Microsoft's Windows Phone Next App Star competition is heating up and 64 finalists have been selected for the public voting phase. If you're not up to speed, it's a contest for Windows Phone apps to be voted on by the public for $60,000 worth of prizes. Through head-to-head style voting, the grand winner will pocket the opportunity to have his (or her) app featured in a Windows Phone prime-time TV advertisement spot in the US.
So how many apps were entered? 9,000 entries were looked through, from more than 79 markets - that's some number. Judging to select the 64 finalists was based 50% on total app ratings on the Windows Phone Store, with the other 50% on app quality. Of the 64 apps, 32 are free and the remaining apps are commercially available.
Now we're in the public voting phase, Microsoft is offering Lumia 920s as an incentive for consumers (as well as developers) to vote. Fancy winning a brand new Nokia Lumia phone? Be sure to get involved and vote for your favourite app. It's all Facebook orientated (as is everything these days) so head on over to the Windows Phone Next App Star page for more information and to view the brackets.
Apps will be going head-to-head, with multiple rounds of voting. Simply cast your vote on your favourite app out of the entries listed and votes will subsequently narrow the field in the consecutive rounds. To serve as a reminder, here are the dates for each round:
- March 19 - 22
- March 23 - 25
- March 26 - 29
- March 30 - April 1
- April 2 - 5
- April 6 - 8
Each vote casted will count as an entry into the daily sweepstakes to win the Lumia 920. Should you not win the device on the first day, fear not as votes will carry forward until that round is over.
It's worth noting that our own app is listed, but we're up against tough competition - ARMED!. We'd ask readers to vote for our own app, but ARMED! is such a quality title that has brought unique functionality to the platform. As always, choose wisely and pick your favourites.
Head on over to the Next App Star Facebook page for more information and to cast your votes.
Update: Looks like the Facebook page is experiencing issues. "Windows Phone Next App Star is temporarily unavailable. Please check back soon." Be sure to keep checking the links to get in and vote when it's once again live.
Source: Windows Phone Blog
