MANILA, Philippines — The local developer community has yet another reason to celebrate as Google recently crowned two apps created by Pinoys as among the winners of a recent developer challenge, taking home the pot money of $20,000 each.
The two apps, CollabSpot Notetaker and Events KIT, bested five other entries in the region to come out on top of the challenge, which called for participants to create unique applications that utilized Google’s Apps suite, such as Calendar, Drive, and Google+.
The Philippines is only one of two countries in the challenge to churn out two winners, the other one being India.
CollabSpot Notetaker is a tool that allows users to create tasks and document links during a Google+ Hangouts session, and was the winner for the Enterprise / Small Business Solutions category in Southeast Asia. ()
While, Events KIT is a mobile app that helps users manage events, meetings, and meet-ups. It bagged the top accolade in the Social / Personal Productivity / Games / Fun category for Southeast Asia.
The only other winner in the region is FailRail.sg, a data visualization project that notes train service disruptions in Singapore.
The winners were selected after two rounds of scoring by the Google-selected competition judges. Aside from the winners, two other Pinoy apps made it to the semi-final round of the challenge.
“Google Apps adoption is growing in emerging markets, and people are asking for extended functionality,” the company said. “It is hoped that this competition will not only generate locally-relevant apps, but also recognize and reward the hard work of the most talented Pinoy developers.”
The Google Apps Developer Challenge is just one of the many initiatives by the search and technology company in attempting to broaden its reach and increase its presence in developing countries like the Philippines.
Just this month, Google launched first in the Philippines a new mobile service, which allows free browsing of GMail, Google+ and Google Search through an offering called Google Free Zone, opening up the Internet to “the next billion.”
Last year, Google chose the country as the launchpad for its localized YouTube offering in Southeast Asia, topping it off with a YouTube World View interview with President Benigno Aquino, the first Asian head of state to be featured in the series.
In August, the company held the fist ever g|Philippines Google Day in the country, with hundreds of Google enthusiasts, users, and developers in attendance. (http://www.interaksyon.com/infotech/googles-first-tech-day-in-manila-wraps-up-to-packed-crowd)
Just recently, rumors were rife online that Google will soon establish an official presence in the Philippines following the posting of various job openings for the country, although Google has yet to confirm anything final.
Aside from its regional headquarters in Singapore, Google operates in Southeast Asia in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
source: interaksyon.com
