Tuesday, October 21, 2008

AT&T mobile apps contest finalists announced

By Mass High Tech Staff

Video Gallery

MHT Editor Doug Banks on NECN: How companies are using social media

MHT Editor Doug Banks on NECN: Decoding the Gen Y workforce

NECN: Jim Connolly discusses the home of the future

Related News

Looking ahead: Sector by sector surveys of the landscape ahead: 2009 a breakout year for mobile ad firms? [December 19, 2008]

Mobicious snaps up $5M for SnapMyLife app [December 10, 2008]

Wireless wine tracked by eProvenance’s RFID [December 5, 2008]

Vlingo wins mobile app fast-pitch contest [November 13, 2008]

Mobicious finds value in location-based offering [October 24, 2008]

AT&T Inc. announced today the finalists of its $10,000 mobile applications developer contest Fast-Pitch New England, originally launched in August. While executives said they received entries from across the region, all three finalists call Massachusetts home.

The three finalists, FreeFamilyWatch.com of Braintree, Mobicious Inc. of Needham and Vlingo Corp. of Cambridge, will each vie for $10,000 in cash prizes and the opportunity to have their applications distributed through one of AT&T’s national mobile Internet portals.

In the next round of the competition, each company will be given 15 minutes to “Fast-Pitch” their application and business case to a panel of executives from AT&T, a venture capital firm, and a major wireless handset manufacturer, as well as a select group of industry influencers on Nov. 12, 2008, at the Sheraton in Framingham.

FreeFamilyWatch.com is a location-based personal safety application developed by NaVee Technologies LLC. The application helps users navigate their daily lives with risk-preventing measures against crime, environmental health hazards and emergencies. The application uses location-based information to warn users of nearby crimes, the location of high-crime or sex offender neighborhoods, or unsafe weather conditions, such as air quality or pollen count.

Mobicious is the company behind photo-sharing application SnapMyLife, which enables users around the world to share photos and tag them using geo-tagging.

Vlingo’s application is a voice interface for using wireless data services.

While AT&T has held similar national competitions in the past, Fast-Pitch New England is the company’s first locally based mobile application contest. Past winners of the national competitions include Ascendo Fitness, My Local TV News Over Wireless and Mobile Comic Books by uclick LLC.

The contest is also being sponsored by the region’s local industry groups, including the Massachusetts Network Communications Council, the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and Mass Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX).