3, Google, Orange Partner and Sony Ericsson Join Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series as Judging Panelists
Tele Atlas Announces Semi-finalists of LBS Innovator Series “LBS-Out the Box” Contest; Winners to be Showcased at Mobile World Congress 2009
Gent, Belgium, 21 January 2009 — Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced 3, Google, Orange Partner and Sony Ericsson have joined the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series as panel judges, demonstrating the series’ increasing industry value and ability to fuel wireless and Web location-enabled application development. Tele Atlas also announced Commandro, MobGeo, Nulaz, Rummble, Texperts and Webwag as semi-finalists in the inaugural Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series “LBS-Out the Box” contest.
“Today’s mobile device user seeks powerful features and relevant content that directly enhance their immediate mobile experience,” said Jens Greve, Head of Developer Program, Content Planning and Management, Sony Ericsson. “The Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series has a proven record of fostering exciting application development and we are pleased to participate in the Series to help developers enhance their applications with location information and help bring them to market.”
"We're excited about the potential to combine mobile broadband services with the ability to connect them with the point of access," said Professor Ed Candy, CTO, 3. "Initiatives such as the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series help drive new technologies and bring forward exciting new products and services. The current dramatic growth of mobile broadband is re-invigorating our interest in location based services and it is exciting to see such strong new concepts coming through."
“LBS – Out the Box” is part of the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series, an ongoing program held in conjunction with Tele Atlas DeveloperLinkSM to help foster innovation and enable application developers to increase their visibility, credibility and success with key participants in the industry including carrier operators and technology providers. The semi-finalists were judged based on commercial viability and innovative use of maps in the application in two categories: Market Ready, which includes commercially-ready LBS applications targeted at consumers, and Disruption Innovation, which includes location-enhanced solutions designed to push the boundaries in the LBS market.
Over €100,000 prizes will be awarded, including cash and Tele Atlas map data licenses and the two grand prize winners will showcase their applications on the Tele Atlas stand at Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. Notably, finalists and winners in previous Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series programs have leveraged their success to launch commercial location-based solutions.
The 2008 LBS-Out the Box semi-finalists are:
Market Ready Category
• MobGeo, a location-aware advertising platform that extends classic mobile marketing with location targeted information, advertising, vouchers and immediate customer feedback;
• Nulaz, a Web 2.0 service for the mobile phone and Internet that combines location-based information with social networking tools; and
• Webwag, a Web and mobile widgets framework that uses map data to build any map-centric applications that work on any device and includes advanced capabilities such as positioning and communications.
Disruptive Innovation Category
• Commandro, a universal mobile, map-centric application designed for Android to integrate mobile social networking with location-based gaming;
• Rummble, a location-based discovery tool and social search platform designed to learn and enable consumers to find people and places nearby based on their individual preferences; and
• Texperts, a “mobile find” service that allows users to text a question to a team of research experts who provide individually tailored, relevant answers and information including location-related content straight to the users mobile.
“This initial LBS Series event in EMEA generated strong response from the developer community and the semi-finalists represent a range of Web and mobile offerings that leverage digital map data and related content to deliver powerful applications,” said Simon Glassman, Director of Wireless Markets, Tele Atlas. “Tele Atlas is most pleased to welcome industry leaders such as 3, Google, Orange and Sony Ericsson to participate in the growing Series as panel judges and we look forward to further collaborating to spur industry innovation.”
The Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series features industry events and competitions including the new LBS-Out the Box contest, Maps in Apps contest, and Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series held at the Wireless Innovations Conference and Mobile Technology Summit produced by Dow Jones VentureWire. More information on the programs, including details for submitting applications, is available at: http://www.lbsseries.com.
About Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power many of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS). Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company was founded in 1984 and has offices in 24 countries around the world. Today, Tele Atlas maps are developed with the insight of a community of millions of GPS system users worldwide, who are adding to the company’s unmatched network of sources to track and validate changes in real time, and deliver the best digital maps and dynamic content. For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com. Tele Atlas is a subsidiary of TomTom N.V.
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For additional information, please contact:
Sandra Van Hauwaert
Tele Atlas
+32(0)497 25 18 16
Sandra.VanHauwaert@teleatlas.com
