Nokia kicks off SA developer contest

By Staff Writer for Nokia

Johannesburg, 20 Jul 2009

Nokia has introduced the SA 'Calling All Innovators' competition, a contest for developers to create locally relevant mobile applications.

The South African version of the competition, which follows on from the global Calling All Innovators contest, challenges local developers to think big and win up to R1 millionin cash and prizes, and the chance to feature on Nokia's new Ovi store.

Ovi Store is an evolving media service that consolidates Nokia's existing content services into a one-stop-shop for free and paid content. According to the company, thousands of content providers and independent application developers are distributing their media, applications and games through the Ovi Store. The content ranges from applications, games and videos to widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalisation content for Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 devices.

"Ovi Store is now open for business in SA and we've stocked the shelves with content for a broad range of Nokia devices," states Helen Jarvis, Nokia's services marketing manager. "We are working with local outlets to provide a variety of local applications, and once we have viable entries from our Calling All Innovators competition, we will be in a strong position to offer local South African content on the store.”

The competition is open to anyone, including mobile and Web application developers worldwide, to submit their entries.All applications developed for South Africans and running on Series 40 or Series 60 devices will be considered.

“The first round of the global Calling All Innovators competition saw more than 12 000 developers from around the world registered with Forum Nokia, the world's largest mobile developer community,” says Jarvis.“We are hoping that the South African developer community will rise to the challenge and impress us with their application submissions and enthusiasm for such a competition.”

The contest opened last week and all entries are due by 31 October. Finalists will be selected and notified in December. All competition entries should be submitted at http://callingallinnovators.com/southafrica/.