Photo: Patrick Gutenberger.

The awards were held in Zürich's Maag Music Hall and had the air of an Academy Awards ceremony, complete with red carpet. The 12 finalists had five minutes each to convince the audience that their application should win. After the presentations in each category, the audience voted for the winners via SMS.

Best enterprise application was won by Israeli company LocatioNet, which presented Mobile Workforce Management, a smart location-based application. It allows businesses and organizations to track and manage mobile personnel and vehicles, using either standard or specialized mobile devices.

"When someone needs a package delivered, the company can track down who is the closest to the location and send out a car to pick the package up," said Rony Shmulevitch, Vice President sales, one the members of the LocatioNet team.

He also explained how offices could assign tasks, send open orders and both text and picture messages, as well as assist workers out in the field with vital information.

"Thanks to this solution we can provide a mobile workforce with maps, navigation and instructions," Shmulevitch said, adding that the service was capable of real-time as well as historical analysis.

The other winners were:
Information: NewBay Software from Ireland. Foneblog is a website for mobile phones and contains photos, text, audio and radio. It can also be accessed through the Internet.

Gaming: Synergenix Interactive from Sweden. Rally PRO Contest is a rally game for mobile devices that allows players to race on 12 detailed tracks in four different environments. The player can challenge other people via IR, Bluetooth and GPRS.

Entertainment: Media Republic from The Netherlands. Jong-Zuid is a daily multimedia soap opera with an already well-known cast from previous series. Jong-Zuid delivers news via MMS, SMS, MNS Messenger and the Internet, and the audience can interact with the cast via MMS.

Karin Hanson