Celcom Axiata Berhad, through its League of Extraordinary Developers Challenge (LEDC) programme hosted TADHack Kuala Lumpur 2014, an event that saw the participation of local mobile application developers from Malaysia to produce their own hack for a chance to take home prizes worth USD30,000 (RM97,000) as well as the USD1,000 prize (RM3,200) allocated to each participating country or city.
Held from 6 -7 June 2014, TADHack Kuala Lumpur 2014 was organised in parallel with the main event in Madrid. The opening session on 6 June included the live stream of TADHack from Madrid whereby participants had the opportunity to listen to expert speakers from all over the world including Mark ShuttleWorth, Founder of Ubuntu, technology visionary and the world’s second space tourist and James Tagg, Chief Technology Officer of Truphone.
Celcom said that participants gained insights and discovered new technologies that will help to enhance their knowledge and skills in adding communications to their application services and business processes through a panel discussion entitled, “Telecom Application Development is Changing the World as We Know It!” which was streamed live from Madrid.
On 6 June participants presented their ideas on the hacks which were submitted earlier, with the hope of winning the local Grand Prize of USD1,000 prize (RM3,200) and to be in the running to win the TADHack Madrid Grand Prize of USD30,000 (RM97,000).
Local developers who participated in the hackathon were required to code using any of the sponsored APIs to build (telco-based apps). They were given a choice of either attending the local TADHack to present their hacks or creating a five-minute demo video of their hacks and uploading it to YouTube for submission. Participants were allowed to describe or present their hacks however they wish, from simple screen walk-throughs to a little acting. Their hacks were judged based on the idea, not the presentation.
Through TADHack Kuala Lumpur 2014, Celcom said that it targets to create more innovative and revenue generating voice and SMS value-added services (VAS) that meet the criteria of the event’s Priority Themes in 2014. Celcom aims to sign up at least 20 new developers who meet the criteria, generate at least eight new innovative VAS ideas and commercialise at least one creative VAS.
According to Suresh Sidhu, Chief Corporate & Operations Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad, hosting the local TADHack exemplifies Celcom’s commitment to supporting the local app developer community and advocating the development of local technology entrepreneurs by providing them an avenue to express their talent and ideas in creating local content with global appeal.
“We are pleased to be hosting TADHack Kuala Lumpur 2014 for the first time in Malaysia and excited to see the number of burgeoning young talent participating in this year’s local event. Celcom, through LEDC is focused on fostering innovation and nurturing the local app developer community to expand their knowledge and skills to build better and commercially viable apps, and be a part of the global movement in building a community of telecommunications app developers. The local event also serves as a networking opportunity for participants to share and exchange views and experiences with one another as well as key opinion leaders, on challenges and opportunities in the industry,” said Suresh.
“We are confident that the local event will unearth talent in the local app developer community with the potential to become the next big thing in Malaysia’s mobile application industry. Celcom will continue to support the goals of aspiring local developers as we strongly believe that they have what it takes to compete with the rest of the world and drive Malaysia’s digital economic growth to accelerate the nation’s economic development in the long run,” Suresh added.
TADHack is a global independent initiative to elevate profiles of telecom application developers by providing resources and create a sustainable and profitable telecom application ecosystem. It is a global meeting place for developers who wish to learn, share, code and produce applications using tools and technologies in telecommunications.
The hackathon is part of Celcom’s ongoing efforts, through LEDC to cultivate a new generation of creative application developers, it claims. Launched in 2008, LEDC offers a platform for software application developers to develop fresh and innovative mobile solutions. LEDC also provides the developers with a business opportunity to commercialise their software under a practical business model.
Since its inception, LEDC has organised various developer programmes on different platforms including Android, Symbian, Blackberry and Celcom’s very own SMS platform. These programmes are said to have groomed hundreds of developers and generated hundreds of innovative ideas with some of them have been successfully commercialised as actual Celcom products.
