You don’t think this contest offers opportunities? Check this out... since it’s launch 6 apps submitted to the Challenge have been commercialized, 7 companies have received joint VC funding, and one company was acquired (by Google). Last year’s winner of the LBS Challenge, Bones in Motion, just recently had their application launched by Sprint Nextel.

The tagline beamed on the wall read a simple message… “Tomorrow begins today”. Winston Guillory, Senior VP, Navteq greeted the crowd and opened the gala with words about the theme of the contest – location is everywhere. Guillory offered his thanks to US carriers Sprint and Verizon wireless who have now rolled out their own flavors of location-based services to customers and have stimulated growth and interest in the technology. Thanks to these leaders, in-vehicle and portable navigation solutions are now widely available. As a testament to the popularity in-vehicle location services taking place in Europe, Guillary noted that the number one target item from vehicle thefts in Europe is now portable navigation hardware!

Winston Guillory, Senior VP, Navteq

According to Dale Beasley, LBS manager Verizon Wireless “LBS is really starting to take off and it’s an exciting time for everyone”.

Prior to announcing the winners, we heard about the staggering growth in response to the challenge that Navteq has offered developers. The first year (2004) the contest saw 42 entries and the number swelled to 182 applications in 2005. This year the judges had a huge task in selecting winners from 256 submissions categorized as business, navigation, entertainment & leisure, and social networking.

Sponsored by nokia, the LBS challenge recognizes excellence in the booming market for location-based services. Nokia obviously recognizes the opportunities that exist for developers of applications that run on Nokia devices.

And the winners of the 2006 North American Navteq LBS challenge…

Business Applications Category

Winner – tierravision’s Workspace Locator (San Diego, CA) - LBS application providing a convenient mapping interface for workspace CRM and GPS tracking of users.
Runners-up
Eurekamobile from Astroleap (mobile coupons, developed on ESRI)
Where2Talk from Clarity (integrated PTT with navigation developed on Telcontar)
workspace locator from Tierravision (Developed with tools from NIM and Telcontar)
Searchquest – real estate notes, MLS, directions (developed on NIM)

Entertainment and Leisure Category

Winner Loc-aid Treasure from LOC-AID – a location-based treasure hunt game (developed on ESRI)
Runners-up
Hot-n-cold by Cutlass Inc. – locate the hide-out with sms, gps multi-user game play (built on ESRI)
Jewel Chaser from TIK games - jewel chaser, cops robber adventure (built using Autodesk LS)

Navigation Category

Winner – Loki from Skyhook Wireless – a mass consumer LBS app using Wi-Fi to match the users’ location and incorporate it into their search to enable delivery of location-sensitive information.
Runners-up
iPointer, Intelligent Spatial Technologies – point a retrieve POI information (powered by Sirf)
Mobile 7 from Route66 - onboard navigation, POI (Nokia tools for Symbian OS devices)
TCS Places from TCS - a location app for maps, directions, and POI

Social Networking Category

Winner – Proxpro – a professional profile research utility to locate friends and contacts (developed using Autodesk LS)
Runners-up
Mobile Pooch by Knowledge Where (built on ESRI)
Socialight – messaging, location, share sticky notes with sounds, images, and txt (Developed using Autodesk LS)

And the Grand prize winner of $50k cash, $100k in Navteq licenses – tierravision’s Workspace Locator

The Winners accept a nice big pay cheque for their efforts!

The Event Keeps Getting Bigger!

Developers that have missed out or are just launching their LBS applications, the 2007 LBS challenge is already in the works and Navteq announced that the contest will be even bigger and better [if that’s possible]. For 2007 developers will have a longer window, making submission a bit easier for some – Registration opens May 15, 2006 and supporting the developer community, Navteq will be launching a newly created Developers Forum. Taking this one step further, how about a developer conference? That’s correct, Navteq used the LBS Challenge awards to announce word of the 2006 Navteq LBS Developers Conference… no firm date has been set but expect this to take place this fall. A good bet is that the event will take place at or near the fall CTIA Wireless IT event slated to take place in Los Angeles, CA.

Attendees of the challenge get to meet the developers for a one-on-one demo of their applications.

Sponsors already on board for 2007 include Autodesk location services, Sirf, ESRI, and Telcontar (Navteq is hopeful that Nokia will once again show support by taking the role as “the BIG” sponsor). Developers are encouraged to submit LBS apps that run on one of the platforms developed by the event sponsor. Also for 2007, developers in the Asia Pacific can expect a judging to take place somewhere in their neck of the woods. Recall this past year a European LBS challenge award ceremony took place in Barcelona at 3GSM, expect this event to mirror that one with a focus on applications and developers from the Asia-Pacific region… stay tuned!

LBS Challenge will have Asia/Pacific Judging next year

The annual Navteq LBS Challenge is validating the demand for Location-Based Services and is providing a huge boost in awareness for developers around the Globe.  Handsets are adding GPS in phones and some 70 million+ US wireless subscribers will soon have this technology available to them. For developers seeking recognition and a chance at securing validation and users for their applications, the LBS challenge is a tremendous resource and a must consider. With judging in North America, Europe, and now, Asia/Pacific this event is growing stronger every year. Keep an eye open for word on the coming Navteq Developers Conference and start preparing your LBS applications to submit them in the 2007 LBS Challenge, slated to open for entries May 15, 2006.

For photos from the 2006 Navteq LBS challenge, see this LBS challenge Photo Gallery

See Also:

• www.navteq.com
• www.lbschallenge.com