SINGAPORE, 3 FEBRURAY 2009 – Three of the 11 finalists in Forum Nokia’s global mobile developer contest are from the Asia-Pacific. Two of them are from India and the third is from Thailand.
According to Forum Nokia, the Calling All Innovators Global Mobile Application Developer Competition is designed to generate applications and solutions that help to improve the quality of life on the planet.
“Nearly 1,000 developers answered Nokia’s challenge to think big and create mobile applications and services that can help build a better world,” said a Forum Nokia representative. The ultimate winners will pocket up to US$150,000 in cash and prizes. In addition, the winning developers will see their applications distributed worldwide.
Applicants rose to the challenge issued by Dean Kamen, technology pioneer and Calling All Innovators supporter, best known as the Segway PT inventor and founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organisation which inspires high school students worldwide to study science and technology.
The innovators
Forum Nokia designated the following as the Asia-Pacific finalists in the Calling All Innovators global contest:
In the ECO-Challenge category, Green Phone (India) was selected. It was described as “an S60 application maximising battery life through improved regulation of device backlight, WLAN, Bluetooth and charger power consumption”.
In the Emerging Markets category, Nano Ganesh (India) made the mark. According to Forum Nokia, this application allows farmers in India to establish remote contact with distant, modem-equipped electric irrigation pumps, to check on power supply and pump operation without the need to travel long distances.
Neuscreen (Thailand) made it to the Technology Showcase category. This application uses the drawing, touch-screen and camera functions of a Nokia N95 device connected to a normal television set to track the motion of a simple pen light and enable ‘virtual’ drawing, as well as projection and manipulation directly on the TV screen of images stored on the mobile device.
Winners will be announced on 17 February at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain, during the Forum Nokia Calling All Innovators Award Ceremony.
