Nokia names top Symbian application globally

Winning applications showcase productivity and entertainment

15th April 2002: Nokia has announced the winners of the Nokia Mobile Challenge for Symbian Applications Contest that resulted in an array of compelling applications for Nokia's leading-edge mobile devices. Entrants from areas such as communications, wireless gaming, and business applications competed for the prize of a Nokia 9200 Communicator series device. Top applications included flight information management, a mobile office manager, and mobile imaging.

In the communications category, Mobilized Workforce (Denmark) was awarded the 1st prize for their flight information management and communication tool, "The Wireless Aviator TODC." This application offers flight personnel easy access to key flight- and flight support information while at the airport, thereby optimizing their efficiency and productivity at work. The dedicated Nokia 9200 Communicator series client includes a basic functionality for entering and receiving the parameters for Take-Off Data Calculation (TODC), using a wireless connection to a central application server via the Internet.

The winning application in the productivity enhancers series, "ActiveDesk," designed by Cibenix (Ireland), improves the usability of Nokia 9200 Communicator Series devices through features such as a message scheduler and advanced application management. ActiveDesk allows users to optimize the Communicator desk view, create a schedule for sending & receiving email automatically at a specific time each day, and launch many applications simultaneously.

Iomo (United Kingdom) submitted the winning application for the entertainment category. Packed with a range of imaging features, "FotoFunPack" enhances the fun of the Nokia 7650. With "FotoEdit" Users can edit photos or images received via Multimedia Messaging (MMS) by inserting additional graphical elements such as moustache or a red nose in the picture, and sending the altered pictures to others. The Slider application in FotoFunPack turns images into a funny game by splitting the most recently taken picture into 9, 16 or 25 tiles (depending on difficulty) that are then randomly shuffled on the screen.

In addition, the contest judges of the Nokia Mobile Challenge for Symbian Applications recognized two students for their dedicated effort in designing entertainment applications: Zhenqi Chen created a Mobile DJ application and Pengpeng Yan, a pack of three games, "IG's Game pack." Both winners in the student series come from China. They were awarded with the Nokia 5510 mobile phones.

The evaluation criteria for the winning applications consisted of usability, innovativeness, the usage of communication capabilities, implementation of a Nokia look-and-feel, as well as the business need for the application.

"We are very excited to see a rapidly growing number of software application developers embracing the Symbian platform and C++ language, which allows the creation of native Symbian applications. The quality of the winning applications are a reflection of the power of the Symbian OS for creating innovative and useful tools as well as vertical applications for mobile devices. I would like thank all of the inventive developers who took on this challenge and congratulate the winners," said Jouko Häyrynen, vice president, Forum Nokia.

The Nokia Mobile Challenge contest kicked off in November 2001 to spur developers all over the world to create Java(TM) and Symbian OS applications for Nokia's state-of-the-art devices, such as the Nokia 7650 and Nokia 9200 Communicator series devices. The winners of the Java application contest were announced in March. Altogether, the Nokia Mobile Challenge attracted more than 700 developers.

The winning companies will showcase their applications together with Nokia at the Symbian Expo in April 23-24 in London.

Forum Nokia is Nokia's global developer program, providing a comprehensive portfolio of tools and solutions for application creation, testing and distribution. Developers can get information on new devices and technologies, receive technical support download tools, software development kits (SDKs), emulators, white papers, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Forum Nokia gives developers online exposure, with access to sales channels to operators, enterprises and consumers, as well as offering the Nokia OK program for application testing and evaluation. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.

Media contact information:

Nokia Mobile Phones
Communications
Tel. + 358 7180 08000
Email: nokia.mobile.phones@nokia.com

Charles Chopp
Nokia Americas
Tel. +1 972 894 4573
Email: communication.corp@nokia.com

Cai Yun
Nokia Mobile Phones, China
Tel. +861065392828 (ext.3827)
Email: yun.cai@nokia.com

www.nokia.com

For more information on building Symbian OS based applications, please visit www.forum.nokia.com/symbian. Screenshots and short descriptions of the winning applications are available at www.forum.nokia.com/mobilechallenge.html

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