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Posted by Stefanie Olsen
For the last four months, Howard Chau has been developing a mobile application that’s designed to alert people to their next calendar appointment, factoring in data like the person’s physical location and traffic conditions en route to a meeting.
In the next two weeks, Chau plans to submit the GPS-based application, called Mappily, to Google in the hopes of winning its Android Developer Challenge, a developer contest with $10 million in total prize money. Because Chau only stands to win tens of thousands of dollars in the first round of the challenge, the money would just be gravy.
“It’s really a way to get seen,” said Chau, the 26-year-old president of Cupertino, Calif.-based Mappily, which employs three people.
Chau’s plight is part of Silicon Valley’s new contest within a contest to create the hottest new mobile technology.
As a Windows user, I have been skeptical about Apple computers since the earlier versions of their Macs were not at par with Windows ‘98 and 2000. I was one of those who wanted productivity done through Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I did not have time or desire to learn the simplicity behind Clarisworks or Appleworks especially when Microsoft Office can basically do everything I want, productivity wise.
Then came Apple’s renewal of their Macs and it was a huge change that created a significant impact in the field of education and the consumer industry.
