Bangkok--Nov 17--DTAC
DTAC, Nokia, BECi Corporation together with Software Park and SIPA will jointly organize DTAC & Nokia iAwards to promote development of mobile applications among university and college students.
The contest, previously known as DTAC-Nokia Dot Award, will focus on three key areas including creative idea, innovation and effective deployment of information technology in developing mobile applications.
DTAC’s Products and Services Group Director Pipatpong Poshyanonda says, “The contest has drawn a lot of interests among Thai youths who have greater enthusiasm in mobile application development. Nokia will provide training to the students participating in this year’s contest. BECi will also help us promote the event through radio and TV spots and allow their audiences to vote for the best entry via SMS. This year’s contest aims to promote teamwork among all contestants and allows students from all academic fields to participate. So there will be a grand prize for the first place overall champion and prizes for each winning team of four different areas”.
DTAC’s Consumer Product Management’s Assistant Department Director Machida Techapaibul adds that this year’s contest will be slightly different from the previous ones as it will be held under the ‘Interactive Community’ theme with focus will being paid on four specific areas (4-dimensioned applications) including Communication, Entertainment, Information and Business.
“Each team doesn’t need to have students from these four areas but they must ensure that their application is not only creative but also business and technology realistic and viable,” says Machida.
To promote the contest, the companies will jointly organize a series of roadshows at nine universities in Bangkok and other provinces. The roadshow will be accompanied by leading mobile application developers who will share their knowledge and skills with the visited universities’ students.
A training will also be held on 4 December at Software Park to enhance the contestants’ skills and knowledge before the contest begins. The training, covering a wide range of topics including IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), MMS, SMS, WAP, Symbian, Java, Java SIM, Mobile Internet, Marketing, Creative thinking, and future trends of mobile application, will also opens for interested individuals who would like to improve their knowledge on mobile application technology.
Nokia (Thailand) Ltd.’s Account Director, Suwit Pruckwattananon, says Nokia’s focus for this year has been around the promotion of IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) technology which supports deployment of new advanced applications and multimedia services especially person-to-person multimedia communications solutions. The technology, when run on DTAC’s high-speed EDGE network, can also greatly improve interactivity among people using real-time mobile applications such as real time video streaming, online gaming and content sharing. IP Multimedia has been trusted as a new evolution of mobile industry which opens up for more new applications from young developers.
This year’s contest is expected to deliver a number of new, innovative interactive services that can make life easier for mobile users. The final 36 selected teams will attend a professional training and workshop run by Nokia’s specialists and experts in information, communication, entertainment and business industries.
Interested students can apply now until 13 December 2004. For more information, please visit www.dtaciawards.com or call 02-392-7766. End.