JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: Ericsson, in partnership with Sony Ericsson, has announced plans to run a regional competition for application developers on the Android platform. The competition titled ‘Apps for Africa’ is to run under the aegis of the 2012 Ericsson Application Awards (EAA 2012) - an ongoing annual competition for application developers worldwide organized by Ericsson Research.
‘Apps for Africa’ is designed to promote the development of innovative ideas and mobile applications from a variety of environments and situations peculiar to the region. These are expected to enable new opportunities for people to collaborate, innovate, learn, care and participate in more efficient ways that positively impact our environment.
Lars Linden, Head of Ericsson, Region sub-Saharan Africa said: “We are delighted to be leading this initiative and feel it is an ideal way to showcase local African talent from across the continent. As the usage of mobile phones has a direct impact on the way of life in Africa this is a prime example of how technology and innovation are elevating us to new levels of sophistication. We are anxious to see all of the creative submissions and would like to wish everyone good luck as they take on this challenge.”
Members of the winning teams in each region will each receive a Sony Ericsson Xperia phone, while teams in second place will receive Business Experience Packs (incl. Sony Ericsson MW600, office pro, McAfee, and a micro USB cable).
Colin Williamson, marketing manager for Sony Ericsson, said, “Our objective for Sony Ericsson is to be the preferred choice for Android devices, and we’re thrilled that to help reach this objective we’re able to get under the skin of the very platform our handsets perform on by way of an Android Application competition.”
The competition is open to students and to small and medium sized enterprises based in the region; it has been split into four sub competitions based on location as follows:
* Southern Africa for countries - Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Saint Helena, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
* Eastern Africa for countries - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda.
* Central Africa; Central Africa - Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Côte D’ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Togo.
Western Africa - Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone.
Interested developers in Southern Africa are required to register teams of two to four people online before February 01, 2012 and submit either a video of idea or an Android based application that addresses the theme and makes use of at least one Ericsson Labs API (e.g. Mobile Location or Text To Speech) before February 28th, 2012.
The competition will be rolled-out across Sub Saharan Africa in November. All application submissions will be automatically entered into the global competition - EAA 2012 - ‘Apps for the Networked Society’, for the chance to win a €15,000 cash prize.
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