Code for Honor 2014,  a contest for ISVs (independent software vendors) and technology start-ups announced by Microsoft India in December 2013, drew to a close on Thursday, with Microsoft announcing six winners.

The winners who developed commercial apps and solutions focused on large enterprises, micro/ small/ medium enterprises, Government enablement and citizen services, took home cash prizes of Rs 2,00,000 each.

The winners will have access to mentors from an elite panel put together by Microsoft as well as the opportunity to connect with potential investors and customers.

“The contest was designed as an opportunity to provide an accelerator to ISVs and tech start-ups to develop commercial apps on the Windows platform. We wanted to create the same kind of excitement around commercial apps that is usually seen around consumer apps. I see the development of commercial apps as the next big trend in the app development ecosystem in India as it is lucrative and in high demand,” Joseph Landes, General Manager – Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India, told Business Line .

Response to Microsoft contest for ISVs, start-ups

Microsoft received  2,098 registrations from 170 cities, which were whittled down to 1,002 serious solution concepts, of which 25 made it to the finals.

“In addition to the apps developed by the six winners, at least 100 apps from the shortlist of 1,000 ideas will be productised and will be commercially available over the next few months. And some of them may be available on the Windows store. While the developer will get to keep 70 per cent of the revenue generated by the sale of its apps, Microsoft will get the rest,” said Joseph.

Stating that the next big killer app will come from India, Joseph said: “The next killer app may be under development right now, as we speak. You may not yet have popular mega apps like ‘Angry Birds’ or ‘Cut the Rope’ from India, but I would like to see that happen soon.”  

Indian developer community

India is now the second largest developer community after the US and 10 per cent of the apps on Windows stores are contributed by Indian developers. Microsoft’s Windows 8 store has 1,40,000 apps and its Windows Phone store has 2,45,000 apps.

 

The six winners of Code for Honor are: Mystifly Consulting India Pvt Ltd (Bangalore), Asteor Software Pvt Ltd (Thanjavur), Systsoft Technologies LLP (Mumbai), Reverie Language Technologies Pvt Ltd (Bangalore), Avon Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd (Chennai) and Appface Technologies Pvt Ltd (Bangalore). 

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