And the winners are;

Best Java application: WaveSecure Backup – Helps keep your personal data safe by letting you back up or restore your data securely.

Best Symbian application: Nimbuzz – Helps you get free calls, instant messaging, file & location sharing with Nimbuzz friends and Skype, Facebook, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM/AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Hyves, & more.

Best Windows Mobile application: Opera Mini – Helps you get a fast, cost-efficient Web browsing experience with lightning fast data loads to your phone.

Best Blackberry application: Kayak Flight/Hotel Search – Helps you compare hundreds of travel sites at once, organize your itinerary and track your flights right on the Blackberry.

Best iPhone application: Tap Tap Revenge 3 – Helps you get access to over 100 free songs and 100 premium bundles of music rhythm games.

Best Android application: Lookout – Helps identify and block security threats, backs up and restores a user’s personal data, and can quickly find a lost or stolen phone by pinpointing its location on a Google map or sounding a loud alarm.

Best Overall Cross Platform App (Gettie Award): Layar – Helps to better understand and enjoy your context by augmenting your reality with digital information and immersive experiences.

Of the 7,000 plus apps submitted to the 2010 Getties, iPhone accounted for 26 percent of nominations, Android 20 percent, Java 18 percent, Symbian 15 percent, Blackberry 13 percent, and Windows Mobile, 9 percent.

Patrick Mork CMO of Getjar said:

“What an amazing night – with some of the best developers on the planet at the Gettie Awards ceremony. It was an honor for GetJar to host this celebration for the mobile developers that shape and drive our industry. We could only select one winner per platform, but in reality, the room was filled with winners based on the sheer creativity and innovation across all the major development platforms.”

The smaller, lighter version of the iPhone has excited Apple fans across the globe and many of those queueing to purchase the iPhone 4 in London had travelled from far and wide.

Apple have promised better mobile reception on the new device thanks to a stainless steel case that acts as the antenna. The new phone also includes a larger battery and improved display giving the device more talk time.

Also the camera has been updated for the new model, increasing to 5 megapixel in line with most top end mobile devices and including a flash for the first time.

One area where Apple may have to act swiftly is sorting out the latest OS system iOS4, as there has been much adverse internet dialogue from users having serious problems upgrading.

Supermarket chain Tesco are among the many outlets offering the iPhone from today, here is a copy of their tarriffs.

The Gettie Awards will take place in conjunction with the first evening of VentureBeat’s annual MobileBeat conference scheduled for July 12, 2010, 7 pm at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. The event will include dinner, entertainment, the awards ceremony and promises to showcase the world’s best mobile applications across all leading platforms.

Awards will be given for:
Best Android application
Best Blackberry application
Best iPhone application
Best Java application
Best Symbian application
Best Windows Mobile application
The Gettie Award for best overall application

A panel of five judges including prominent industry heavyweights, press and analysts will first select three (3) nominees within each category from all submissions of files/applications. Winners from each category will be determined by review of the actual physical applications. The Gettie Award winner will be determined by a combination of popular vote and judge’s votes. Developers get the chance to be the best within each category and best for overall application at this prestigious event.

The list of judges include:
Rich Wong, Accel Partners
Kevin Thau, Twitter
Mike Rowehl, Silicon Valley Mobile Monday and Chomp
Jessica Dolcourt, CNET
Matt Marshall, VentureBeat

The deadline for entries is June 25, 2010. Submissions after this date may not be eligible for consideration.
Submission, guideline details and event information available from Gettie Awards
For ticket purchases and information visit EventBrite

rihanna

R&B star Rihanna will launch her new album, Rated R, through a ground breaking listening event using Nokia technology, enabling fans worldwide to join the singer for an exclusive live, streamed performance from a secret venue in London on November 16th 2009.

The event will showcase new material and feature a preview of tracks from the album Rated R, which is released on November 23rd.

From her breakthrough multi-platinum album A Girl Like Me to her ubiquitous global smash Good Girl Gone Bad, in just a few short years, Rihanna has helped redefine the path of popular music for a new generation.  She continues that musical and stylistic journey on one of the most hotly anticipated new albums in recent history, her fourth original studio album, Rated R. Rated R features the sultry, provocative first single “Russian Roulette,” which is rocketing up the charts at radio stations across the globe

This event places Rihanna at the forefront of cutting-edge technology to deliver music and exclusive content to fans, whilst enabling fans to get closer to the live action from wherever they are in the world.

