Vodafone India declares appStar global contest winners

Vodafone has announced the winners of second edition of the global “Vodafone appStar” event held in Bangalore recently. The winners from five countries (India, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania) competed under the two categories: Upcoming Developer and Established Developer. The top honours were taken by teams from Kenya and Ghana. The winners now have the opportunity to visit the “Mecca” of mobile community – Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

The Indian edition of the second annual Vodafone appStar contest received tremendous response from app developers across the country. The contest received over registrations 1,000 developers with over 300 app submissions. India was represented by Maven Systems and Apalya.

The contest provided an opportunity for Indian brands, e-tailers, online players and developers who specialize in apps for specific verticals to build and showcase their best apps across categories: Gaming, Utility, Health, Education and App for good. The contest saw major companies like Snapdeal, Chifro, RailYatri, Zed, Apalya, Nimbuzz and more competing for the honours of representing India in the global arena.

The event was attended by developers, representatives from each of the participating countries, VCs, industry experts, bloggers and media people. Pratapa Bernard, VP & Director, Vodafone Solutions for Emerging Markets & Xone Innovations, presented the opening address and spoke about the top consumer themes for 2015. Ravi Santhanam, EVP, Corporate Marketing, Vodafone India, presented the keynote address and spoke about the three pillars of successful “data” business – “Network, Devices & Content” and emphasized the need for localized and relevant content to be successful in emerging markets. Joseph Ogutu, Director for Strategy & Innovations at Safaricom Kenya, spoke about the innovations happening in Africa in the mobile space.

Judges (including Vodafone senior managers, venture capitalists and industry experts) evaluated the solutions and declared the winners.