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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
NAVTEQ Announces 2nd Annual Global LBS Challenge
CHICAGO, Oct. 25 -- NAVTEQ (NYSE: NVT), a leading
global provider of digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based
solutions, announced the launch of its second LBS Challenge. The contest
challenges developers to build location-enabled applications for wireless
devices.
The second annual LBS Challenge is an expansion of the first contest that
was launched in October 2003. This year's contest expands the potential
contestant base beyond North America to include developers from around the
world*. The Global LBS Challenge is poised to meet increasing interest from
developers, carriers, and device manufacturers and play an important role in
heightening the awareness of new value-adding location-based services (LBS) to
the wireless industry.
Sponsors of the Global LBS Challenge include ESRI, Microsoft Corp., SiRF
Technology, Inc. and Telcontar. In addition, Directions Magazine and Wireless
Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC) are both serving as media
sponsors of the Challenge.
In addition to including developers outside of North America, the Global
LBS Challenge offers developers six solution categories with which their
applications can be aligned.
Solution Categories
Personal Security
Peer to Peer/Find Me
Navigation/Point of Interest Look Up/Traffic
Commerce/Advertising/Buying/Billing
Asset Tracking/Field Services
Gaming/Location Based Imaging
The official contest kick-off takes place at the 2004 CTIA Wireless I.T. &
Entertainment show held in San Francisco, CA on Monday, October 25 in rooms
3022/3024 at the Moscone West Center. The two-hour program will include an
overview of the contest and the latest insight and news from industry experts.
Attendees of the kick-off will also have the opportunity to learn about the
four sponsors' developer tools that will be available to all official
contestants, free of charge, for the duration of the contest.
Registration for the contest is currently open and will close at midnight
Central Time on November 22, 2004. All contest solution entries must be
submitted on or before midnight on January 31, 2005 and received by midnight
on February 4, 2005. The winners -- for each of the six solution categories
as well as one grand-prize winner -- will be announced at the 2005 CTIA
Wireless Expo in New Orleans, LA in March 2005. Executives from wireless
carriers, hardware and device manufacturers and other influential players in
the wireless industry will judge the semi-final solutions and select the
winners. The judges will base their final decisions on two criteria:
usability and utility.
The grand-prize winner will receive $50,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of
NAVTEQ Map licenses for up to one year. Each category winner, other than the
Grand Prize Winner, will receive $10,000 in cash and $75,000 worth of NAVTEQ
Map licenses for up to one year.
"The feedback we received after last year's contest was that we had
succeeded in creating real energy and excitement around LBS in the wireless
industry. We definitely wanted to continue that momentum and, as evidenced by
the companies sponsoring this year's Challenge, so did many other big players
in the industry," commented Winston Guillory, Senior Vice President - North
American Sales. "Application developers from across the globe have already
begun to register so we know the developer community is eager to get their new
creative LBS solutions in front of the carriers, the industry and end users."
* For more information about contestant eligibility, see the official
contest rules at http://www.lbschallenge.com/index.html .
About NAVTEQ
NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for
automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices and Internet-based
mapping applications. NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that
power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world. The
Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 1,400
employees located in over 100 offices in 20 countries.
NAVTEQ is a trademark in the U.S. and other countries. All rights
reserved.
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