The BlackBerry Partners Fund has announced a $15 Million Series B funding in PocketGear, led by Trident Capital. PocketGear bills itself as world’s largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace, after its acquisition of Handango.
PocketGear, Handango, and Mobihand are all part of a similar business model to sell software outside of the carrier and manufacturer channels and it’s a business that seems increasingly risky given that RIM, Apple and the big players are in the space as well. While PocketGear competes with App World, the investment could benefit the company if they can bring PocketGear’s relationships into App World. PocketGear has access to over 32,000 developer relationships and more than 140,000 paid and free titles.
It will be interesting to see what kind of investments are made in China and what sort of innovation comes from the region. As BlackBerry expands globally, we’ll likely see countries with a new perspective on what mobility means and come up with some pretty innovative services.
The BlackBerry Partners Fund have led a $10M investment in UK-based Aepona. The company provides a software engine that powers the “Network as a Service” (NaaS) business model for mobile operators. Aepona allows carriers to monetize network and billing assets to open Mobile Cloud revenue opportunities. Aepona will help carriers monetize the services they provide such as messaging and voice, allowing them re-assert themselves in the app value chain.
DeviceAnywhere are working with the Partners Fund for this year’s Developer Challenge. This year’s competition is focused on Super Apps, and it will be interesting to see what people come up with.
For the competition, DeviceAnywhere is offering a direct link to their Test Center solution, which provides remote access to networked devices located across the globe. DeviceAnywhere is also supporting this challenge with Proof Center to provide a proof-based self-certification solution that gives application developers remote access to DeviceAnywhere’s banks of real networked devices. With Proof Center, users can compile evidence that their application works successfully using handset screenshots and video, which are automatically saved and organized into proofs that can later be viewed or searched for by application and handset. For the purposes of this competition, Proof Center serves as the testing platform for a more in-depth submission process that developers will use to submit a higher-quality version of their application, before they proceed to the final phase in which winners will be selected. For the finalists, DeviceAnywhere will create free interactive tutorials using DemoAnywhere, a solution that allows developers to demonstrate the application’s key features and functionality to consumers.
Perfecto Mobile will be offering free remote testing hours and special discounted prices to developers participating in the BlackBerry Partners Fund Super Apps Developer Challenge. Perfecto Mobile offer remote access and automated testing solutions with their Perfecto Mobile Handset Cloud service.
Developers who submit their mobile applications to the Super Apps Developer Challenge will receive five free hours to use the Perfecto Mobile Handset Cloud service. Additional testing hours for BlackBerry are offered for special discounted prices. In addition, winners of the Super Apps Developer Challenge will receive up to 100 free hours as prizes from Perfecto Mobile.
Today, the BlackBerry Partners Fund announced the 2010 Developer Challenge. In addition to focusing on “Super Apps” that take advantage of the unique capabilities of the BlackBerry platform, this year’s challenge is a bit different from those held in the two years prior.
Here is a quick breakdown of this year’s Developer Challenge:
Total prize package is valued at over US$1.5 Million;
The Challenge is the first to recognize BlackBerry smartphone apps on a regional basis across four global regions;
Both newly developed and existing applications can be entered into the Challenge;
Applications will be judged in seven distinct categories, based on quality, user experiences and how effectively they incorporate “Super App” characteristics;
Challenge will reward the BlackBerry developer community at many levels to benefit more developers than ever before;
Finalists will receive unique prizes to support their development on the BlackBerry platform and to help them achieve commercial success;
Up to 400 Regional Selections will receive a free BlackBerry smartphone;
Up to 28 Regional Semi-Finalists will each receive prize packages worth over USD$16,000;
Up to 12 Regional Finalists will each receive prize packages valued at almost USD$35,000;
Up to four Regional Winners will each receive a prize pack valued at USD$85,000;
