Nokia calls on developers for new and exciting apps

SINGAPORE – Nokia has announced the Nokia Series 60 Asia Challenge for mobile application developers in the Asia-Pacific.

Based on the market-leading terminal software for smart phones – the Series 60 Platform – the contest aims to encourage developers in the Asia-Pacific to create new and exciting Symbian, MIDP Java and MMS-based applications in three categories – Games, Music and Media, and Enterprise, Productivity and Messaging.

"The Nokia Series 60 Asia Challenge welcomes all developers based in the Asia-Pacific to compete with their latest and most innovative mobile applications. The Series 60 Platform is the leading smart phone platform and the Series 60 licensing community, which includes Matsushita, Samsung, Sendo, Siemens and Nokia, represents approximately 60 percent of the total global mobile phone market," said Jawahar Kanjilal, director of digital services and applications of Nokia Mobile Phones Asia-Pacific.

"With a rapidly growing demand for quality applications to engage consumers, the Nokia Series 60 Asia Challenge is a unique way to urge developers to push their creative boundaries to come up with mobile applications based on the technical capabilities of the Series 60 mobile devices," Kanjilal added.

Winning applications will be determined based on the best combination of innovation, quality and usability. The last day for the submission of applications to the jury is Oct. 30.

Winners will be announced on Nov. 27. Representatives from Nokia and the participating operators – SmarTone (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (the Philippines), MobileOne (Singapore), Chung Hwa Telecom (Taiwan) and TA Orange (Thailand) will form the jury.

The winning applications will be commercialized at specific marketplaces and sales channels via the participating operators. Nokia will also explore and facilitate the commercialization process of these winning applications in the Asia-Pacific and globally.

Country category winners will each receive a cash prize of US$2,000 and a Nokia Series 60 device. Regional category champions will each win a cash prize of US$8,000 and a sponsored trip to the Mobile Application Summit, a two-day Forum Nokia event where operators in the Asia-Pacific meet Forum Nokia developer-members from around the globe.

The regional winners will be able to showcase their applications at the summit and have the opportunity to meet key mobile operators in the Asia-Pacific.

The Forum Nokia will host the contest and play an active role in supporting the entrants in their application development work.

All winning developers will receive free technical support from Forum Nokia to enable them to complete and test out the applications for commercialization with the participating operators.

Interested developers can submit their applications, along with the description, to Forum Nokia. Entries as well as contest rules and registration information are available at http://www.forum.nokia.com/seap/series60_asia challenge.