Rihanna fans can:
- Sign up to watch the live stream
- Invite their friends to watch the performance simultaneously with them through Facebook and Twitter
- Download a web widget counting down to the live performance.
- Download an exclusive Rihanna mobile application from Nokia’s Ovi Store.
- Download the album with an exclusive track either to their PC or over the air to mobile from Nokia Music Store or Comes With Music.

Welsh Language Mobile Phone

Orange have announced that from September 2009, the touch-screen Samsung S5600 will be available for Welsh speakers, featuring 44,000 Welsh words.

The mobile is the first to feature the Welsh language and includes predictive texts as well as Welsh menu’s for the client to navigate.

The phone was launched at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bala, and will be available exclusively on Orange from the 1st September, and will be available in either a pay monthly deal or on pay-as-you-go tariffs.

A spokesperson from Orange said;

“The Welsh market is a vibrant and exciting marketplace and we hope that new initiatives like this and the opening of our first community concept store in Monmouth will ensure that Orange becomes the best-loved telecommunications company in Wales.”

An Irish version of the mobile phone was launched on July 2nd 2008 and was known as the Samsung Tocco.

Tesco Unlimited Talk & Text Deal

The Dancing On Ice Champion Suzanne Shaw, was the celebrity face for the launch of the new Tesco phone deal in London yesterday.

Tesco are offering a ‘credit crunch-beating Unlimited’ deal with their new unlimited talk and text package, all for a flat rate of £30 a month.

The Sim-only offer, meaning that the customer must provide their own handset, seems like a fair deal for the average user as the ‘Unlimited’ amount gives you a maximum of £500.

The spokesperson for Tesco said;

“Ours is the only pay monthly deal that gives consumers truly unlimited calling and texting.  You don’t have to choose if you’re a chatterbox or a texter, you can use your mobile as much as you want without having to worry about the cost.

“We believe that this will change the way people use their mobile phones. The new tariff aims to give people a simple, guaranteed way to have unlimited calls, texts and browsing.  It takes away the concern and uncertainty about your monthly bill as it’s fixed at £30, meaning you can talk, text and browse freely, and avoid the annoying habits revealed by our research.”

Martin Cooper placed the first mobile phone call on the April 3 1973, while he was general manager of Motorola’s Communications Systems Division.

Raymond Tomlinson is a programmer who implemented an email system in 1971, using the @ sign, separating the user from their machine, unlike others attempts.

They have been awarded for their technical and scientific research and noted that their respective works are “among the greatest technological innovations of our time”.

With worldwide spending on non-voice mobile services set to exceed $250 billion by 2012*, the conference is designed as an opportunity for delegates to take stock of the rapidly changing mobile landscape and identify the right business models, partners and opportunities. It will also tackle how EU regulation will increasingly impact technologies and businesses and whether the mobile Internet is now a viable distribution channel for content.

Confirmed speakers for the Business of Mobile Conference include:

• Steve Main, CEO, Solaris Mobile
• Lex Fenwick, CEO, Bloomberg LP
• Dr Bernd Langeheine, Director Electronic Communications Policy, European Commission
• David Wood, David Wood, European Broadcasting Union
• Gareth O’Loughlin, General Manager, Mobile and Hardware Devices, Skype
• David Perlmutter, EVP and General Manager, Mobility Group, Intel Corporation
• Matthew Postgate, Controller of Mobile, BBC
• Geraldine Wilson, VP, Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe
• Matteo Montan, Integration Executive Officer, BUONGIORNO S.p.A.

These speakers will be addressing some of the following key themes:

• Understanding Mobile Media Consumption: It took the media industry several years to move a small percentage of content spending to the Internet. How long will it take to achieve content revenues on mobile devices?
• Predictions on Tomorrow’s Mobile Business: Where are markets headed and what does this mean for consumers, investment opportunities – and regulation?
• Delivering Mobile Content: Multi-media companies are pushing into the telecoms sector. How is convergence affecting content rights? How can content providers and distributors work together to ensure the end user receives the best deal?
• Lessons in Mobile Marketing: When will mobile content become commercially viable as a vehicle for advertising?
• Tomorrow’s Mobile Partnerships: The success of tomorrow’s value-added content services will depend on building the right partnerships. What new partnership developments can we expect over the next 12 months?

Further information about the conference can be found online at: www.ftconferences.com/mobile

* Portio Research, January 2008