The Vodafone App Star competition is open to any developer across the world and closes on 31 March 2010. Developers can choose to submit their app into one of eight markets (UK, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal or Spain) and the best entry in each market will receive €25,000. The second and third best entries will receive €15,000 and €10,000.
The winning entries from each market will then progress to a second round of the competition, where the top eight apps will be put to the public vote. The app with the highest number of public votes will win an additional €75,000, with the second place app receiving €25,000.
Budding developers searching for inspiration need look no further than the recent winner of the Vodafone 360 Developer Conference App Star Auditions, held at Mobile World Congress last month.
Smartrunner, a sports-tracking and geo-tracking app that helps you stay in shape using your mobile, was voted the best app at the show by an audience of international developers, winning a €1,000 cash prize as well as a Samsung H1 device. The German application informs you in real time about your average and maximum speed, distance and calories burnt.
Location-based services also rated highly among the developers attending the show: Italian-based Mobnotes, which provides a simple way of telling friends where you are and what you do, came in a close second followed by InfoBus Sevilla, a useful Spanish app to for checking waiting times at bus stops. Further highly commended apps from the show included Mirotele, a Spanish widget, which recommends the best TV programmes any day and time according to your likes and preferences, and Weatherbug, a British app which provides current UK weather information.
Vodafone’s internal research has found that Lifestyle & Entertainment is the most popular application category in the Vodafone 360 Apps Shop across all markets, while the most under represented categories are Shopping, Social Networks, Food & Drink and Weather.
Developers can enter the Vodafone App Star competition at www.jil.org/vodafone/appstar