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The QU Wireless Innovations Center Launches First Ever Annual Regional Mobile Application Development Contest
Published Aug 8, 2010
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The QU Wireless Innovations Center (QUWIC) has announced plans to launch the first ever annual regional mobile application development contest, which will cover multiple phone platforms. The contest comes as an initiative of QUWIC with the support of co-sponsors, the Qtel Group and Al Jazeera Network.
Full details of this initiative, including rules for entry, will be made available in September, but the organisers are keen to connect with potential entrants as early as possible.
The competition is designed to encourage greater regional involvement in application development, and to provide a platform for local developers.
QUWIC has been heavily involved in mobile applications development since its foundation in 2009, particularly in the field of Arabic language applications.
This contest supports the wider objective of QUWIC to position Qatar as a regional hub for research and development in telecom and wireless applications and services. It also aims to discover and encourage young talent from the region to play an active role in this important and emerging space.
"We are very proud to be the organizers of this event." said Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director, QUWIC.
"Mobile applications are one of the fastest growing areas of the telecommunications industry and the Middle East represents a major growth market. Our aim is to become a major contributor to developing culturally relevant applications in Arabic that will improve the quality of life in our communities."
The mobile applications market is forecast to reach $17.5 billion by 2012 and surpass the market for CDs, which is projected to reach $13.8 billion*during the same period. Additionally, mobile apps downloads across all types of handsets are projected to increase from over 7 billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012, up 92% year over year.
Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO the Qtel Group, said: "Collaborative innovation is indispensable and today's market imposes it. As part of our strategy to encourage local and regional innovation and content development, the Qtel Group is pleased to be the exclusive telecom supporter of this contest. By engaging with students and developers, we are working towards promoting the growth of a community of connected constituents and real time, anywhere communications in the Middle East and North Africa region."
The contest will be open to students and professional individual developers in the region, with further details on categories and timings to be revealed in September. More information can be found on the web page: www.quwic.com/contest
Wadah Khanfar, Director General of Al Jazeera Network stated: "Al Jazeera is pleased to be part of this initiative, which centres on youth in the Arab world. It will help to stimulate innovation and creativity in the region and will also serve as a great catalyst to discover talented mobile developers. Having more local and culturally-specific applications is an important endeavour and I see this initiative as contributing to advancing development in this important field."
QUWIC is already active in developing Mobile Tele-Health, Educational and Informational Applications that utilize emerging wireless technologies and products to create regionally relevant applications for a number of customer-driven uses.
"We are very excited about this contest and I would like to thank our sponsors, the Qtel Group and Al Jazeera Network for their trust and support. We are looking forward to the results of the contest and I am confident that we will be proud of the quality of talents that we will discover," concluded Dr. Abu Dayya.
For more information:
Aziz Louksah
T: +974 55736001
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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