Facebook and TNT, the country’s largest prepaid brand under Smart Communication, team up to launch their second Mobile Web Developer Challenge. This year, participants are encouraged to develop innovative solutions related to health, disaster preparedness and relief, and education through technology. The winning team gets a cash prize, a trip to the Facebook office in Singapore, and an FbStart package with benefits valued up to USD 80,000.
Katrina Luna-Abelarde, Wireless Consumer Operations Head at Smart.
The competition invites mobile web and content developers to be Free Basics content partners. With Free Basics by Facebook, access to select websites and services is free and does not incur data charges, allowing users to benefit from content like news and job listings, as well health, education, and local information.
Developers must come up with great web ideas related to education, health, and disaster preparedness; and then turn these ideas into mobile websites and spread knowledge by making them available to the public with zero data charges.
Participants can form a web development team for the project or go solo. A typical team consists of a developer, a content writer/editor, a UI designer, a visionary. Here’s a link to basic technical guidelines for Internet.org for developers: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org/platform-technical-guidelines.
Top projects will be chosen to come back on Pitch Day (September 9, 2016) to DEMO the finished mobile sites to a panel of distinguished judges. 5 projects will be chosen, and each winning team will get:
- A chance to have a coveted slot as an Free Basics partner
- PHP 10,000 in cash
- Prizes and Swag from TNT, Free Basics, and Facebook
- 80USD worth of FBSTART STARTUP PACKAGE
- The winning project will be added to the bookmarked sites in FreeBasics.com and will be promoted in schools to drive awareness.
“TNT is the first prepaid mobile brand in the Philippines to launch this program, which helps developers create relevant and free mobile internet sites for millions of ka-tropas nationwide,” said said Katrina Luna-Abelarde, Wireless Consumer Operations Head at Smart.
Alice Wei, Strategic Product Partnerships, Southeast Asia, Facebook
How to Join
- Register as an individual or form a team of 2-5 members. Complete the registration form via https://tntfreebasicsdeveloperchallenge2016.eventbrite.com. Don’t forget to submit your team name, team members and contact details.
- Once you’ve registered, you can already start coding.
- Once done, submit your entry to http://bit.ly/tntdevchallengesubmitentry. All entries must be submitted by 11:00 AM, August 16, 2016.
- On August 21, 2016, the top chosen teams or individuals who be invited to PITCH DAY will be revealed.
“We’re committed to supporting local developers, and this is central to our mission to bring locally relevant, free basic services to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected to the internet,” said Alice Wei, Strategic Product Partnerships, Southeast Asia, Facebook.
Details on challenges on Education, Disaster Preparedness, Health, and Sample Cases; as well as the Criteria and Eligibility can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tnt-free-basics-developer-challenge-tickets-26371212005.
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