Exciting times in the BlackBerry World! The Storm is coming, Pearl Flip sales have begun, AT&T is hopefully/finally getting the Bold (soon... maybe!), we're giving away TEN BlackBerry Storms and last but not least, this coming Monday kicks off RIM's first-ever BlackBerry Developer Conference which also marks the Winners Announcement of the BlackBerry Developer Challenge!
But before you can WIN the BlackBerry Developer Challenge, you first need to be named as a finalist. After the jump we have a roundup of just-announced 15 finalists, three from each of the five challenge categories: Personal Productivity and Lifestyle, Multimedia, Web, Game and Enterprise.
Take a read after the jump to see all of the apps and companies that are competing for the top prizes, two $150,000 investment opportunities from the BlackBerry Partners Fund!
BlackBerry Developer Challenge Finalists
On August 15, 2008, the BlackBerry Partners Fund announced that it was hosting a Developers Challenge for BlackBerry developers that have created their own BlackBerry applications.
Following two months of exhaustive testing of hundreds of application, it is our great pleasure today to present three finalists in each of five categories.
Personal Productivity and Lifestyle finalists are:
AP News Mobile by Freerange
AP News give instant access to local news, sports and weather via the Associated Press Mobile News Network.
FreeRange Communications enables media companies, publishers and consumer brands to engage their audience in a compelling way on mobile phones, without hosting new mobile CMS, re-purposing their content or making new investments in infrastructure.
Learn more about Freerange at http://www.freerangeinc.com.
PaperIQ Digital Flipchart by DevelopIQ
PaperIQ Digital Flipchart for BlackBerry is a product concept from DevelopIQ. The concept explores the real-time collaboration opportunities made possible though the combination of an Anoto Digital Pen and the BlackBerry smartphone. Despite traditional whiteboards or flipcharts being commonplace tools in today's meeting environments, managing multiple pages, collaborating with remote colleagues and distributing the resultant pages electronically is a significant challenge. Smartboards and PC-based collaboration tools are readily available in the market, but they are not mobile, are costly and are not provided in the majority of meeting areas. The PaperIQ Digital Flipchart application can bring this capability to every BlackBerry smartphone user, whether they are using BlackBerry Enterprise Server or BlackBerry Internet Service. The application allows users to create and annotate unlimited flipchart pages, relay these pages in real-time to a co-worker's BlackBerry smartphone (wherever they may be) and finally distribute the completed pages via email directly from their BlackBerry device. In addition, built-in integration with the Impatica ShowMate video interface allows any user of the application (local or remote) to display their live flipchart via a video projector or large screen for enhanced group viewing in a meeting room context.
Learn more about PaperIQ at http://www.paperiq.com.
Poynt by Multiplied Media
Poynt is a free local search service that connects a user to businesses, retailers and movie theaters where and when needed.
Poynt is an all-in-one tool that gives a user way more than an address and phone number! See search results on an interactive map, get turn-by-turn driving directions, see show times, watch movie trailers and buy movie tickets all on Poynt.
Learn more about Multiplied Media at http://www.mypoynt.com.
Multimedia category the finalists:
Flycast Mobile Broadcast Network by Flycast
The FlyCast Mobile Broadcast Network delivers over 1000 streams of radio and on-demand audio to new Blackberry devices. FlyCast works directly with the largest broadcasters and webcasters to bring their streams to mobile platforms. FlyCast brings paradigm shifting features to the radio listening experience, including the StreamAhead feature, which allows playback during periods of extended signal loss, Top of the Hour, which allows listeners to jump instantly to the beginning of talk and sports shows, song skipping on over 300 music channels and much more. The network includes virtually every genre of music, sports, talk, news, weather and traffic.
Learn more about Flycast at http://www.flycast.fm.
Nobex Radio Companion by Nobex Technologies
Ever heard a song on the radio and thought you'd like to have it on your MP3 player? Now you can, with Nobex Radio Companion! You'll never have one of those "I heard a cool song, I wish I could remember what it was" moments again!
And now - with radio streaming too! Over a hundred stations are now playable on your BlackBerry Smartphone. For a limited time, radio streaming is provided free of charge. It will be part of a monthly subscription service in the future.
Learn more about Nobex at http://www.nobexrc.com.
Strands Social Player by Strands Inc.
Strands Social Player is a music player that lets you discover new music, connect with people, and share your tastes with friends. It automatically shows cover art, provides artist and song recommendations from over 6 million songs featuring free previews, and fully integrates with a social network of music enthusiasts.
