GetJar names Gettie Award 2010 mobile application winners

GetJar, an online mobile application store, last night announced the winners of The Gettie Awards, an annual mobile app competition, at VentureBeat’s annual MobileBeat conference in San Francisco.

Second to the Apple App Store, GetJar is the second largest application store. Though the company offers an open market for apps across all major operating systems, including Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Symbian.

The Gettie Awards 2010 had hundreds of developers submit their applications for testing and the chance to win up to $25,000 in GetJar credits. A panel of industry heavyweights selected 18 nominees (6 categories, 3 nominees in each). Of those nominees, the following companies were selected as winners, according to the company’s press release:

Best Java application: WaveSecure Backup – Helps keep your personal data safe by letting you back up or restore your data securely.
 
Best Symbian application: Nimbuzz – Helps you get free calls, instant messaging, file & location sharing with Nimbuzz friends and Skype, Facebook, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM/ AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Hyves, & more.
 
Best Windows Mobile application: Opera Mini – Helps you get a fast, cost-efficient Web browsing experience with lightning fast data loads to your phone.
 
Best Blackberry application: Kayak Flight/Hotel Search – Helps you compare hundreds of travel sites at once, organize your itinerary and track your flights right on the Blackberry.
 
Best iPhone application: Tap Tap Revenge 3 – Helps you get access to over 100 free songs and 100 premium bundles of music rhythm games.
 
Best Android application: Lookout – Helps identify and block security threats, backs up and restores a user’s personal data, and can quickly find a lost or stolen phone by pinpointing its location on a Google map or sounding a loud alarm.

While the individual categories all won $15,000, the Gettie Award, the top winner across all categories, netted $25,000. This year’s recipient was Layar, the augmented reality application that adds digital information to your surroundings. The company recently announced that its services would now be available on one-third of the world’s smartphones.

Interesting, the company also identified which operating systems had the most submissions. iPhone accounted for 26 percent of  nominations, Android 20 percent, Java 18 percent, Symbian 15 percent, Blackberry 13 percent, and Windows Mobile, 9 percent.

VentureBeat would like to thank the companies that are supporting MobileBeat 2010, including GetJar, Placecast, Greystripe, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Paypal, and Jumptap as Gold Sponsors, AdMob, OpenMarket, Navteq, MasterImage 3D, Symbian, DeHood, Flurry, and Palm as Silver Sponsors, and Nexage, Offerpal, Marvell, Verizon, Mobclix, Mayfield Fund, InMobi, Appolicious, Offermobi, and Norwest Venture Partners as Event Sponsors.