Android, the mobile phone software platform / operating system being developed by Open Handset Alliance (comprising of Google, Intel, Motorola and others), has recently announced the winners of the Android Developer Challenge.

The contest was launched by Google and provided 10 million dollars in awards for the developers of mobile applications to be used with the Android. (Let’s not forget the raging success of iPhone’s App Store, which adds much appeal to the iPhone and a nice income source for Apple).

Each one of the top ten winners got 275,000 dollars for the work and creativity they put onto their apps. Most of them incorporate location-based information of some sort, with some focusing more on social networking, marketing or gaming.

Among many intersting apps, there’s Compare Everywhere that allows you got to a physical store and enjoy all the price comparison, product review and alternate store locator that you can have online. The ecology minded have Ecorio, which let’s you calculate and assess your carbon footprint on the go; and the avid social networkers who actually do turn off Facebook / Hi5 / Twitter to go out at night, can use Wertago to find recommended locations. Full list here.

July 7th, 2003 - YDreamers celebrate the launch of the Undercover mobile game

For a long time YDreams has been associated with mobile gaming. In recent times we have been slowly moving away from that particular business area, to focus on our core of interactive conceptual environments or experiences. Mobile games, though, played an important role in the company’s success history.

Undercover and Undercover 2: Merc Wars, which expanded the concept further, were mobile Massive Multi-player Online Games that incorporated live location features making them pioneer gaming experiences in that particular genre. This further strengthened YDreams expertise in location-based systems and, above all, as a creator of a different breed of interactive experiences. It took a lot of sleepless nights, hard work and some ingenuity to try to compete in such uncharted territory against the big players of game development.

It has to be said that the commercial success of that specific game was not matched by the critical acclaim it received. Sometimes it doesn’t pay off to be on the forefront. But the hype and exposure the company got for devising such a product, and the lessons we learned from the whole process, have been an important part of making YDreams into the company that it is today.

We still get asked if we are “that mobile games company”. We aren’t, and the truth is we never quite were. Mobile games were a part of YDreams’ interactive experiences portfolio, but never the whole of the company. We are immensely proud of Undercover 2, Cristiano Ronaldo Underworld Football’s success or the launch of Wall Street Fighter in a few months time, but now we have moved on to a whole bigger realm of more encompassing projects.