Nokia announces 11 finalists in global Calling All Innovators competition
Finalists chosen from thousands of developers responding to call for mobile applications to help improve qualify of life on the planet
New York, NY, USA - Forum Nokia is proud to announce the selection of 11 finalists in its Calling All Innovators global mobile developer contest, 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. Nokia will award up to USD 150,000 in cash and prizes to the ultimate winners, in addition to helping the winning developers distribute their mobile applications worldwide.
The Calling All Innovators website received more than 246,382 unique visitors and more than 12,000 developers from around the world registered with Forum Nokia, the world’s largest mobile developer community.
“The global interest in Calling All Innovators exceeded all expectations,” said Rob Taylor, Director of Forum Nokia. “Developers went above and beyond with a variety of innovations demonstrating real potential to impact the future of our world.”
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 organization which inspires high school students worldwide to study science and technology.
Following are the category finalists of the Calling All Innovators global contest:
ECO-Challenge: Applicants were asked to submit applications or solutions that can minimize mobility’s global environmental impact and enable consumers to make sustainable lifestyle choices that reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.
- GreenDrive (EMEA) - An application that promotes vehicular fuel efficiency by sensing current and impending road conditions that influence fuel consumption and providing real-time driving directions for the shortest route in the quickest time legally allowable.
- Ticketek Mobile Ticketing (Americas) - A Series 40 and S60 Java event-ticketing application that reduces paper consumption by allowing consumers to use a barcode stored on their phone to gain admission to events.
- Green Phone (APAC) - An S60 application maximizing battery life through improved regulation of device backlight, WLAN, Bluetooth and charger power consumption.
- TigerMap (China) - An eco-friendly city guide application that makes choosing public transportation easier, combining up-to-the-minute mass transit information with recommendations of the best restaurants, entertainment, hotels and shopping in more than 150 cities throughout China.
Emerging Markets: This category focused on making improvements in the daily lives of millions in developing nations, calling on developers to create new mobile solutions for areas such as education, health data access, infotainment and agriculture.
-mPedigree (EMEA) - This application allows users to text-message at no cost a quality-authentication code found on the packaging of anti-Malarial and other medications to a provisioned mobile shortcode in order to guard against counterfeit drugs believed to be responsible for an alarming number of deaths, especially in the developing world.
- DigitallCS (Digital Internal Control System) (Americas) - With this application, agricultural co-ops can inspect the growing practices of their members and upload the data to a website for reporting and analysis in order to verify the growers’ adherence to standards that include Fair Trade Certified and Certified Organic.
- Nano Ganesh (APAC) - 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
Technology Showcase: This category highlights compelling applicatons for individuals or communities that are focused on the end-user experience and are built using Flash Lite, Java, Python, open source or other technologies supported by Series 40 or S60 devices.
- PhotoMap (EMEA) - This application digitizes and stores a photograph of any fixed public map taken with a camera phone for easy access, browsing and geo-referencing on the mobile device.
- kReader Mobile (Americas) - This multi-language text-to-speech application with cross-language translation capabilities uses the camera phone to digitize any book, letter, receipt or other printed document and translate the captured text into audio that is “read” back to the user.
- Neuscreen (APAC) - This application utilizes the drawing, touch-screen and camera functionalities 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.
- X Dancery (China)- This application, fully optimized for the S60 5th Edition’s touchscreen UI and motion sensor technology, and with advanced 3D-graphics rendering capabilities, analyzes any MP3 file to automatically generate a unique tempo-based game for each selected musical track.
Winners will be announced on February 17, 2009 at Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona during the Forum Nokia Calling All Innovators Award Ceremony. All the finalists will receive paid travel and accommodations to Mobile World Congress. First place winners in each category will receive USD 25,000 and distribution of their application for free through a variety of Nokia channels. Second place winners in each category will receive USD 10,000 and third place winners will receive USD 5,000.
More information about Forum Nokia’s Calling All Innovators including video demostrations of the applications can be found online at www.callingallinnovators.com.
About FIRST
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With the support of many of the world’s most well-known companies, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge for high-school students, FIRST LEGO League for children 9-14 years old, and Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6 to 9 year-olds. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.
