and we hope to have the best solutions published by the end of February.

See the contest web site for Contest Rules and Informtion

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge

NAVTEQ, a global leader in premium-quality digital map data, invites Asia-Pacific’s most talented developers and entrepreneurs to enter the premier event in the wireless location-based services (LBS) industry. Since its inception in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge has dared developers to build innovative LBS applications that work with mobile phones and/or wireless handheld devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ® map data.

This is the first time NAVTEQ will bring a dedicated Global LBS Challenge event to the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to The Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

This year’s NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge features a global prize pool valued at $3 million (US) in cash, map data licenses, sponsor licenses and services, and mobile devices. Winners are chosen by a panel of distinguished judges comprised of executives from wireless carriers, handset manufacturers and venture capitalists.

Eight previous Global LBS Challenge participants have received venture capital funding
Nine past Global LBS Challenge winners have launched commercial applications on major wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

Registration for Asia-Pacific is open from 29 October 2007 to 29 February 2008. An awards ceremony announcing Asia-Pacific winners will be held at CommunicAsia in June 2008 in Singapore.

Enter to win the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge in any of five categories (upon registration, we can help you decide which category is right for your application):

Enterprise Entertainment & Leisure Navigation Social Networking Content To register or for more information, visit www.LBSChallenge.com or email info@LBSChallenge.com. This is your program. And, yes, this could be your year.

Important Dates:

APAC

29 October 2007
APAC Registration Opens

29 February 2008
APAC Registration Closes

28 March 2008
APAC Solution Submissions Due

23-24 April 2008
APAC Semifinal Judging

18 June 2008
APAC NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony, Asia-Pacific - CommunicAsia, Singapore

NFC Forum Global Competition

The NFC Forum (www.nfc-forum.org), a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, today announced a call for entries for Touching the Future: NFC Forum Global Competition. In the competition, developers in a commercial track vie for the honor of having their solutions named "The Best NFC Service of the Year 2008," while a research track recognizes "The Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2008."

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables simple and safe two-way interactions among electronic devices. NFC technology allows consumers to perform contactless transactions, access digital content and connect devices with the simplicity of a single touch. NFC technology provides global interoperability of contactless identification and interconnection technologies.

Focusing on the theme "Innovation at Your Fingertips," the competition is intended to promote the development and deployment of innovative and exemplary NFC services. Entries will be judged on their innovation, commercial potential and usability, as well as quality of design and implementation. The competition's Organizing Committee is now accepting submissions; all final proposals must be received by February 15, 2008. Twenty finalists will be judged on April 29, 2008 at the NFC Developers Summit, held in Monaco during the WIMA event (www.wima.mc). The winners will be selected by a jury composed of professionals and experts from sponsoring companies. Entry fees are $150 per submission for commercial entrants, and $50 per submission for research entrants. Entry forms and competition details are available now from www.nfc-forum.org/competition.

"One of the most exciting things about NFC technology is how organizations are applying it to the broadest range of applications in new and imaginative ways," said Christophe Duverne, chairman of the NFC Forum. "This competition recognizes the top innovators in the world while supporting networking in the NFC community to exchange ideas and create new business models."

The competition is divided into two tracks: a Commercial Track for NFC services based on a business case; and a Research Track open to university students and research institutions.

Commercial Track submissions require a business case and prototype; entries will be evaluated on how successfully and innovatively their solutions meet the needs of key vertical market segments. Research Track submissions require a prototype and will be judged on creativity and innovativeness. The Pre-selection Committee will evaluate each entry, and 20 finalists will be announced on March 17, 2008. Each team of finalists will be asked to deliver a presentation and live demonstration at the WIMA event on April 29, 2008, after which the jury will vote to select first-, second- and third-place winners for each track.

Further details about the competition can be found at www.nfc-forum.org/competition.

Gold sponsors of the competition are NFC Forum members Nokia, Over-C and SCM Microsystems. Silver sponsors are NFC Forum members Inside Contactless, Innovision Research &Technology plc, Stollman E+V GmbH and WIMA. Sponsorship is open to both NFC Forum members and non-members. Sponsors may not enter the competition. Organizations interested in sponsoring the competition may contact sponsorship@nfc-forum.org.

Questions about the competition may be sent to competition@nfc-forum.org.

Reference: NFC Forum Global Competition