BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today announced the winners of the 14th Annual Global Mobile Awards at a gala dinner at the National Palace in Barcelona, hosted by the rising star of comedy, Michael McIntyre. The ceremony, one of the highlights of the Mobile World Congress, the leading event for the mobile communications industry, also revealed the Global Champion of the GSMA's 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition.
Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA said: "More than 450 companies spanning internet, finance, advertising, music, television and gaming submitted entries for this year's Awards, reflecting the diversity and breadth and depth of our industry. Even in uncertain economic times mobile is seeing continued growth, with more than 4 billion mobile connections globally, and this growth is driven by innovation in new services, applications and ever richer mobile content. Our congratulations to the winners and all those who participated."
A spectacular evening that showcased the very best in the mobile world, the event included a special guest appearance from producer, artist and front man of the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am, who performed his latest single ahead of his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress on Thursday (Mobile Backstage, 19th February), and was followed by Jamie Cullum, the Grammy, BRIT and two-time Golden Globe nominated jazz artist, who played an exclusive set in front of more than 900 senior executives and mobile industry leaders.
THE 2009 GLOBAL MOBILE AWARDS WINNERS
Best Mobile Game
Winner: Gameloft - Real Football 2009
Highly Commended: Digital Chocolate - AvaPeeps: FlirtNation
Best Mobile Music or Video Service
Winner: BBC iPlayer on Mobile
Best Mobile Advertising Service
Winner: Turkcell - Tonla Kazan
Best Mobile TV Service
Winner: MobiTV - MobiTV
Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service
Winner: Vodafone - Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited
Best Mobile Internet Service
Winner: Nokia - Nokia Sports Tracker
Best Mobile Money Service
Winner: Safaricom and Vodafone - M-PESA
Best Mobile Handset or Device
Winner: INQ - INQ1
Highly Commended: Nokia - Nokia E71
Highly Commended: T-Mobile - T-Mobile G1
Best Broadcast Commercial
Winner: KT Freetel - 'Show is ... '
Best Mobile Brand Campaign
Winner: R/GA London - Nokia Urbanista Diaries
Best Use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development
Winner: Nuance Communications - Airtel-T9 India Consumer Vernacular
Messaging Campaigns
Best Network Technology Advance
Winner: Nokia Siemens Networks - Flexi Multimode BTS Software defined
HSPA/LTE
Best Service Delivery Platform
Winner: NewBay Software - LifeCache Social Networking Solution 2.0
Best Billing & Customer Care Solution
Winner: Expert System - COGITO Answers
Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough
Winner: RIM - BlackBerry Storm 9500 SurePress Screen
The Green Mobile Award
Winner: Smart Communications - Alternative Power for Cell Sites program
GSMA's CEO Award for Outstanding Environmental Contribution
Winner: Nokia
Government Leadership Award
Winner: The Government of France
GSMA Chairman's Award
Winner: Research in Motion (RIM)
Mobile Innovation Global Award Champion Named
The EMEA leg and final stage of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition also took place this week at the Mobile World Congress, where 15 nominees competed in five categories for the chance to pitch their innovative products and services against finalists from the Asia, Americas and Virtual legs of the competition for the title of 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Champion.
THE 2009 MOBILE INNOVATION GLOBAL AWARD CHAMPION
Winner: Cootek, China (Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology)
THE 2009 MOBILE INNOVATION GLOBAL AWARD COMPETITION - EMEA TOURNAMENT
Global Finalist: Advanced Receiver Technologies, USA
Global Finalist: Intivation, Netherlands
And the five category winners are:
Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology
-- Intivation, Netherlands
Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructure or Platform
-- Sunbay, Switzerland
Most Innovative Mobile Application in a Vertical Market
-- WorldMate, USA
Most Innovative Consumer Application or Service
-- Mobile Nordic AS, Norway
Most Innovative True Mobile Start-Up
-- Advanced Receiver Technologies, USA
Mobile Innovation Grand Prix
The GSMA's Mobile Innovation initiative has also launched a new Awards format as part of the 2010 Global Mobile Awards. The Mobile Innovation 'Grand Prix' will showcase promising entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized companies developing and introducing innovative products and services that seek industry support in order to achieve market deployment. The first leg of the competition, the EMEA Tournament, will take place at the World Innovation Summit in Barcelona in June, and entry opens on 25 February 2009.
For more information on the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix please visit: http://www.mobileinnovation.org/awards.
The Platinum sponsor of the Global Mobile Awards is Qualcomm, and category sponsors include: A.T. Kearney (Green Mobile category), Purple Labs (Best Mobile Handset category), Movius (Marketing & Promotion category), HiT (Mobile Entertainment category), and the Government of Catalunya (Mobile Innovation category & host sponsor).
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites more than 750 of the world's mobile operators, as well as 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. For more information, please visit: http://www.gsmworld.com.
