THE PHILIPPINES, OCTOBER 2011: Smart Communications, Inc. announced that the company is now accepting entries for the mobile applications category of the 8th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards from partner schools under the Smart Wireless Engineering and Education Program (SWEEP) and the Application Developers Intro School (ADIS).
The mobile applications category is a new category designed to encourage the development of mobile applications that run on the Android platform.
The announcement was made in simple ceremonies highlighted by Smart’s donation of two Netphone devices to the University of Makati. Each of the 52 partner schools under SWEEP and ADIS will be provided two Netphone devices to help in the development of applications for the Android 2.2 platform.
“This donation is symbolic of Smart’s commitment to create a community of Android developers. We’ve already trained over 170 ECE and IT teachers from our partner schools on mobile apps development using the Android platform. As a result, some of these schools are now offering Android apps development as an elective, drawing over 1,000 student enrollees,” said Smart Public Affairs Group Head Ramon Isberto.
The introduction of a separate category for mobile applications development is aligned with “Innovation in the Palm of Your Hand”, this year’s theme of Smart’s annual search for the best wireless applications development by SWEEP schools.
The mobile apps category is in addition to the regular competition exclusive to SWEEP schools, which encourages the development of end-to-end mobile broadband applications or solutions using Smart’s platform of products and services to address problems, issues or needs of communities or industries.
Under the mobile apps category, student-faculty teams are encouraged to develop entries in two categories: games and entertainment, and productivity. Deadline for the submission of entries is November 18, 2011. SWEEP and ADIS partner schools are encouraged to visit www.smartsweep.ph for the mechanics as well as the entry forms.
Smart’s move to expand the Android developer community is part of its thrust to promote the use of smart phones in the Philippines starting with the Netphone. Launched just last month, Smart’s Netphone 701 runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system (version 2.2 “FroYo”) allowing it to run the latest mobile apps.
