MADRID, 2 Sep. (Portaltic/EP) -
The Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition to find the best mobile Internet start-up in Europe reaches its final phase and Vodafone has announced the names of the seven finalist companies. Among them is Frogtek, an application of Spanish firm aimed at facilitating management tasks to businesses in developing countries.
The Director of Content Services of the Vodafone Group, Lee Epting, highlights that "the expectation created every year to discover the innovative ideas that are born from the Vodafone Mobile Clicks contest is incredible".
The competition is a launching pad for start-ups that innovate in services for the mobile Internet market. "The representatives of each country have demonstrated not only creativity and innovation, but have also been able to provide a special added value to users, which is the idea that really makes them stand out in this contest," adds Epting.
Among the seven finalists, Wunderlist (German) is the first completely free application management platform with unlimited synchronization and data exchange over the air.
Skylines is a Dutch candidate. This company offers a real-time image search platform. Combining data from social networks such as Instagram, Yfrog, Twitpic, Skylines is updated with more than one million photos daily.
Hole19, a Portuguese company, is a mobile web platform aimed at golfers, putting them in contact with different teachers and golf courses.
The UK also has a candidate start-up, ParcelGenie, the world's first instant gift delivery service. It allows you to send gifts to family and friends, as easily as sending an e-mail or a text message.
On the other hand, there is the Irish HeyStaks, a search service connected to Google, Bing and Yahoo! that offers increasingly relevant results as the search progresses.
The Spanish candidate is Frogtek, an application that makes it easier for small traders in developing countries to direct the finances of their business.
Finally, BillGastro is a Turkish company that offers restaurant owners a point of sale from a mobile application that allows customers to book a table, order food online and publish news and events in a simple way.
The final will take place on September 15 and 16 at the Dutch Picnic Festival, where the seven national winners will represent their respective countries. A jury of experts from the mobile industry will choose the final winner.
This jury will be formed by Rudy de Waele, founder of Mobile 2.0 Europe and dotopen; Peter Barry, de VodafoneVentures; Paul Jozefak, de Neuhaus Partners; Reshma Sohoni, from Seedcamp and Lee Eptin, representing the Vodafone Group.
"After knowing the other finalist proposals we were aware of the achievement of being part of that group of creative and brilliant people, despite which we maintained confidence in our project and in reaching the final," says the CEO of Cardmobili -the Portuguese start-up winner in last year's edition- Helena Leite. "My advice to this year's participants is to prepare the presentation in detail. Be sure to rehearse the presentation of your idea to reach all the key points, since time flies when you are presenting it to the jury," he adds.
On the other hand, the Dutch Layar won the prize in the edition of Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009. "My advice to this year's hopefuls is to refine and update the project as the rounds progress," explains co-founder Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald. "We were fortunate to be able to do it with Layar, which gave us the confidence to follow the right path," he adds.
He also explains that Vodafone Mobile Clicks is a great opportunity "to learn and improve your start-up". "It helped us polish our strengths and present Layar to the world."
At Picnic, members of the public will be invited to give their vote for the winner of Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2011. In the live final, the total result of the audience will count as one more vote in the choice of the winner. (To vote, visit the website vodafonemobileclicks.com/vote).
Related links:
- More information on the Mobile Clicks website (www.vodafonemobileclicks.com)
FG_AUTHORS: PortalTIC.es / Companies