About Forum Nokia
Nokia’s global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
Published by admin on February 7th, 2009 | Filed under News | Comment now »New arrivals in the world’s most successful mobile phone range
Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the Nokia 6700 classic, the Nokia 6303 classic and the Nokia 2700 classic, three devices that build on the formula that made Nokia the world leader in mobile phones. The new trio combines the functionality and user experience required in today’s hectic times, with premium designs and materials that make them the most beautiful, well built and competitively priced offerings available.
Leading the new collection is the Nokia 6700 classic, which continues the legacy of one of the company’s most successful products, the Nokia 6300. “The Nokia 6300 raised the bar in terms of design and premium materials when it arrived in 2006 and topped all sales records for a mid-range mobile phone. The Nokia 6700 moves that bar even higher with a beautiful, slim design and perfectly balanced practicality,” said Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President, Nokia. “Our new arrival shares the same ‘DNA’ as its predecessor and we believe that it will be one of our best selling devices in 2009,” continued Petersen.
The Nokia 6700 combines smooth surfaces, rich materials and precisely crafted parts with a full metal keymat which completes the premium finish. Improving on all areas of its forerunner, the Nokia 6700 comes with a 5 megapixel camera, assisted GPS navigation with Nokia Maps, and high speed data access meaning sharing images or video is faster and easier than ever. At an estimated retail price of EUR 235, before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia 6700 addresses the original Nokia 6300 customer need and aspiration level perfectly.
At an estimated retail price of EUR 135, before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia 6303 classic is ideal for people that see the current value proposition of the Nokia 6300. The 3.2 megapixel camera comes to life on the large 2.2 inch screen, and with pre-loaded Nokia Maps, the Nokia 6303 combines a long list of features with excellent battery performance. Added to everything else, people can plug any music accessory into the standard 3.5 mm audio jack and have a fully fledged mobile music player able to carry thousands of their favorite tracks.
Rounding off the new arrivals is the Nokia 2700 classic which, at and estimated price of EUR 65 before taxes and subsidies, is one of Nokia’s most affordable, full featured handsets. Offering up to 2GB of storage via the memory card slot, the phone also has an integrated digital music player and a 2.0 megapixel camera, making it equally competent for imaging and music. “These features mean people can save, access and share files in hundreds of formats via Nokia’s online service, Share on Ovi, or a number of other websites. The rich features and simple interface mean that in many cases, the Nokia 2700 classic will provide its owner’s first Internet experience,” concluded Petersen. All three devices are expected to ship in the second quarter of 2009.
Press materials and photos can be found at www.nokia.com/press
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks
Published by admin on February 7th, 2009 | Filed under News | Comment now »Nokia to acquire bit-side GmbH
Espoo, Finland/Berlin, Germany - Nokia and bit-side GmbH today announced that an agreement has been signed for Nokia to acquire substantially all assets of bit-side. Bit-side is a privately owned Berlin-based professional services and software company with 39 employees. By acquiring bit-side Nokia will strengthen and accelerate its mobile development for Nokia Maps.
“Acquiring bit-side enables Nokia to offer consumers the world-leading mobile location applications, such as Maps, along with routing and navigation at an accelerated speed” said Michael Halbherr, vice president and head of social location, Nokia. “Nokia has been working with bit-side since 2007, and bit-side has become a strategic development partner to Nokia.”
“Nokia believes that context plays a pivotal role in the evolution of the Internet. To make the Internet truly personal, Nokia is building the ability for people to always know where they are and what is around them. Moreover, to know where their friends are and what they are doing and how they are feeling. Nokia calls this social location,” said Michael Halbherr, vice president and head of social location, Nokia.
“Joining Nokia, the world leader in mobility, is an exciting opportunity for us,” says Thom Brenner, managing director & partner, bit-side GmbH. “Our small team has brought many innovative mobile products to life and being part of Nokia will be like a catalyst to this. We share Nokia’s visions, on social and location related services and the future of their enabling technologies.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009. Bit-side will be integrated to Nokia’s Services unit.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
Published by admin on February 7th, 2009 | Filed under News | Comment now »