Winners of Nokia Best of WAP Contest Announced

Press Release

Winners of Nokia Best of WAP Contest Announced

18 August 2000: Auckland software developer Iain Falconer was announced overall winner of the inaugural Nokia Best of WAP Contest at a gala awards dinner held in central Auckland last night.

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is the open standard that allows users to access the intranet and internet via their mobile phone and is an integral part of Nokia’s vision towards a Mobile Information Society. Entrants to this contest were invited to submit applications in three categories – Entertainment, Information and Business Applications – with Mr Falconer winning both the Business Applications and Information categories.

Mr Falconer won the Business Applications category with his entry ‘Work Management’, which allows mobile tradespeople to book and change jobs, and the Information category with his entry ‘Bus Schedules’, which allows users to find the most appropriate route to their destination, online.

The prize for the overall win is a trip for two flying business class to CeBIT 2001 consumer electronics show in Hannover, Germany in March, along with a new Nokia 7110 WAP-enabled phone for each category win. Opportunities also exist for Nokia to assist the winners in further developing their applications.

The winning application in the Entertainment category was developed by Cyntheia Lim, Richard Hawkes and Chris Harvey. Their entry ‘Next2Hours’ allows users to access movie, theatre, sport and other entertainment options in Wellington and Auckland for the two hour period from when they access the site.

The two other finalists in each category were:

Information Category:
Douglas Bailey, from Palmerston North, for his entry ‘NZ Travel Distances’; and Telecom Directories/Amdocs Inc for their entry ‘Mobile Yellow Pages’.

Business Applications Category:
Holliday Group, Christchurch, for their entry ‘Mainfreight Consignment Tracking’; and
Terry Paddy, Christchurch, for his application ‘myroster’.

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Entertainment category:
Run the Red, from Wellington, for their application ‘On-Line Activities’; and
Dmitri Stern and Brian Andrews, from Auckland, for their application ‘Snow Reports’.

All finalists received the WAP-enabled Nokia 7110 phone and a framed certificate, with category winners also receiving a trophy.

Phil Kemp, Managing Director of Nokia New Zealand and also one of the judges of the competition, says the judging panel was very impressed with the standard of all the entries received in the competition. “It has been great to see people have adopted this technology so quickly and developed services that are of real value to those who can use them,” he says.

“So many people today are out of their offices more than in them, and to be able to access online information through their mobile phones means they can be constantly in touch with what is going on.

“We are delighted to be able to help Iain further his understanding of the global picture by awarding him the trip to CeBIT,” he says.

The contest, the first by a telecommunications company in New Zealand, attracted over 100 enquiries from interested developers, with over 20 entries submitted. Mr Kemp says this is extremely encouraging given that WAP is still at such an early stage in New Zealand.

Judges for the contest were Mr Kemp; chief executive of TUANZ Ernie Newman; editor of Netguide magazine Nigel Horrocks; and Director of marketing and strategy for Nokia Asia Pacific, Bo Ilsoe. Mr Ilsoe, based in Singapore visited Auckland to present the awards to the winners.

Mr Kemp hopes that the telecommunications industry in New Zealand will benefit from this contest by raising the awareness of WAP. “For WAP to be a success for the network operators there must be applications that will attract and keep users,” he says. “In April Nokia ran a WAP Developers Forum in conjunction with Vodafone which was attended by almost 200 people. We hope that events such as the forum and this contest will encourage more people to begin developing sites and therefore increase uptake of the technology.”

Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. Nokia is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, broadband and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 60,000 people.

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For further information contact Jocelyn Milne, Grammer Communications,
Phone 09 360 6441, Mobile 021 356 779

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