Friday, November 5, 2010

The Carphone Warehouse 2010 Appy Awards

Last night saw the inaugural Appy Awards take place at the Gibson Hotel at the Point Village in Dublin. The awards celebrate innovation and creativity in the app development industry, rewarding its best practitioners for their hard work and business achievements. The Appys are the only dedicated awards programme in Ireland for app development and design, and are open to anyone who developed or paid for the development of a mobile app, on any platform (iOS, Android, Bada, Symbian, Ovi, etc.). The awards featured 17 categories ranging from Best Branded App to Best Travel/Tourism App, as well as a Grand Prix to the best overall app from the last year.

The first ever Grand Prix winner from last night was the RTÉ News Now iPhone app. RTÉ, who were up against a host of innovative and creative apps, were judged to be the best app out of 170 entries.

“I’d like to congratulate RTÉ and the agency that developed the News Now app, DRG, on the Grand Prix win,” said Stephen Conmy, editor of Digital Times and co-founder of the Appys. “The competition for the top prize was quite fierce, there were some great apps entered and most of the apps that made the shortlist show the creativity and utility now abundant in the Irish app sector. I’d also like to thank all our judges for the hard work they put in.”

The full breakdown of category winners was as follows:

CategoryApp nameCompany
Best Augmented Reality / Location Services appDaft.ie iPhone/iPad AppDaft Media Ltd
Best Branded appPaddy Power MobilePaddy Power
Best Business Solutions appSmartgridRedwind Software
Best Consumer Experience / Retail appBetfair for iPhoneBetfair
Best Entertainment / Gaming appMovie ChallengeRedwind Software
Best Media appRTÉ News NowDRG
Best Medical/ Healthcare appPocket HearteMedia Interactive Ltd.
Best Social Networking appAbsolut Fringeeightytwenty/interactive
Best Sports appRTÉ GAAFurious Tribe
Best Tourism/Travel appIreland's Blue BookIreland's Blue Book
Best Education / Learning AppFIS TrainingFurious Tribe
Best use of the Irish Language in an AppGreann GaeilgeMiranda Corp
Best DeveloperDaft - Ciaran MaherDaft
Best Andriod appToday FMCommunicorp Digital
Best Bada appMunster RugbyiMobile
Best OVI appMowbli's HalloweenAxonista
Best Apple appRTÉ News NowDRG
GRAND PRIXRTÉ News NowDRG

While each app was judged on seven different attributes including design, relevance to target market, utility and innovation, Des Doris, founder/organiser of the Appys and MD of Alchemy Events said, “We’ve been really impressed with the standard of entries for such a young media sector, and the app sector is a media sector in its own right now. While this year we’ve concentrated on mobile apps, next year we'd like to see tablet apps, social media apps and even Web TV apps entered. The app sector is changing the media landscape and the way many companies do business and the Appys with The Carphone Warehouse aim to showcase the best Irish apps and their developers.”

Edward Conmy, event director and co-founder, commented: “We’re extremely happy with the response, not just from all those who entered but also from our sponsors and the general digital media/marketing community. The app sector in Ireland is thriving and we hope the Appys will shine a bright light on this creative and energetic media sector. Well done to all those who made the shortlist, who won their categories and of course well done to the Grand Prix winner. For those who are a little disappointed on the night, there’s always next year.”

A huge congratulations to all those who were nominated and especially to all those who won.

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