Two Indonesians Named as Winners in Nokia's Create for Millions Competition

Nokia didn't just announce its latest range of phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona yesterday but there was an announcement that will excite many in Indonesia.

At MWC Nokia announced the winners of the global Create for Millions competition held by Nokia. Among the winners list, two Indonesians were listed among the top three in different categories.

The two developers are Mico Wendy who developed Baby Write Number and Kemas Dimas Ramanditya with his TransJakarta S40 app.

There were actually three finalists from Indonesia in the global contest but unfortunately, Agate Studio's Urban Fatburner Macho! didn't make the cut.

Create for Millions competition was an event which also ran locally; there were four winners that were announced at the Startuplokal event. I was invited to assist with the final selection of apps sent by developers. Four apps that were chosen were Toresto, Komodo Park and two more applications that went on to the global competition; Baby Write Number and TransJakarta S40.

I'm excited that two apps from Indonesia received international recognition. It turns out that the winners on the global competition are the same ones that I selected for the local event. A number of reasons that I considered at that time were: for TransJakarta S40 application, though it looks simple (and probably it's already fixed for the global contest) the information provided is very helpful and very local, especially existing applications (web apps) is intended for the lower to middle range mobile devices; and the same applies for Baby Write Number although similar apps already exists in other platforms but I see this application remains attractive especially for the target market to be achieved.

From the official announcement from Nokia developer blog, the winners came from various countries such as Poland, Colombia, UK, Germany, Kenya, Finland, Egypt and the U.S. Ten winners of the four categories will receive cash prizes and for the three main winners from each category will receive EURO 50,000 each. Application of the winners will also be promoted globally in a variety of channels owned by Nokia; online, social media, newsletters and more. The main winners from each category will also have UX consultation from Nokia and support from top design agency for creating a spotlight banners.

Applications submitted in this global contest came from 61 countries worldwide. APAC (61%), EMEA (33%), and Americas (6%). The top 10 countries with most application submission are India - 353 applications, Indonesia - 149 applications, Kenya - 70 applications, Vietnam - 56 apps, Germany - 54 applications, Philippines - 47 apps, Denmark - 47 applications, Malaysia - 46 applications, Singapore - 37 applications, Brazil - 34 applications. Indonesia submitted the second most number of apps.

Nokia also said that the outcome of the contest aligns with Nokia's strategy for identifying relevant local content (for users). A part of it, the Nokia Store downloads using Nokia Series 40 mobile phones reached more than 30% of Nokia Store total downloads. The development for these devices facility has also been supported by the In-App Purchase and In-App Advertising.

Congratulations to the winners especially for the winners from Indonesia. Hopefully these applications continue to have demand by the users in order to achieve the target market. To have Baby Write Application, you can click this link and for TransJakarta S40 you can click this link.

Here's a list of winners from each category (including the special prize winners):

Access to Knowledge:

1. Baby Write Number by Mico Wendy, Indonesia
2. myQR.Card by Damian Dominiak, Poland
3. YouTube Teletext by David Bello, Colombia

Emotional Closeness:

1. I'm Feeling ..! by Mohammed Diab, Egypt
2. Soundtracker Radio, by Daniele Calabrese, United States
3. qeep, by Stefanie Merten, Germany

Fun and Games:

1. Sushi Loop by Kosti Rytkönen, Finland
2. Sandbox by Alexander Fürgut, Germany
3. Crash Test Dummies 2 by Ledicia Perez, United Kingdom

In the Know:

1. AroundMe by James Mwai, Kenya
2. Heatmap by David Bello, Colombia
3. TransJakarta S40 by Kemas Ramanditya Dimas, Indonesia

Special prizes were given to applications that offer the best touch features, location-based application, and best overall for the Web Series 40 applications.

• Best Series 40 Location-based apps: Locago, submited by Patric Nordström from Sweden.
• Best Series 40 Touch-based apps: Sandbox, submited by Alexander Fürgut from Germany.
• Best Series 40 Web App (Tie - prize money will be split): AroundMe by James Mwai of Kenya, and David Bello HeatMapoleh of Colombia.