Nikkei BP Announces the Winners of “Multi-Screen UX Competition 2013”
--The eight awarded works are currently showcased at “Mobile World Congress 2013”

Tokyo - Feb 25, 2013 - Nikkei Business Publications (President & CEO: Kohei Osada; Tokyo) announced the winners of Multi-Screen UX Competition 2013 (http://multiscreencompetition.com/) to develop an appealing user experience (UX) with multi-screen capabilities. The awarded works are currently on display at the mobile exhibition “Mobile World Congress 2013 (http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/)” (MWC 2013), held February 25-28, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain.

Multi-Screen UX Competition 2013 is a contest targeting creators, planners and developers from around the world, bringing together entries for new types of UX, new entertainment leveraging on multi-terminals including smartphones and tablets as well as multi-screens.

The Competition has been sponsored by Sony Corporation (President & CEO: Kazuo Hirai; Tokyo) and Sony Mobile Communications (President & CEO: Kunimasa Suzuki; Tokyo). In addition to the said display at the Sony booth of MWC 2013, the exhibition space featuring the Competition was set up within the Sony booth at the 2013 International CES held in this January in Las Vegas, US.

Kunimasa Suzuki, EVP, Corporate Executive Officer of Sony Corporation and President & CEO of Sony Mobile Communications said;
“Sony aims to provide customers worldwide with the most compelling and exciting experiences possible through the combination of mobile devices including Xperia™ smartphones and Xperia™ tablets, together with applications and services that enhance each device’s overall attractiveness.
Sony will continue to strive to expand the growth of these innovative user experiences that leverage multiple devices, as set out in the theme of this competition, working with developers around the globe.”

High Global Interests in Developing New User Experience Using Multi-screens

The Competition has received many entries from across the world. The developers (some of them are an individual or a group) of awarded works are also headquartered in various countries, including France, Israel, Japan, Singapore and US, showing growing global interests in the development of new user experiences and entertainment.

The awarded works are as follows; Among them, Thuuz is also given the Sponsor Award which recognizes an excellent work using the API (Application Programming Interface) provided by the sponsors.
Excellence Awards (Developer, Headquarters)

• Thuuz (Thuuz=http://www.thuuz.com/, US)
  -App connecting the user to TV sports programs
  -Rating of sports games according to the “excitement level” on a scale of 0-100.
  -The excitement level changes in real time as the game progresses.
  -Control of the channels via the infrared API
• SEKAINFO=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.team3k.android.sekainfo&hl=en_GB (3K89, Japan)
  -App which recognizes voices on TV and radio programs automatically, extracts “keywords” and takes them out as “cards”
  -The card contents are extracted by keyword search and image search
  -The cards are downloaded automatically when the user finishes watching (or listening to) a program, so the user can check again the items of interest such as a shop and a keyword
• Seconds (Spicy Cinnamon=http://cinnamon.is/, Singapore)
  -App for sharing photos
  -Seconds notifies that photo sharing is done within “a few seconds”, while a general photo sharing service requires more than one minute to do so.
  -Suggested usage for parties and other occasions to enjoy communication with photo sharing.
• LifeShow Player= http://www.lifeshow.com/ (Cybronics=http://www.cybronics.com/, France)
  -App that can change tablets, TVs, PCs and smartphones into remote-controllable photo frames.
  -Easy and handy viewing of online videos and images under “My Channel”
  -Device-to-device synchronization makes it possible for the user to share the same screen with friends and family members and exchange comments on the screen.
• Sekaiphone Multi (iplatform.org=http://iplatform.org/, Japan)
  -Telephone call app for communicating over the language barriers
  -The user can make a phone call and speak in his/her native language (e.g. Japanese), which is translated into a native language of the receiver on the other end (e.g. English).
  -In addition to the “telephone” mode, the app is equipped with the “conversation mode” in which the users can converse face-to-face on their tablet screens.
• SpeakingPal English Tutor(SpeakingPal=http://www.speakingpal.com/, Israel)
  -English learning support app via smartphone and TV
  -Equipped with the “speak” and “listen” modes, the app evaluates the user’s speaking/listening abilities based on the conversation via smartphone.
  -The learning results are sent automatically to the user’s device.
• Toneconnect (Toneconnect=http://www.toneconnect.com/, Japan)
  -App using tone signals for sharing information
  -Send/receive “sounds” with a speaker and a microphone
  -The receiving terminal connects to a specialized server to download information in the URL and other formats.
  -Usable for various purposes including broadcasting, events, and meetings.
• Beatrobo (Beatrobo=https://www.beatrobo.com/, US)
  -App for sharing music
  -The created playlist is turned into a “robot”, with which the user can enjoy music video clips.
  -The user can enjoy it alone or share the playlists with friends by exchanging the robots.
  -Music is downloaded via YouTube API.

The judges for Multi-Screen UX Competition 2013 are;

Mr. Naoki Sakai, Professor of Keio University and CEO of waterdesign (http://www.water-design.jp)
Mr. Azby Brown, Professor of Kanazawa Institute of Technology (http://www.kanazawa-it.ac.jp) and Director of Future Design Institute
Mr. Blake Harrop, Managing Director of Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo

For further details, please contact:
Global Business Development Office
Phone: +81-(0)3-6811-8311
Fax: +81-(0)3-5421-9804
http://www.nikkeibp.com
Email: info@nikkeibp.com

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and business performance. Those forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and the company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other factors, general business and economic conditions, rapid or unexpected changes in technologies, cancellation or delay of customer orders.

About NikkeiBP

Nikkei Business Publications is part of The Nikkei group, which has newspaper publication as its main business and three additional business divisions of digital media, publishing and broadcasting under its umbrella. Covering a wide variety of specialized areas including business, computer, electronics, construction, services and medicine, Nikkei Business Publications, in July 2008, merged with its sister company, Nikkei Home Publishing, to also bring consumer magazines into its portfolio.