MONACO, Monte Carlo – 10 developers went head to head this week in a Calling All Innovators Hackathon event, to create a winning app in just 24 hours. Three finalists were chosen at the closing of the Nokia Developer Summit 2009 event yesterday but there could only be one winner.
With its Social Location Widget, Plusmo scooped the top prize of €15,000 and four weeks spotlight promotion in the Ovi Store, which launches next month. Inova IT and it’s Shoppy widget picked up the first runner-up prize, and with it €7,000 and three weeks of spotlight promotion. Taking the second runner up prize of €3,000 and two weeks promotion was PavingWays with their Travel Planner app.
The ideas were suggested by consumers, but delivered by the developers. We’ve outlined the apps below to give you a little insight into what was developed in just 24 hours.
Travel Planner – Paving Ways
This widget enables you to record all of your trip information in a single place, including flights, car rental, hotels and mix that with twitter feeds relating to your destination. On the homescreen, the app is split in two, with the first part showing where you are in your trip and the second half pulling the latest tweets from Twitter. Step into the widget itself and you can see all the details of your trip, along with past and future travels.
Shoppy Widget – Inova IT
This takes the shopping list beyond a piece of paper. Create a shopping list, give it a name and then share it with other people. Those people can then add items to the shopping list, including details such as units (weight, volume etc), give it a category (groceries, clothes) and even include a picture taken with their device. Each user can then go into the list and tick things off as they’re purchased. The really clever bit though, is the addition of location. The app will give you a list of stores that’ll most likely sell the items you’re looking for and plot those stores on a map. What’s more, if you’re walking past a store that likely has items on your list, the app will vibrate the phone, and remind you of the item that needs to be bought. Very smart.
Social Location Widget – Plusmo
Imagine being able to connect your Facebook friends and Twitter followers with your, and their, location. Social Location does just that, bringing you a list of friends who are nearby, right on your homescreen. Inside the widget, you can see more details on those friends, what they are saying and doing. You can also see all of your Facebook friends, or even those who aren’t friends, but are nearby. The idea behind the app is connecting people with shared interests, be it because they’re friends or they’re doing something that could bring them together. First look suggests that it delivers too.
Big congratulations to all the winners. What’s most impressive here is that in a very short space of time we went from a simple idea to an actually fully working application. Sure, there’s scope for improvement, but even in Beta form we’re looking at some pretty smart stuff.
You’ll be able to see them for yourself pretty soon as they’ll all feature as spotlight apps when Ovi Store opens.