We told you about the Google’s Android Challenge calling for more localised Android apps. They are doing it through the Android Developers’ Challenge. On 15th July, thee finalists were announced and Sub-Saharan Africa has produced many promising apps. The list has great apps from Kenya, Uganda, SA, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. Sudan is excluded from the competition.
Sub-Saharan Africa is grouped into West & Central, East and South Africa goups. The finalists will be awarded Android devices and given a chance to better their apps. The overall winners in each category will be awarded $25,000 adding up to $75,000 for the three categories.
The categories of entry are;
- Entertainment / Media / Games
- Social Networking / Communication
- Productivity / Tools / Local / Geo
Some of the apps which have made it to the list of 27 are;
- Human Droid, Kenya – A game that lets players battle one another virtually while in the same physical location.
- What’s Happening?, Kenya – An events and entertainment finder in Nairobi that could be customized for other cities.
- Matatu, Uganda – A two player competitive card game.
- Slate Racer, South Africa – A time trial racing game.
- Gliese, South Africa – A 2D platformer game.
- Bawo Board Game, South Africa – An app for a popular African board game.
- Afrinolly, Nigeria – An app to watch African movie trailers and track the stars.
- Ha!! Buggy, Senegal – A fast-paced racing game.
- Ayo, Nigeria – An app for an ancient board game of strategy from west Africa.
- Social Networking / Communication
- SMS Tweetbox, Kenya – An app that connects smartphone and non-smartphone users through SMS.
- Seekika, Kenya – A mobile audio storytelling application.
- Olalashe, Kenya – An open source SOS and alerting mapping app.
- Dribble, South Africa – A geo-social networking service that allows users to leave location-based messages.
- Cnectd, South Africa – A cross-platform mobile messaging app for smartphones.
- Setswana Phrases, Malawi – A phrase dictionary of the Setswana language.
- Nomad, Togo – An app that pushes notifications for a social network called Oasis.
- TextOnMotion, Nigeria – An app that allows you to navigate and text at the same time.
- Yandda!, Nigeria – An app that engraves your signature at any location for others to discover.
- Productivity / Tools / Local / Geo
- GPS Tanzania Guide, Tanzania – A tourist and business guide to Tanzania.
- Shoppers’ Delight, Kenya – An app that assists shoppers comparing prices across several supermarkets.
- Rush Hour, Kenya – An app that helps drivers navigate the streets of Nairobi with speed and safety.
- Wedding Plandroid, South Africa – An app that makes planning a wedding easy and helps to get brides and grooms ready for their big day.
- Booka, South Africa – An app that helps locate nearest car dealers, book a car in for a service, and track the progress of a service request.
- SpotIt, South Africa – An app that lets users find and report animals while on safari.
- UniDayz, Ghana – An app that helps university students better manage and prioritize their coursework.
- Breeze Through Service, Nigeria – An app that enables services providers to improve the quality of their services and strategic business decisions.
- Wise Africa, Republic of Guinea – An African proverbs crowdsourcing app for Android.
- Esoko, Ghana – A market app for agricultural goods that allows users to track inventory and find the best price.
What do you think? Did you enter the challenge? Were you shortlisted?
