By Brian Dolan
KDDI and Navitime have done it again, and just like last year, it appears they anticipated the win. In 2006 when Navitime’s navigation application won the Best Up and Coming BREW Award, the team took the stage wearing T-shirts that spelled out “N-A-V-I-T-I-M-E†across the fronts of the shirts. After winning the award the team turned around to reveal “Thank You†spelled out across the backs. After taking the winning trophy for Best Up and Coming BREW application yet again this year, for its EZ Josyuseki Navi application, the Navitime team turned on the theatrics again. Each team member raised an ornamental fan, which displayed one letter from the word “A-R-I-G-A-T-O,†Japanese for “thank you.†Navitime beat out VCast On the Go and Secure Phone to take the award.
In stark contrast to Navitime’s jubilant showmanship, when Alltel’s Celltop application took the trophy for Best Productivity and Business BREW application, the carrier’s Director of Multimedia Content Scott Moody was caught unaware at the very back of the auditorium. Celltop leverages the BREW platform and uiOne technology to enable users to easily configure the user interface on their mobile phone. When Moody accepted the award, he thanked Qualcomm, Frog Design, Motricity and their OEM partners. Alltel’s Celltop bested a mobile banking application from Brazil’s EverMobile and Weatherbug.
The other BREW Award Winners announced on Thursday were Juice Wireless/JuiceCaster for Best Community Application; AirPlay Network/NBA AirPlay Live for Best Entertainment Application; Xi’an Kingtone Information Technology/Wireless Emergency Command System (Kingeye) for Best Public Service Application.
Best Up and Coming Application
EZ Josyuseki Navi – KDDI/Navitime
Best Business/Productivity Application
Celltop – Alltel Wireless
Best Community Application
JuiceCaster – Juice Wireless
Best Entertainment Application
NBA AirPlay Live – AirPlay Network
Best Public Service Application
Wireless Emergency Command System (Kingeye) – Xi’an Kingtone Information Technology