LONDON, October 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Winners of the Asia Mobile Awards 2008 and Mobile Innovation APAC Tournament to be Announced at the Mobile Asia Congress in Macau

LONDON, October 30 /PRNewswire/ --

The GSMA, the global trade association for mobile operators, today announced a shortlist of 40 nominees for the Asia Mobile Awards 2008, plus the 15 'Top Innovators' for the Asia-Pacific round of the Mobile Innovation Global Competition that will be contested and presented at the forthcoming Mobile Asia Congress, Asia's leading mobile communications event that is set to take place in Macau, SAR People's Republic of China (18-20 November 2008).

Judged by independent analysts, journalists and industry experts, the winners of the GSMA's Asia Mobile Awards will be presented on the evening of Tuesday 18 November during the GSMA's Mobile Asia Congress gala opening party (sponsored by China Mobile, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson and the Macau Government Tourist Office) at the Cotai Strip(R) CotaiExpo(TM) at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau. The Asia Mobile Awards attracted more than 120 entries this year from companies across Asia and across the mobile value chain, with a wealth of commercially available products, services, content and applications.

The nominees for the Asia Mobile Awards 2008 are: Best Mobile Game - Electronic Arts Asia Pacific, Singapore for 'Spore: Origins' - ZIO Interactive, Inc, Republic of Korea for 'Sketcher 2' - CAPCOM, Japan for 'Biohazard 4 Mobile edition' - Gameloft, Republic of Korea for 'Asphalt4: Elite Racing HD' - Simlife Science Technology, China for 'Lament Island' Best Mobile Music, TV or Video Service - Artificial Life, Inc, Hong Kong for 'MoPA-TV' - Bharti Airtel, India for 'On-Demand Service on Airtel Live' - Gracenote, USA for 'Gracenotefi Mobile Music Platform' - Telstra Corporation, Australia for 'Mobile Foxtel from Telstra and Big Pond TV on Mobile' - Geodesic Inc, USA for 'Mundu Radio' Best Mobile Advertising Service - Madhouse Inc. China for 'Nike Zoom Campaign' - China Mobile, China for 'Wireless Interactive Marketing: CRM System in Shanghai Volkswagen LAVIDA' - Telstra Corporation, Australia for Telstra Mobile Codes - OnMobile Global Ltd, India for 'Ad Ringback Tone' - Wolfpac Mobile Inc., Philippines for 'Nescafe 3in1 Decode Promo' Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service - Innopath Software Inc., USA for 'Integrated Mobile Device Management' - Celltick, UK for 'Live Screen Media' - Soprano Design, Australia for Soprano Mobile Enterprise Messaging Suite - Spinvox, Australia for 'Spinvox' - KTF, Republic of Korea for 'Show Care' Best Mobile Internet Service - Bharti Airtel, India for 'Airtel Job Search' - GYPSii, The Netherlands for GYPSii - SKT, Republic of Korea for 'Gifticon' - MobileOne, Singapore for 'M1 Mobile Surf' - CSL Ltd, Hong Kong Changing Worlds, Ireland for One2Free and '101 Mobile data Services' Best Mobile Money Service - Watchdata System, Singapore for SIMPass' - Bharti Airtel, India 'mCheck on Airtel' - Total Access Communications, Thailand for 'ATMSIM' - Bharti Telesoft, India for 'mobiquity mBanking' - True Move Company, Thailand for 'TouchSIM by Truemove' Best Mobile Broadband Handset/ Device - Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea for ' Samsung Innov8 (i8510)' - Telstra Corporation, Australia for 'Telstra Turbo 7 Series Wireless Gateway/ BigPond 7.2 Wireless Broadband Home Network Gateway' - Huawei, China for Huawei E180 HSPA Rotable USB Stick' - LG Electronics, Republic of Korea for 'LG Secret' - Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea for 'Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900/i908) The 'Green Mobile Award' - Powercity Corporation, Philippines for Windpower Application for Telecommunication Technology - AXIS, Indonesia for 'Green Power Energy Saving Initiative' - MIC 2, Lebanon for 'Scratch Card Recycling Replacement Program' - Nokia, Singapore for 'Integrated Nokia Kiosk (INK)' - Vodafone Enable Community, New Zealand for 'Mobile Reuse Recycling Programme'

More information about the GSMA's Asia Mobile Award nominees can be found at: http://www.asiamobileawards.com

The Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition was created by the GSMA as part of the Mobile Innovation Market, which encourages breakthrough technology, applications and services in the mobile industry by bringing together smaller companies developing innovative mobile products, with industry investors from leading venture capital firms and senior figures from mobile operators and leading global brands.

The Mobile Innovation Marketplace event at the Mobile World Congress is a unique platform for top innovators competing for the Mobile Innovation Global Award Championship title. During this event in Macau, 18-20 of November, 15 emerging growth companies from around the world will compete in five categories, reviewed by senior executives from mobile operators, industry suppliers and venture capital organisations. The distinguished judging panel includes representatives from Vodafone Ventures, Belgacom, Orange, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Microsoft, Intel Capital, and ICT 168 Capital.

The Top 15 Innovators for the Asia-Pacific leg of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition are: Most Innovative 'True Mobile Start Up' - Movirtu, UK - Sentry Wireless, Ireland - uSoftation, Korea Most Innovative 'Carrier Infrastructure or Platform' - PixSense, US - Sunbay, Switzerland - Xtract, Finland Most Innovative 'Consumer Application or Service' - MNC Wireless Berhad, Malaysia - ngpay, India - TuneWiki, US Most Innovative 'Mobile Application in a Vertical Market' - Broca Communications, UK - Impetus Technologies, India - V3 Teletech, Singapore Most Innovative 'Wireless Device-centric Technology' - CooTek, China - WiSpry, US - Zeemote, US

One winner will be named from each category and awarded the title of 'GSMA Global Semi-Finalist'. From these five cutting-edge ideas, two 'Mobile Innovation Global Finalists' will arise and win a trip to Barcelona to compete against the other Global Finalists for the prestigious title of the 2009 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Award Champion, to be named during the GSMA's Mobile World Congress next February. The Platinum sponsor of the Mobile Innovation Marketplace is the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia).

For more information on the GSMA's Mobile Innovation Market and the Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition, please visit: http://www.mobileinnovation.org and http://www.mobileinnovation.org/awards.

About the GSMA:

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade group representing more than 750 GSM mobile operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. The Association's members represent more than 3 billion GSM and 3GSM connections - over 86% of the world's mobile phone connections. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives.

The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers.

The GSMA's Mobile Asia Congress

The GSMA is co-organising the Mobile Asia Congress 2008 at the Cotai Strip(R) CotaiExpo(TM), the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel with China Mobile and China Unicom From 18-20 November 2008. Telenor, one of the largest pan-Asia operators, is a platinum sponsor of the event, Nokia China is gold sponsor.

For more information, visit: http://www.gsm.org

For further information contact: Mark Smith, Email: press@gsm.org , T: +44-118-920-7669.