2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge(R) Winners Announced for India

CHICAGO, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, today announced that Eterno Infotech Pvt. Ltd. is the Grand Prize winner of the India edition of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge competition. Eterno Infotech will receive over $735,000 (US) in cash, data and tool licenses, and services; a substantial share of the total global prize pool for the Global LBS Challenge, which is valued at a total over $10 million.

Eterno Infotech (http://www.eternoinfotech.com) won the competition with its location-aware mobile application, NewsHunt-Local, which incorporates local search and location-based advertising with information from India's most popular mobile news services, all in local languages. NewsHunt-Local brings together leading Indian dailies from major Indian languages. It also offers user-generated news and blogs, taking advantage of citizen journalism.

Two Runners-Up were also selected by the judging panel:

• First Runner-Up: MaxMobility Pvt. Ltd. (www.maxmobility.in) − Child Tracker is a GPS and RFID-based bus tracking and child safety solution for parents.
• Second Runner-Up: Genesys International Corp. Ltd. (www.igenesys.com) − GenesysGolf is a solution for GPS-enabled smartphones that eliminates the need for golfers to separately carry a range finder device.

The twelve applications were evaluated by a prominent panel of thirteen judges consisting of executives from leading wireless, technology and venture capital companies, including Aircel, Bharti Airtel Limited, deCarta, Digital Globe, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Helion Advisors Pvt. Ltd., HTC, Intel, Microsoft Bing Maps, Nokia, Samsung, Tanla and Vodafone.

"This competition is about discovering innovative uses of location-based services and acting as a catalyst to grow LBS in places such as India where technology, entrepreneurship and innovation thrive," said Rich Shuman, senior vice president, Asia Pacific sales, NAVTEQ. "We are extremely pleased to hold a NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge competition dedicated to India for the first time, and are proud to add it to our list of innovative offerings aimed at the developer community around the world."

Two special recognition awards were also presented by Global LBS Challenge sponsors for outstanding achievements in specific categories:

• Eterno Infotech Pvt. Ltd., NewsHunt-Local: Best App for Use of Tanla License Manager, selected by global sponsor Tanla, and
• Genesys International Corp. Ltd., GenesysGolf: Most Innovative Use of Graphics, selected by global award sponsor Imagination Technologies.

Until recently, navigation and LBS solutions have been an unexplored territory in India. While personal navigation devices (PNDs) are still facing slow adoption, India is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world and NAVTEQ continues to rapidly expand its coverage throughout the country.

Visit www.LBSChallenge.com for information on the other four regions in this year's competition: Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), North America, South America and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

About the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®

First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is a worldwide competition conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D), daring application developers around the world to build innovative location-based services (LBS) using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ® maps. Integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data and LBS content facilitates the timely evolution of the next wave of location-aware applications. The Global LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the LBS industry for shining the spotlight on global LBS innovation and opportunity. Over 32% of the finalists from the past six years have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially-distributed applications. For more information on this year's competition, go to www.LBSChallenge.com.

About NAVTEQ Network for Developers™

NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) is a dynamic web portal and global community that provides developers and business partners with the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch the most innovative location-enabled solutions. NN4D includes resources such as mapping APIs, LBS content, point of interest data and routing information as well as geospatial platforms and tools from NAVTEQ and its partners. Members can rely on NN4D when creating GPS-based applications for the web, mobile phones, GIS and portable navigation devices that employ traffic, navigation, location content and location-based advertising for enterprise and consumer use. Connect with the people, tools and resources you need to build and market your location-enabled products by joining today at www.NN4D.com/joindevelopers.

About NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data (digital location content) enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world.  NAVTEQ supplies comprehensive digital location content to power automotive navigation systems, portable and wireless devices, Internet-based mapping applications and government and business solutions.  The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 4600 employees located in 203 offices in 45 countries.

NAVTEQ, NAVTEQ Network for Developers and Global LBS Challenge are trademarks of NAVTEQ in the U.S. and other countries. All rights reserved.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060313/NAVTEQLOGO)

SOURCE NAVTEQ

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