NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge™ – Asia-Pacific Winner

20 June 2008, 9:28pm

NAVTEQ, a leading global provider of digital map data for location-based solutions and vehicle navigation, announced during an awards ceremony at CommunicAsia 2008 that Joikusoft is the Grand Prize Winner of this year’s NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge – Asia-Pacific (APAC).

As the Grand Prize Winner, Joikusoft received a prize package valued at $275,000 USD, including $50,000 USD in cash and $225,000 USD in NAVTEQ data licences. Joikusoft’s solution, JoikuSpot, is a free location-aware mobile software solution which turns Nokia Smartphones into hotspots. When the software is installed on the phone, laptops and internet tablets can establish wireless internet connections via the phone’s 3G internet connection. Virtually any wireless device can become its own hotspot.

Three runners-up - Road-Guard; Point-I; and Pacific DataVision – each received $7,500 USD in cash along with data licences valued at $150,000 USD. Road-Guard’s GreenDrive™ patented technology helps drivers develop smart and safe driving techniques that lead to average fuel savings of 10-25%. GreenDrive senses the nature and significance of impending road attributes which influence fuel consumption and alerts the driver and provides drivers with both real-time and historical information about their eco-driving performances.

Point-I’s solution, On2Gether, provides communication, location information, security and entertainment all at once. Location-based features include message, call and chatting, avatars, and pictures between friends. On2gether also provides indirect exposure of location information by showing only the distance on the home screen, and helps guarantee security by sending the location periodically when in safety mode. On2gether is perfect for social networking between friends.

Pacific DataVision’s solution, SkyMail, enables mobile workers to quickly send a prioritised voice message with their location from a mobile phone to any email address in the world. Locator for SkyMail provides user-initiated tracking and includes GPS coordinates, physical address, an interactive map, and timestamp in addition to the SkyMail voice message.

The Global LBS Challenge

The annual Global LBS Challenge, which has established a reputation as the premier event in the location-based services (LBS) industry, invites developers to build innovative location-enabled applications which work with mobile phones and/or wireless handheld devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ map data. The announcement of the APAC winners concludes the 2008 Global LBS Challenge which also had winners in the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) region and Americas region announced earlier in the year. The total value of prizes, consisting of cash and data licences awarded by NAVTEQ and sponsors, totaled over $4.5 million USD.

The twelve finalists representing the APAC region embodied a broad spectrum of wireless applications and were selected based on commercial feasibility, functionality, ease of use and design. The final judging panel included executives from Autodesk, Bridge Mobile, Celcom, Garmin, Mobility Magazine, Motorola, Nokia, Reliance Entertainment, Singapore Land Authority, Singtel, and SK Telecom. Since the launch of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge in 2003, approximately 25% of the finalist companies have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially distributed applications, many on major wireless carriers.

Nokia returned as a three-time Global Sponsor of this year’s contest, with the Nokia N95 serving as the Official Device of the 2008 Global LBS Challenge. Autodesk also returned as a multi-year sponsor and as a Global Sponsor for the first time. GPS World was the Media Sponsor.

"Nokia is proud of our ongoing sponsorship with the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge, which consistently surfaces leading-edge mobile LBS applications for the market. It’s been especially valuable for us this year to see the wide breadth of LBS solutions, all designed and presented on the GPS-enabled Nokia N95,” said Kenny Mathers, head of Forum Nokia APAC developer relations, Nokia.

“Through our sponsorship of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge, Autodesk is pleased to extend the reach of our leading platforms and tools to the LBS developer community, especially in the Asia-Pacific region where opportunity abounds. The Global LBS Challenge aligns with our goal of helping developers bring their cutting-edge solutions to market, faster,” commented Rod Egdorf, head of worldwide sales and marketing, Autodesk Location Services.

“The Global LBS Challenge for the APAC region has been extremely successful both in terms of incredible interest as well as the quality of the applications submitted. With the richness of developer talent and the advancement of mobile technology in the region, the future of LBS in Asia-Pacific is extremely promising,” commented Jeff Mize, executive vice president, sales, NAVTEQ. “NAVTEQ congratulates all the regional winners of the 2008 Global LBS Challenge and looks forward to next year’s competition.”

For more information about the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge, go to www.LBSChallenge.com.

www.LBSChallenge.com

Geo: International