Mobile App Competition Gives BYU Developers Chance to Shine

PROVO, Utah – Feb 28, 2014 – Is the next Flappy Bird or Fruit Ninja at Brigham Young University? Developers at this year’s Mobile App Competition are hoping so.

The annual event, hosted by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, invited students to create store-ready apps — and develop business acumen in the process.

“The competition is a way for us to encourage students to explore the interesting and relevant space of mobile app development,” says Steve Liddle, Rollins Center academic director. “One of the best ways to learn is by doing, and that's what our competition incentivizes.”

Apps were judged on five criteria — usefulness, implementation, business opportunity, design and the number of daily unique users — by a panel of judges.  Of the 36 teams registered, only 18 moved on to compete for the top spot.  All semi-finalists received a piece of the $15,000 prize money.

“I was impressed with the caliber of students from top to bottom,” says Joshua Aikens, talent acquisition specialist for Rocketmade and a judge at the competition. “They are doing the things here that others get paid a lot of money to do.”

Judges ranked the Card Table app highest in the competition, giving them $2,500 in prize money for their card game app.  Sadie O’Green, an animated story book app, Mathbot, an elementary math game app, and Home Story, an app that allows home buyers to follow and share the progress of their home construction, all received a $2,000 prize with Home Story clenching the Audience Choice award.

“The competition really helped me validate the business opportunity behind our app,” says Matthew McArthur, an applied physics senior from Sandy, Utah, who developed the Home Story app. “You get to meet a lot of other developers and gain real experience.  It’s a great opportunity if you really put yourself into it.”

For more information about the competition or the winners, visit mobileapp.byu.edu.