An app that assists users to remotely lock down their lost smartphone, back up contacts and track its past locations on the map, conceptualised and developed in a day, was adjudged as the best app in the ‘AppFest 2012’ here on Saturday. Another app ‘Rosary Mate’, a personal virtual prayer partner, and an app, ‘Memory Booster’, which promises to boost memory, were adjudged second and third respectively in the AppFest 2012.
Nearly 400 developers participated in the three-day AppFest 2012 organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) at HICC. The ‘Hackathon’ and ‘Challengathon’ commenced on Friday during which the developers were given a time of 24 hours to develop apps in the Hackathon, while in the Challengathon, several companies asked the developers to designs apps for their products.
Working non-stop for 24-hours, the developers slogged all through the night till wee hours of Saturday and came up with finished products on Saturday morning.
Though the judges faced a formidable task of scrutinising a large number of applications, they were apparently impressed by the night-long effort. “This is the first AppFest where large number of coders have managed to submit a finished product. Usually, in such fests, they fail to develop the application from the conceptual stage. Here it was very different,” observed CTO and Co-Founder of Vserv.mobi, Ashay Padwal, who was one of the judges in AppFest 2012.
Engineering graduates S. Nithin Reddy, Ashish Das and Paulami Roy Choudhary, the developers of the mobile security app, walked away with a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh. “You can control your phone remotely by using our app. If you have misplaced your phone, there is a lock down or scream option. If your select scream option, then even if you have kept phone in silent mode, it will raise alarm,” explains an elated, S. Nithin Reddy. The feature-rich app works on all platforms and was developed within 24 hours.
City-based developers Shibu Devasia and Ken. M. Raja, who developed the ‘Rosary Mate’ app walked away with a second prize - a cash award of Rs. 75,000. “Our app helps users to pray on the go. With this app, users will get a step-by-step instruction on how to pray the Rosary of Blessed Virgin Mary. When users complete the prayer, a Rosary appears on the screen,” explains Shibu, who runs a start-up EthicCoders and specialises in spiritual apps.
The duo of J. Adilakshmi Visali and K. Sriram, who came up with ‘Memory Booster’ app, received a high-end laptop for their efforts. “The app enables users to remember numbers. It has nine text boxes and at random these boxes are filled by numbers. The users have to observe these numbers and later recall them within 30 seconds. This app is good for persons with Alzheimer’s, because it keeps the brain alert. It is useful for children also, they said.
The winners of the Challengathon were notified to the participants. The results are likely to be made public by Monday.
