Andoid development in the Philippines spearheaded by Smart

Smart Telecommunications, a wireless mobile network provider in the Philippines, is spearheading the country’s effort to push Android development. Together with HTC, Smart has just opened up the registration for the SMART Mobile Developer Conference that will be held on September 11, 2009 at Science Discovery Park in Mall of Asia from 9am to 5pm.

The whole-day conference aims to enhance Philippine mobile developer community as Android experts exchange knowledge and share their experiences and tools in developing mobile applications for Android.

The conference is slated to have guests and experts from Smart, HTC and the developer community to talk about Android. Some of the topics featured are:

• Introduction to Android
• Android in the changing mobile ecosystem
• Android SDK, and Programming Environment

There will also be demonstrations on local Android development samples, hand-on workshops on using Android and other developer tools, and a panel discussion on ‘What makes a killer app?” with guests and experts from SMART, Google, HTC, and leading Android developers.

One highlight of the conference is the announcement of the SMART Mobile Developer Competition which aims to bring out the best in the Philippines’ mobile application developer community. The competition is open to all amateur, freelance or professional developers with java programming experience. Huge prizes await the top two winning teams which will be determined through judges rating as well as a one-week online public voting.

The teams participating in the competition will have the unique opportunity to have their apps considered for commercial deployment with Smart. A “People’s Choice Award” will be given to the entry that earns the highest number of online votes.

The overall top two winning teams will each receive HTC Magic handsets as well as trophies as a testament to their excellent work.

Further, a team member from each of the top two teams will represent the Philippines at the Conexus Android showcase at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Hongkong on November 18, 2009. The representatives will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and skills with fellow developers from other countries. They will have a rare opportunity to interact with mobile operators from other countries as well as the international mobile community and technology journalists.

Smart shall sponsor the two winning team representatives’ airfare to Hongkong worth P70,000 , inclusive of airfare, hotel accommodations and meals.

Pre-registration for the conferencecan be done electronically via the conference’s website http://www.smart.com.ph/mobdev.