Globe, Samsung collaborate on regional app challenge

MANILA, Philippines - Global technology leader Samsung Electronics is partnering with Globe Telecom for the Philippine leg of the regional mobile app competition that it jointly organized with the SingTel Group.

The SingTel Group-Samsung competition aims to identify innovative startups in the region, help them accelerate their app development, and connect them with operators within the SingTel Group, which has a combined mobile customer base of over 500 million in 25 markets across Asia and Africa. The competition will be held in two phases.

The first phase of the competition involves the Globe-Samsung Regional App Challenge where the winning app developer from the Philippines will receive $6,000 (P260,000) in cash and $3,000 (P130,000) worth of devices.   The team will also represent the Philippines in the second phase of the competition that will be held in Singapore later this year.

In the second phase, all winners from the participating countries will go on an all-expense paid, one-week accelerator program in Singapore and vie for the Best App. The final winner will get marketing support from operators within the SingTel Group and Samsung to launch its product in their respective markets.

“We want to give the start-up and developer community in the Philippines an opportunity to collaborate with the two market leaders so we are inviting them to take technology to the next level by creating innovative, functional, and original apps for Samsung devices using Samsung APIs (application programming interfaces). We also want to help them scale their business through potential go-to-market partnerships, distribution and investments,” said Anne Michelle Santos, manager for developer relations of Globe Labs, the developer community of Globe Telecom.

“Samsung continuously develops innovative products and services to give consumers added value and new experiences. This partnership will allow both Globe and Samsung to tap into the extremely talented pool of developers in the Philippines and to give them the platform to showcase their mastery of technology and design, aimed at providing consumers a better and smarter digital lifestyle,” Cris Concepcion, Samsung content and services director, said.

There will be two categories for developers to compete in. First is online and digital content for Android-based smartphones and tablets, smart watches, and fitness products. Second is social business or solutions to social problems such as health apps that will help improve people’s lives. For this year’s challenge, focus is on developing apps for Samsung’s wearable devices, particularly the Gear 2 and Gear Fit.

Interested participants are encouraged to utilize any of the Samsung Tizen SDK for wearable, and Accessory package in Samsung Mobile SDK. They may also use the Globe Labs API for voice, SMS, charging, and geolocation to create their applications.

Globe Labs is accepting online applications until July 25 via http://bit.ly/samsung2014-callforapps.