TxtWeb.com the leading developer of text message-based Internet has announced the winners of the App2Fame challenge 2011, a national contest , to inspire innovative applications and tools using the txtWeb application platform.
The contest received a strong response from startup developers and students, with 1311 apps being deployed on txtWeb during the contest period. Winners took home a total of Rs.7, 40,000 in prizes on ther sidelines of the Appnomy conference, at the Oxford College in Bangalore last week.
“These winners truly represent the most creative and innovative developer minds," said Srividhya Ramarathnam, Business Head, txtWeb, Intuit India, “With txtWeb, we’re looking to empower the hundreds of millions of Indians who have mobile phones, but do not have regular access to the Internet by giving them access to information; we’re delighted that the App2Fame challenge has inspired so many resourceful ideas”.
Developers were awarded under several categories including “Most Popular” and Judges Choice Award”. The grand prize winner under each of these categories received travel vouchers for Rs 1,00,000, and the second prize winner in each of these categories won vouchers worth Rs 50,000 redeemable at an electronics store. In addition, three third prizes in each of these categories and the best apps in the sub categories of social networking, gaming and entertainment took home prizes worth Rs 20,000.
Sandeep Bhaskar and L BalaSundaraRaman from Ideophone, a start-up company in Bangalore, working to solve commuter challenges via mobile applications, were adjudged the grand prize winner under the Judges' Choice Award for their app @Autofare that lets you know the auto fare between two places in a city via SMS. The grand prize for the Most Popular App was bagged by Praveen Dhanala, a student pursuing his Dual Degree program at IIT- Bombay, for his app @jokes that enables users to get jokes on mobile without the need of internet connectivity. Other notable apps that won second and third prizes were, @Train a one stop app for all train travel information, and @route, an app that gives instant bus routes and directions. Another interesting app developed as part of the contest was @vturesult which lets students of Vishveshvaraya Technological University access their examination results of the via SMS.
The award for the Most Popular Social Media app went to Kameswara Venkatesh Emani, who works with an online book store in Bangalore for @connect- a complete social networking site on SMS platform. In the Most Popular Gaming app section, K Sudheer Kumar, an employee working with Nokia won the award for his app @bnc- a very interesting numerical game. The award for the Most Popular Entertainment app went to Sudheer Katta, a student from IIT- Bombay for his app called @rating- an app with which you can rate movies, view rating, add movies to the list and also view the list. The contest was judged by industry stalwarts, Rishikesha T. Krishnan – Professor & Area Chairperson in Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM, Bangalore, Vijay Anand – Vice President & Managing Director, Intuit’s India Development Center, Bangalore, Ramesh Ramanathan, Co-Founder of Janaagraha & Chairman of Janalakshmi, Bangalore, Shekhar Kirani – Venture Partner at Accel Partners.
All The Winners
Most Popular Apps
First Place
@jokes: Instant access to unlimited jokes for free
Developed by Praveen Dhanala
This app delivers jokes to your mobile for free!
Second Place
@smsbox: Your secret stash of Hahahas and more
Developed by Suhas Shankar Sharma
With this app you have anytime access to funny messages, share with your friendslighten the moment. @smsbox also delivers Shayaris, Quotes and more.
Third Place
@jntuk: jntu kakinada
Developed by Kota Pavan Teja & Lolugu Adithya
Get jntu kakinada results to your mobile. Get the performance details of every individual student studying in the colleges affiliated to JNTU Kakinada.
@vturesult: Find out how you did on your Semester Exams
Developed by Ashok Rao
This SMS-based application enables mobile users to access the results of the Vis hveshvaraya Technological University without the use/need of internet connectivity.
Most Popular App Sub-categories
Social Networking @connect: Social Networking via SMS
Developed by Kameswara Venkatesh Emani
A complete social networking site on SMS. You can create your profile; send messages to others
Gaming
@bnc : Bulls N Cows
Developed by Suhas Shankar Sharma
'Bulls & cows' is an interesting & entertaining code breaking or number finding game.
Entertainment
@rating
Developed by Sudheer Katta
Rating is a new movie rating app for the Txtweb users by the txtweb users. You can rate movies, view rating, add movies to the list and also view the list.
Judges Choice Awards First Place
@autofare: Your weapon to outsmart all auto-wallas that are out to fleece you.
Developed by Sandep Bhaskar & BalaSundaraRaman
This SMS-based application enables mobile users to get the approximate fares between two places in your city on your mobile phone via SMS.
Second Place
@train: Your one stop source for train travel info
Developed by Ravikiran Maram
This application is a one-stop app for all the train related queries. It provides you all the train details like trains running between stations, route, station code, fares etc. Forgot the train number? No problem! Search for trains running between stations and find the train number and details.
Third Place
@routes: Figuring out BMTC routes just got a whole lot easier
Developed by Arjun S Bharadwaj & Bharath B S
Get routes of buses in Bangalore City just by texting @routes from, destination.
@smsgps: Location services sans GPRS
Developed by Parth Lalcheta & Nimit N. Doshi
This application for now finds you a place around you by sms without using Gprs and Gps.It finds the area you are in and you select the type of place you want to find(hotel,petrol pump etc)
@pushmail: Now manage emails with SMS
Developed by Suhas Shankar Sharma
This app allows you to access your email via basic any mobile for free! If you are using a smartphone, you'll know the battery drain behind the generic pushmail app. This will take that out of the equation.
For links to each winner and more details http://www.txtweb.com/app2fame-contest
Aug 30 2011