Looking for the best web and mobile applications for the next generation social networking sites, Microsoft Philippines and Smart Communications launched the Best of the Best Developer Competition.  The competition took place at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia on June 26-27.  A total of seven prequalified teams composed of students and professional developers took part in this round-the-clock (no sleep) event.

Day 1: Getting into Serious Business

To improve the commercial viability and quality of the projects, the participants underwent business and technical training in day 1. We invited industry experts to deliver the following sessions:

Business Tracks

• Starting Up Your Own Business in IT – Paul Pajo (Chief Evangelist - WaTunes.com / CTO - SonicLogo.TV)
• Web and Mobile Trends and Opportunities – Jim Ayson (Product Manager, Platforms and Mobile Internet Services SMART Communications, Inc.)
• Creating an Effective Business Plan – Elmar Gomez (President/CEO, Mobile Arts Inc.)

Technical Tracks

• Mobile Broadband Technology – Jay Bacoy (Network Planning & Engineering, Senior Manager, Smart Communications Inc)
• Web Technology - Alezandra Nicholas (MCT Instructor) and Paco Garcia (Developer, Asia Systems Group)
• Social Networking – Jerome Almirante (Head, VAS and Data Services, Smart Communications, Inc.)

After the training, participants huddled up with their teammates to plan how to incorporate the learnings into their project implementation and business plan.  Powered up with caffeine and sugar rich food, the teams were set for an overnight development session, locked up at the convention center (Big Brother style).

From Dusk ‘til Dawn

The whole event was streaming online to share the experience to other developers, students, and enthusiasts.  Surprisingly, a lot of people were online on a friday night! To bring more fun and excitement to the viewers, the Microsoft Student Partners hosted the program and activities the entire night.  There were lots of fun games with viewer interactions and technology (Windows7, Bing, IE8, Silverlight).  We raffled off exciting prizes every hour to lucky online viewers. Needless to say, the viewers were very happy (and lively even until 5am!).

Day 2: And the winner is…

Selecting the best of the best would be tough.  Good thing we’ve got the best judges up to the task:

• Ms. Bettina Quimson (President, Navigator Systems / Chair Government Relations Committee, Philippine Software Industry Association)
• Mr. Johnny Benitez (Technology Specialist, Microsoft Philippines)
• Mr. Warren Yu (Microsoft MVP for BizTalk)
• Mr. Ray Coloma (Dep't. Head for IP/IT Systems, Network and Platforms Services Division, SMART Communications Inc.)

The teams were given 20 minutes to demo their project and present their business plan to the panel of judges. The following criteria was used to judge the entries:

• 50% Potential for Widespread Use
• 20% Usability and User Experience
• 20% Use of Microsoft Technologies
• 10% Prototype Functionality

After much deliberation from the judges, the following winners were selected…

1st Place Winner (Php300,000.00 + Laptop + Mobile Phones)

Team Triumvirate Ricardo Monteverde Marc Pheenee San Diego

2nd Place Winner (Mobile Phones)

Team X Mobile Charmine Azajar Ronald Karlo Jarilla

3rd Place Winner (Mobile Phones)

Team EA3 Allan Sta. Cruz Allan Paul Vizmanos Emman Tortoza Kevin Allan Hukom

People’s Choice Award (Mobile Phones)

Team GCS Jeffrey Bravo Rogelyn Chu Bermudes Galan Maximo Bautista

Everybody wins in this competition.  All teams will be registered to BizSpark where they can get the tools and support they need to realize their project and startup company.  Congratulations to the other teams who participated!

Setting the Record

This is the first time we tried out live streaming for our event and we are happily surprised with the turnout.  Our live stream had over 200 viewers and our landing page got over 3700 hits overnight (and 1000+ more after the event).

Special Thanks

We would like to thank everyone who helped make this event possible.  We’d like to give special mention to…

Our guest speakers: Paul Pajo, Jim Ayson, Elmar Gomez, Jay Bacoy, Zandra Nicholas, Paco Garcia, Jerome Almirante

Our judges: Johnny Benitez, Warren Yu, Bettina Quimson, Ray Coloma

Our event co-sponsor: Smart Communications Inc.

Our events team: Geenger Inc., Ely delos Santos, Mellie Valimento, Edu Lorenzo, Carlito’s Catering, SMX Convention Center, Bitstop Network Services 

Our organization/student volunteers: Microsoft Student Partners, Asia Pacific College, Junior ISSA, PSIA, APC-JPCS, De La Salle College of St. Benilde

Many thanks! See you in our next broadcast!