The competition, being run by Internet applications developer Mentez, has already attracted more than 250 entrants. Anyone with programming skills and loads of enthusiasm – whether individuals or teams, big or small companies – can register free on www.mentez.com before 22 December 2007. Those selected from the preliminary round will then go on to develop the application before 31 January.
The complete applications will run on Facebook for six weeks and users will select the five most successful.
On top of the prizes Mentez is already sponsoring, Microsoft will give out an Xbox 360 system, including a games bundle, to the best application developed using Silverlight. Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in designed to deliver the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for the web.
Mentez recently launched the competition – which carries a top prize of R40 000 – to promote and sponsor the development of Facebook applications in South Africa, encouraging Internet entrepreneurship.
Mentez MD Juan Franco said the contest highlighted “the exciting opportunities possible on the Facebook platform” due to the ability to integrate with user profiles and exploit the distribution infrastructure, which has millions of existing users and billions of connections. Globally, more than 50 million people use Facebook daily and its popularity has boomed in South Africa.
“Facebook has done some great work in defining the Internet social experience,” says Microsoft SA's Dave Ives. “Its value lies in the way that audience interacts with the site and with each other. And the audience is huge. We're delighted to be part of any effort that looks to drive local interest in the site.”
Microsoft and Mentez are hosting workshops in Johannesburg and Cape Town in January 2008 to present the best practices and technologies to develop applications for Facebook. All developers registered in the contest will be invited to these sessions.
“We are delighted to have Microsoft participating in this initiative, giving South African developers added opportunities,” says Franco. “We are very impressed with the response from the IT community in South Africa, and the creativity and quality of the applications submitted so far. We believe a lot of these applications have the potential to be successful and popular in Facebook; and Silverlight just adds an extra dimension to the mix.”
Following the great results and opportunities the competition is creating in South Africa and Colombia, Mentez has recently opened the contest to the Mexican developers, and it's preparing to launch the initiative in other countries, including Brazil and Turkey.
Earlier this year, Microsoft bought 1.6% of Facebook in a deal worth some US$15 billion.
