Android Challenge Winner pushes location awareness

Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) have announced the final winners for part one of the Android Developer Challenge. The OHA granted ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards for the best applications created for the Linux- and Java-based Android mobile phone platform. 

(Click for larger view of party location app, Wertago)

In May, the OHA chose 50 finalists out of a field of 1,788 submissions, awarding each team $25,000 and a chance to compete for the final awards. A second round of the challenge will be opened for submissions "after the first handsets built on the platform become available," the search giant said.

Most of the winners reflected the general focus of the finalists on GPS location awareness and Google Maps. Others put the camera to work as a barcode scanner, or focused on social networking.