The judging criteria stress emphasis on innovative use of the high bandwith offfered via WiFii, ease of use, commercial potential and ease of execution.
Press Release Extract:
Nick Sim, senior devices researcher at BT says, “As increasing numbers of people want to work on the move and be better connected we’re seeing a growth in Wi-Fi enabled devices. Through this competition we hope to encourage developers to create innovative new applications for these devices, which will have a positive impact on consumers and businesses in the future.”
As well as supporting the development of converged services on Symbian OS™, the market-leading operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones known as smartphones, the competition also supports BT’s Wireless Cities initiative. Developers will be able to take advantage of the high bandwidth Wi-Fi on offer to create new mobile applications and services that will benefit end users. There are currently 13 Wireless City networks up and running across the UK, which provide wire-free, high-speed broadband coverage for easy access to information and services in city centre locations.
Competition entries will be judged on the following criteria:
· Innovative use of Wi-Fi connectivity – to what extent does the application make use of the high bandwidth offered by Wi-Fi to provide an enhanced experience for the user?
· Ease of use – how easy is the application to set up and use for non-technical users? How intuitive and attractive is the application’s user interface? How likely are users to utilise the application on their device?
· Commercial potential – does the application have the potential to secure a large customer base and/or achieve strong revenues?
· Ease of execution / roll-out – how easy and cost effective would it be to roll out the application to a large customer base?
Entries will be judged by representatives from BT, Symbian and a third party organisation. The winners will be announced at the Mobile World Congress (previously known as the 3GSM World Congress) in February 2008.