SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Nokia today announced the winners in the annual 'Mobile Rules!' competition, the world's leading awards for innovative mobile business plans and cutting-edge applications, services and technologies from developers and entrepreneurs from around the globe.

The annual Mobile Rules! Awards recognize initiatives from emerging application and technology developers and business startups worldwide. The rapid convergence of mobile and other technologies and functionalities has lead to a wide-range of entries creating new value and exciting services and applications for the mobile workforce and the mobile lifestyle.

Announced at a ceremony in the heart of Silicon Valley at San Jose City Hall, the Mobile Rules! 08 Awards were the climax to an eight-month selection process in which winners were chosen from hundreds of entries in three main competition tracks: Best Business Plan, Mobile Application and Technology Innovation.

"Nokia is very pleased to announce the winners of the Mobile Rules! '08 competition, who with their ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit typify an emerging wave tapping into today's exciting convergence of mobility and the Internet," said Tom Libretto, Vice President, Forum Nokia. "Open platforms and the millions of smartphone devices available today are helping enable this new wave of entrepreneurs from around the globe to become drivers of the future global mobile marketplace through the innovative technologies, applications and business models they create today."

In addition to Best Business Plan, Grand Prize winners were announced in four mobile application categories including Multiplayer/Connected Games, Multimedia, Enterprise and Infotainment, while Technology Innovation Awards went to winners in the categories of Future Device Architecture, Future Touch and Feel, Mobile Multimedia and User Interface. The Grand Prize Award recipients were:

Best Business Plan Name of Company: MedApps(TM) Application: MedApps Mobile Wireless Health Monitoring System

MedApps Inc. headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, and founded in July 2006, is partnering and working with major medical device manufacturers, telecom companies, medical software companies, chip and component manufacturers and healthcare organizations to introduce its Telemedicine 2.0 Solution on a national level. MedApps was recently named to the Fierce Health IT Top 10 Healthcare IT Innovators for 2007, a notable distinction among healthcare IT startups. More information is available online at: http://www.medapps.net/.

Best Mobile Application - Name of Developer: MyStrands Multimedia Application: MyStrands Social Player

MyStrands Social Player for Symbian OS enables users to discover and play new music of their liking, meet new people with similar musical tastes and find out how much their music is played and by whom. The MyStrands MP3 player supports select S60 3rd edition devices. MyStrands develops technologies to better understand people's tastes and help them discover new things they like and didn't know about already. More information at: http://www.mystrands.com/.

Best Mobile Application - Name of Developer: GAMICA Multiplayer/Connected Games Application: Sumo-Sumo

Sumo-Sumo is a highly anticipated mobile multiplayer action game published by the Netherlands-based GAMICA, a leading mobile games publisher acclaimed for creating the next generation connected mobile video games for a world-wide consumer market. GAMICA's mobile games push the boundaries of creativity and technology and create the most entertaining gaming experience possible. More information at: http://www.gamica.com/.

Best Mobile Application - Name of Developer: Earthcomber LLC Infotainment Application: Earthcomber

Earthcomber is an innovative navigation software that relies on entirely free GPS-enabled maps, "Look Lists" and "Community" features to let users specify exact types of restaurants, shops, ATMs, hotels and other landmarks and plot them on a map. Users join or create groups that let them share or discover spots like where movies were shot, where crimes occurred, sites of public art or places to spot wildlife or enjoy dog parks, pictures, picnics, or freebies. More information at: http://www.earthcomber.com/.

Best Mobile Application - Name of Developer: UpCode Ltd/UPC Enterprise Consulting Ltd Application: UpCode parking

UpCode parking is a 'point&click' mobile solution using the highly developed UpCode(TM) program, which enables a mobile phone to act as an optical reader to 'scan' any physical object, on any surface or on-screen by 'clicking' at a mobile barcode. UpCode is free for non-commercial and non- professional use and users pay only according to existing Internet tariffs charged by the mobile service provider. More information at: http://www.upc.fi/en/upcode/

Best Technology Innovation - Name of Developer: GENUSION, Inc. Future Device Architecture Application: B4-Flash Memory

GENUSION provides advanced memory products for electronic and mobile devices, from computers to cellular phones and from PDAs to electric home appliances. GENUSION's memory products are built on the company's own SiP design capability and inherent memory technologies, in collaboration with leading semiconductor makers, AT manufacturers and sales companies. The company's new B-4 Flash product is a highly scalable Flash memory, with demonstrated high reliability and high programming speed. More information is available online at: http://www.genusion.co.jp/.

Best Technology Innovation - Name of Developer: Kareline Oy Ltd Future Touch and Feel Application: Kareline Natural Composites

Kareline Oy Ltd manufactures third-generation natural fiber composites for an innovative combination of the properties of natural fibers and plastics. Offering new possibilities in environmentally friendly injection molding or extrusion molding that meet all environmental requirements, Kareline Natural Composites can be extensively customized to meet the look-and-feel requirements of mobile phones and other handheld devices. More information is available online at: http://www.kareline.fi/.

Best Technology Innovation - Name of Developer: kannuu Inc. Mobile Multimedia Application: kannuu

kannuu search technology enables mobile device users to find a result with lighting speed and accuracy. Relying on elegantly simple Partial Word Completion(TM) technology, combined with just a joystick or touch screen, kannuu delivers a fast, seamless and error-free search experience. Instead of traditional linear methods, kannuu's exponential search algorithm ensures that as the database gets larger, kannuu becomes more efficient, requiring fewer clicks to achieve a result. More information is available online at: http://www.kannuu.com/

Best Technology Innovation - Name of Developer: Tiki'labs User Interface Application: Tiki(R) 6 keys

Tiki'labs was founded in Paris in 2006 promote and improve brain output processes and devices in order to facilitate the way humans interact with electronic and multimedia objects, and through them, with knowledge and other humans. Combining state of the art MMI with the patented Tiki(R) system and process, Tiki(R) 6 keys is a patented highly simplified user interface that relies on just six keys to deliver full messaging and communication capabilities. More information is available online at: http://www.tikilabs.com/

Grand Prizes in the Mobile Rules! '08 Award include the right to negotiate solution development and product creation with Nokia and other competition sponsors and participation in an Innovation Expo to be held at Nokia headquarters in Espoo, Finland. Winners also receive the right to use the title "Mobile Ruler '08" in all promotional materials.

In its second year of existence, the 'Mobile Rules!' competition promotes excellence in the development of advanced solutions for the mobile environment and in the launch of innovative businesses and technologies for mobile.

Corporate sponsors of Mobile Rules! 08 included Accel, Advanced Technology Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, CMEA Ventures, FinNode, IDEO, Nexit, Nokia Growth Partners, Orange, Palo Alto Software, SINA, SK Telecom International, SVASE, Swisscom, Vision Capital and ZEF Solutions. Media and Community sponsors included GigaOM, LIVEdigitally, Mobile Game Developer Magazine, Red Herring, Teknopreneur Indonesia, Stirr and VentureBeat.

Further information about 'Mobile Rules!' can be found online at: http://www.mobilerules.org/. For more information on Mobile Rules! Best Technology Innovation competition, visit: http://www.mobilerules.org/technology

About Forum Nokia

Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at http://www.forum.nokia.com/.

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.

CONTACT: Kasey Farrar, Nokia Communications, Global Developer Program,
+1-914-255-1037, Kasey.Farrar@nokia.com

Web site: http://www.forum.nokia.com/
http://www.mobilerules.org/