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Mobile applications of both enterprise as well as individual kinds, have been gaining in popularity in recent times. Consequently, the number of developers and ISVs looking at developing mobile applications too has grown manifold. To give further fillip to this developer community, Reliance Infocomm recently, organized the second nationwide Mobile Application Contest for 2005-06. Having started last year, this contest is now a part of the Reliance Developer Program, an initiative for developers to use the Reliance Infocomm infrastructure to develop marketable mobile applications/services.  This program currently has a member base of over 19,000 registered developers including about 900 small and medium companies.

The contest this year was held in two categories-one that was open to all including individual developers, partnership firms, ISVs, and students, while the other was restricted only to students. A three-member jury comprising Internet guru Vijay Mukhi, decided the winners judging by parameters such as applicability, complexity, design, application over view, and functionality. The four month long contest saw enthusiastic participation from developers across the country. And it provided the winners an important launching pad for showcasing their innovations.

In the general category, Hanuman Chalisa developed by Astute Systems Technology from Indore, bagged the first prize of Rs 2 lakh, while Trivandrum-based Tinfo Mobile bagged the Rs 1 lakh second prize for Teach me Hindi application. An independent developer, Vikas pipped a few ISVs to win the Rs 50,000 third prize for the mobile blogger application. Any contest application, irrespective of whether it wins a prize or not, would receive revenue shares as per the Reliance Standard Revenue Share Agreement, if commercially launched on R World.

Hanuman Chalisa
“Religion is the opium of the masses,” once said Voltaire, and India perfectly fits the bill on that count. There can be little doubt that any mobile application with a religious theme would be a big hit-Hanuman Chalisa scores on that count too, besides its simple and innovative interface. This sacred Hindi religious mantra is being presented for the first time on mobile- the 'Chalisa Dohas' are arranged in two convenient formats-'Detailed' and 'In brief'; it also includes 'How to worship' (Pujan Vidhi) and 'Aarti' in a scrollable format. While colorful images of Lord Hanuman add to the user experience, Hanuman Chalisa application comes both in Hindi as well an English translation. “This is an interactive devotional application that aims at fulfilling the expectations of the people,” says one of the judges.

Teach Me Hindi
A local language interface always widens the scope of any application-something like Teach Me Hindi can be a big hit in India as the same model can be used to teach any Indian language. It is actually a mobile tutorial intended to teach users to read and write Hindi alphabets on the mobile phone. The application draws alphabets in Hindi to teach users how to read/write and a voice engine pronounces the alphabet. There are additional example based inputs to explain usage of alphabets in words besides the option of leaving the tutorial at any time and resuming from there on; and to jump directly to any particular alphabet of interest. “The application exploits the reach and ease of use of the mobile to address the greatest problem facing our country-illiteracy,” says Mahesh Prasad, head of R World, Reliance Infocomm.

Mobile Blogger
From politics to cricket and films to fashion, blogging has become a killer application today on the Internet-this application here successfully exploits the potential of blogging on the mobile. Developed by an independent developer, this application allows an existing blogger to remain in touch with his blog even on the go. It also allows access to most blog sites where one can read and make postings besides allowing the users save the settings of his frequently visited blog sites. Last, but not the least, the application allows a new user to get introduced to the world of blogging by browsing through other blogs posted.

Most bloggers have confessed that quick and easy access to their blogs would enable them to regularly post and update their blog sites. People who have shown a poor track record of regularly posting and updating their blogs have mentioned that to share their experiences, will now be able to do so freuently. Not having access to their blogs immediately to share their experiences is given as a reason by most infrequent bloggers. This application will thankfully solve this problem.

For students developing applications with Reliance Developer Program as part of its University Relations Program, a tripartite revenue sharing agreement is being developed under which Reliance will share a certain revenue percentage of application revenues with students and their institutes for any application, commercially launched on R World. Some of the winning applications in the student category were perhaps even better than those in the general category. While 'Prashnavali' bagged the first prize in the student category, two applications each were given the second and third prizes-an effort to encourage students besides acknowledging the quality of the applications. Snake Catcher and Karaoke were given the second prize, while PixO and Pongball bagged the third prize.

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