Yahoo! announces mobile developer awards

SINGAPORE: Yahoo!, a global Internet brand, on Thursday announced the winners of the inaugural Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards (YMDA).

The platform showcased the innovation and talent of Singapore students, who created mobile-optimized applications using Yahoo!’s latest mobile development platform -- Yahoo! Blueprint, said a press release.

A total of 24 teams from six Singapore tertiary institutes participated in the competition to build the best mobile widgets for four corporate brands -- DBS Bank, Kellogg Asia, Malaysia Airlines, and UEEEU.com, it added.

The participating schools were Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Polytechnic (NP), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NAP), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), and Temasek Polytechnic (TP).

All teams presented their mobile widgets in front of a judging panel comprising experts from Yahoo, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), and the sponsor companies.

Submissions were judged on usability, quality, innovation, effective use of technology, and relevance to the companies and their customers, it said.

"This competition is aligned with Yahoo!'s company-wide strategy to open up our platform to third party publishers, developers and advertisers," said David Ko, senior vice president of Connected Life, Yahoo! Inc.

"We believe that Yahoo! Blueprint is the best way to create mobile Internet services and run across hundreds of devices and reach hundreds of millions of users, offering consumers the best mobile Internet experience, regardless of device. We expect this will change the world of mobile development moving forward."

The four winning YMDA widgets for 2008 are:

- For DBS Bank - "Simple" from Nanyang Technological University developed a mobile widget to help customers conveniently locate branches and ATMs, and access information on bank products and credit card privileges.

- For Kellogg Asia - "The Jinx" from Temasek Polytechnic created a widget that prompts people to take part in the Kellogg's "Special K Challenge".

-For Malaysia Airlines - "We Mobile" from Singapore Polytechnic developed a mobile widget to assist users with their travel plans, thus encouraging them to travel with Malaysian Airlines.

-For UEEEU.com - "Chlorophyll Studios" from Nanyang Polytechnic created a travel-related mobile widget to make customers' travel experience more convenient and enjoyable.

"Through this competition, Yahoo! is proud to be able to play its role in connecting Singapore's next generation of developers with some of the world's leading corporate brands, as we continue to enable and lead the mobile ecosystem," added Ko.