Nokia PreSchool is the sort of big idea backed by skilled execution that keeps the honors coming for Nokia Developer Champion of the Month Simon Botes. The idea, to create a free, home preshooling system that can run on Nokia Series 40 phones, took first place in the Create 4 Millions Challenge. Simon's coding of the app at the Nokia Hackathon took top prize for a Series 40 Web app. The app is already submitted to Nokia Store and will be available soon.
Update Nov 7: Preschool Aid is now available in South Africa and will be rolling out globally soon.
This is not Simon's first success. Check out Simon's profile for more achievements, including over 120,000 downloads from Nokia Store with "zero marketing" and selection as a Mail & Guardian 200 Young South African.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Winning apps from Hackathon 2011 bring great ideas to three Nokia platforms
We featured the top-prize winner of the recent Hackathon competition that was held during Nokia World 2011 in London last month, but we wanted to make sure you had the full details from the contest, and got a preview of the other award-winning apps based on the best ideas submitted to IdeasProject that were developed in just 40 hours for use on Nokia phones.
As we noted following the Hackathon, the grand prize went to Visiarc, for their Windows Phone game called “Duudle”, a time-based, multiplayer game that can send push notifications to your opponents playing the game on other phones.
The other finalists in the contest were the Seattle-based Viafo, for their mobile app called “BloodSprint” which they developed for use on all three platforms (Windows Phone, Qt, and Series 40); and Tieto, who submitted an innovative mobile-polling application for use on either Windows Phone or Qt-based devices called “Did You Like It” that can also use NFC. They were joined on stage at the finale of Nokia World by Australia’s Halfbrick, who developed a new first-person game for Nokia Windows Phone called “Ember”.
David O'Neill from Viafo told us that their second-place app which will facilitate blood donations by individuals, helping to connect them to institutions such as hospitals that need donors will be further polished for distribution on all three Nokia platforms, and then they plan to take it to other platforms, since a service such as this one “should be universal”.
It is also worth noting that there were top apps recognized for each of the three platforms:
The winning Series 40 Web App was produced by South Africa’s AppCraft called “Preschool Aid” – one member of the AppCraft team, Simon Botes, is the current Nokia Developer Champion of the Month, and their award-winning app has already been published to Nokia Store for distribution in South Africa.
The Qt winner was Futurice, who submitted an app called “mGrafitti”, a virtual, location-based graffiti creator.
And for Windows Phone, the winning app was “Ember” by Halfbrick.
The winners of this year’s Hackathon will share more than 150,000 euros in cash and prizes - the winning app from Visiarc receives 50,000 euros.
Have a look at more images from Nokia World, with a special focus on the Hackathon, in our Flickr slideshow.
Update (9 November 2011): Following the Hackathon at Nokia World 2011, developers were invited to a special Meetup in London to celebrate their hard work:
As we noted following the Hackathon, the grand prize went to Visiarc, for their Windows Phone game called “Duudle”, a time-based, multiplayer game that can send push notifications to your opponents playing the game on other phones.
The other finalists in the contest were the Seattle-based Viafo, for their mobile app called “BloodSprint” which they developed for use on all three platforms (Windows Phone, Qt, and Series 40); and Tieto, who submitted an innovative mobile-polling application for use on either Windows Phone or Qt-based devices called “Did You Like It” that can also use NFC. They were joined on stage at the finale of Nokia World by Australia’s Halfbrick, who developed a new first-person game for Nokia Windows Phone called “Ember”.
David O'Neill from Viafo told us that their second-place app which will facilitate blood donations by individuals, helping to connect them to institutions such as hospitals that need donors will be further polished for distribution on all three Nokia platforms, and then they plan to take it to other platforms, since a service such as this one “should be universal”.
It is also worth noting that there were top apps recognized for each of the three platforms:
The winning Series 40 Web App was produced by South Africa’s AppCraft called “Preschool Aid” – one member of the AppCraft team, Simon Botes, is the current Nokia Developer Champion of the Month, and their award-winning app has already been published to Nokia Store for distribution in South Africa.
The Qt winner was Futurice, who submitted an app called “mGrafitti”, a virtual, location-based graffiti creator.
And for Windows Phone, the winning app was “Ember” by Halfbrick.
The winners of this year’s Hackathon will share more than 150,000 euros in cash and prizes - the winning app from Visiarc receives 50,000 euros.
Have a look at more images from Nokia World, with a special focus on the Hackathon, in our Flickr slideshow.
Update (9 November 2011): Following the Hackathon at Nokia World 2011, developers were invited to a special Meetup in London to celebrate their hard work:
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