Learn more about Strands at http://www.strands.com.
Web Finalists are:
Billing Revolution Merchant Account Tool by Billing Revolution
Billing Revolution provides a secure single click mobile credit card processing solution to merchants, publishers and agencies. A simple UI enables the quick and simple creation of mobile purchase pages. Merchants benefit from net margins exceeding 80% over premium SMS. Consumers benefit from the revolutionary single click experience.
Learn more about Billing Revolution at http://billingrevolution.com.
Gym Technik by TSR Gym Technik Ltd.
Gym Technik is an innovative online tool allowing you to use your smart phone as your workout journal when you are at the gym.
Learn more about TSR Gyn Technik at http://www.gymtechnik.com.
MLB.com Gameday by Major League Baseball Advanced Media
This web 2.0 application provides live game tracking and video highlights for Major League Baseball games. Its features include pitch-by-pitch display, full box scores, play-by-play and scoring play summaries, previews, player stats, and video clips of top plays. Content is updated in the background every 10 seconds during game play.
Learn more about MLB.com at http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile.
Game category the finalists are:
Astraware Platypus by Handmark
Your mission is to pilot your trusty Platypus and save peaceful Mungola in the squishiest arcade shooter ever! Fly across the squashy fields and trees, avoid the snowy mountains and protect your planet. Shoot down the enemy ships and marvel as they disappear in a splat! Collect fruit bonuses and a range of power-ups to aid you in your quest!
Learn more about Handmark at http://www.handmark.com.
Hard Rock Casino 2 by EA Mobile
Step into the ultimate virtual casino and place your bets! With Hard Rock Casino® 2 experience the thrill of a casino anywhere, anytime on your mobile phone. Play a variety of the most popular casino games, including Blackjack, Video Poker, and Slots! See and feel authentic casino sights and sounds including clacking chips, shuffling cards, and the spinning of slot machine reels. Keep track your bankroll and try your hand at lady luck and who knows, you could hit the jackpot!
Learn more about EA Mobile at http://www.eamobile.com.
Nintaii by Mobigloo LLC
Nintaii is an addictive puzzle game that will keep you entertained and challenged for many hours. 'Nintai' is a Japanese Kanji that means 'Patience'.
The goal of the game is to get the block to fall into the exit hole at the end of each stage. Switches, road blocks and arrows are located in many levels. Switches are activated by having the block stand on it.
Learn more about Mobigloo at http://www.mobigloo.com.
Enterprise category the finalists are:
B*Nator Remote Control for BlackBerry by ISEC7 GmbH
B*Nator for BlackBerry is a highly effective, platform independent monitoring software which allows you to make the most of your BlackBerry. Stop the tedious search for problems. At one glance the B*Nator dashboard tells you the source of problems. Control lights immediately indicate the current status of all components within your BlackBerry infrastructure. B*Nator facilitates the use of even very complex BlackBerry infrastructures and delivers all relevant information to keep your business processes smoothly running.
Learn more about ISEC7 at http://www.isec7.com/eng.
Bridge for Highrise by Metova, Inc.
Bridge is a subscription based BlackBerry application that enables synchronization and convenient online and offline access to Highrise from 37signals. User interactions are geared towards adding notes and triggering communication with contacts. While full editing and viewing of history etc are available, all interactions were tuned to require the smallest number of user interactions to provide the best user experience possible for a BlackBerry user.
Learn more about Metova at http://metova.com.
Optimii by Outerin Limited
Optimii makes billing intuitive and easy for your users - in many cases they don't even know they are using it!
Any time spent on a phone call could be a lost billing opportunity. Optimii captures mobile phone calls and enables you to assign them to a client matter or charge code in seconds. Optimii will identify how much time you really spend on your mobile phone for each client. You can now reduce lost revenue through a fully documented compliant procedure. Just one phone call in the course of the year can potentially gain a total return on investment!
Learn more about Outerin at http://www.outerin.com.
Congrats to all of the finalists! It'll be fun to meet you all next week at the BlackBerry Developer Conference and put a face to the brains behind the apps. A shout out also goes to everyone else who entered their apps - there could only be three finalists per category, but you all have solid BlackBerry software titles to be proud of. And finally, another shout out goes to the BlackBerry Partners Fund for organizing all of this. What an awesome event for the BlackBerry Development Community.
We'll let you know next week who the BIG WINNERS are. Stay tuned for more!
