MTN Business App of the Year winners

Following on from the build-up and the intense judging process that has taken place over the last few weeks, the MTN Business App of the Year Awards event took place in late August, at The Venue, in Melrose Arch, and saw SnapScan being awarded the title of Best App of the Year for 2013.

Says Nomalanga Nkosi, GM: Enterprise Marketing at MTN SA: "On behalf of the MTN Business team, we would like to congratulate the SnapScan team for walking away with the prestigious Best App title this year. This team demonstrated a solid passion for application development, and this, along with their innovation and understanding of what a mobile user really wants from an app, has led them to receiving this."

Research* states that the estimated number of app users worldwide will hit more than four billion by the end of 2017. Such a figure not only indicates the growing demand for mobile applications, but the reality that mobile content is shaping the way people utilise their mobile devices.

Says Nkosi: "The apps that are successful are the ones that are able to integrate completely into our 'mobile lives', and the awards ceremony last night highlighted the incredible work being undertaken locally to truly drive content in innovative ways."

MTN Business is the headline sponsor of the 2013 MTN Business App of the Year Awards. Adds Nkosi: "The calibre of entries received this year was truly amazing, with 250 entries received overall - the panel of judges certainly did not have an easy task deciding upon a winner."

With various award categories throughout the evening, winners included:

* Best IOS Consumer - DStv * Best IOS Enterprise - .comm Telco Data Visualizer * Best BlackBerry app - PriceCheck Mobile * Best Android app Enterprise - MarkitShare * Best Android app Consumer - Nedbank App Suite * Best HTML 5 app - SnapScan * Best Windows app - Kids Aid * Most innovative app - bookly * Best independent (garage) developer - Gautrain Buddy

The judges who adjudicated this year's awards included: Melissa Attree, a social media expert; Kojo Baffoe, editor of Destiny Man magazine; Toby Shapshak, editor of Stuff magazine; Jonathan Hoehler, manager of mobile technologies at Deloitte Digital; and Max Stone, divisional director at Pinnacle Africa.

"The aim of these awards is to provide an environment that allows local developers to thrive and really showcase the originality of their market approach, and this can only be achieved when we continue to work together with our partners in the industry who share in this vision. There is no doubt that local apps are certainly revolutionising the South Africa business landscape, and MTN Business is so proud to be at the fore of such a prestigious event. If these awards show us and the rest of the industry anything, it is that the talented pool of local app developers needs to be nurtured, and we feel that we have certainly achieved this and would like to thank everyone who participated in making this event another great success. Congratulations to all the winners this year - we look forward to seeing more of your work in the industry going forward," concludes Nkosi.