A group photo of the FICT and AppAsia members with the proud winners
Following its launch on 21 January this year, the AppAsia Mobile Challenge 2015 reached its final on 17 April 2015 at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT), UTAR Perak Campus.
Organised by FICT and sponsored by AppAsia, the Mobile Challenge was open to all UTAR students to apply their knowledge, ingenuity and creativity to design original mobile applications. During the three-month period, the Challenge saw a total of 40 submissions from individuals and groups showcasing creative concept and innovative ideas which could potentially contribute as handy mobile application to users.
Nine most outstanding submissions were subsequently handpicked as finalists who then presented their application ideas during the final. The judges comprised AppAsia Chief Technical Officer Joekie Thong, FICT lecturers Yong Tien Fui and Lai Siew Cheng who judged and evaluated each application based on its creativity, originality, ease of use, visual appeal and other features.
Before the announcement of winners, FICT Dean Assoc Prof Dr Liew Soung Yue extended his appreciation to AppAsia for their generous sponsorship. “I hope all of you have gained experiences in developing ideas from such competition. This has been a fruitful journey to all and I hope that your products will materialise in the near future.”
“We are heartened to see that the submissions by UTAR students are up to standard and innovative in terms of originality and commercial value,” commended Organising Chairperson-cum-FICT lecturer Tou Jing Yi, who also hope that AppAsia Mobile Challenge will motivate more students to design and develop mobile apps with good commercialisation values, further encouraging people to join in the mobile app development community.
The champion of the Challenge went to team “Collective Mind” whose application was inspired by “Twitch Plays Pokemon”, a social experiment and channel on the video streaming website named Twitch; consisting of a crowd sourced attempt to play Game Freak and Nintendo’s Pokemon video games by parsing commands sent by users via the channel’s chat room.
“It’s a surprise to be among the finalists. I believe it is our uniqueness of idea which allows us to emerge top in this challenge,” said team leader Khoo Koay Chin Yau, who was also impressed by other finalists’ incredible application ideas. “Instead of playing Pokemon games, we create stories. Our app relies on the community using it. The content would increase along with the number of users,” explained Khoo, a Year Three Computer Science student. Khoo and his team members Loh Sin Yew and Loo Chun Khee walked away with a trophy, a certificate each and RM 5, 000 cash.
First runners-up went to team “Conawa” comprising Ang Sinyee, Chan Yi Jie, Lee Chui Fong who bagged RM 2, 000, while second runners-up Lim Mong Sin, Lau Jun Hwa and See Chong En from the Faculty of Creative Industries received RM 1, 000 for their “Lunch Hunter” app.
Five consolation prizes worth RM300 each were also given out. List of consolation prize winners and their winning apps as follows:
- Lee Guan Chuan (FICT) – “MyParttime”
- Kwang Chyun Yaw, Loh Keh Hsin, Khoo Wai Lung (FICT) – “Personal Financial Management”
- Lye Guang Xing, Lim Wei Siong, Wong Kok Wei (FICT) – “Piamo”
- Chan Mun Yee, Kee Soon Ching, Lye Guang Xing (FICT) – “uPush”
- Ang Hwee Kwan, Choi Jien Ping, Loh Wei Lun (FICT) – “iDueNotice”
News on the launch of AppAsia Mobile Challenge 2015 on 21 January 2015 can be read here:http://www.utar.edu.my/econtent_sub.jsp?fcatid=16&fcontentid=16216
