300 students dreaming of developing the next killer app participated in Microsoft Israel's two-day programmer competition in Tel Aviv last week, even though Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) does not sell Windows Phone 7-based smartphones in Israel. Such smartphones bought on the open market do have Hebrew support.
Microsoft business group leader Nir Tenzer says, "Most developers in Israel do not target only the domestic market."
The huge popularity of Google Inc's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android and Apple Inc's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone did not deter the Israeli programmers at Microsoft's venue. "Israeli developers know about Windows Phone," says Tenzer. "It's very easy to develop applications for this platform, which can also run applications on PCs." He added that some of the developers would receive academic credits for their participation.
Two College of Management students, Aviv Zazati and Eyal Atzmon, won first prize for their application, Dirty Bit, which can build e-music files and change the beat using body movements while holding a mobile phone.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev students Vitali Margolin and Sarit Kadosh won second prize for their application, Wake Me Up, designed for people traveling on public transport who tend to fall asleep during the ride. Using the smartphone's GPS, the application wakes the person up five minutes before arriving at his or her destination.
Four Ben Gurion University students, Amitai Oliver, Litan Ilani, Oren Kaplan, and Meir Leuchter, won third prize for their application Cash-It, which monitors monthly expenditures. The user inserts the time and amount of expenditures, based on 12 categories, and the application analyzes the expenses to help the user avoid deviating from his or her budget. Litan says that a similar application exists on the Android.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2011
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