"The Jinx" proved lucky for Temasek Polytechnic at the inaugural Yahoo Mobile Developer Awards (YMDA, mobile.yahoo.com/developers), where teams from tertiary institutes competed to build the best mobile widgets for four corporate brands - DBS Bank, Kellogg Asia, Malaysia Airlines and UEEEU.com. The widgets were created on Yahoo's latest mobile development platform - Yahoo Blueprint.

A mobile widget developed by Temasek Polytechnic prompts people to take part in Kellogg's "Special K Challenge".

Developed by Temasek Polytechnic for Kellogg Asia, "The Jinx" prompts people to take part in the Kellogg's "Special K Challenge". It includes calorie and BMI calculators, healthy tips, Special K recipes, and a personal progress planner.

"We believe mobile widgets will change the way consumers use their mobiles," said Mr Robert Woodall, Vice President, Marketing & Innovation, Kellogg Asia-Pacific. "We wanted a mobile widget to help promote our ‘Special K Challenge' - a challenge aimed at consumers to see if they can lose 2 kilograms in two weeks by replacing two meals a day with two bowls of Special K. We selected the mobile widget developed by ‘The Jinx' team from Temasek Polytechnic which will help prompt people to take part in the Special K Challenge as well as keep them motivated throughout the duration."

For DBS Bank, Nanyang Technological University created the winning entry "Simple", a mobile widget to help customers conveniently locate branches and ATMs, and access information on bank products and credit card privileges.

"A growing number of consumers today are looking to have banking information and services at their fingertips. Therefore, the idea of delivering our banking services to consumers directly to their mobile phones using mobile widgets is very exciting," said Ms Jowena Liang, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Marketing & Internet Banking, Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank.

According to Ms Liang, "Simple" was selected because the widget interface was simple to use, making it easy for consumers to access and request information from their mobile phone. "The creation of mobile widgets fits perfectly with DBS' strategy of providing convenient access to our customers across a multi-channel distribution platform," she said.

The two other winners were "We Mobile", created by Singapore Polytechnic for Malaysia Airlines, and "Chlorophyll Studios", developed by Nanyang Polytechnic for UEEEU.com. "We Mobile", a mobile widget to encourage travel with Malaysia Airlines, comes with interesting and useful features to assist users with their travel plans. "Chlorophyll Studios", also a travel-related mobile widget, aims to make the travel experience more convenient and enjoyable with a language translator, a world time indicator, destination guides, hotel/vehicle search and reservation functions, and a travel planning tool.

YMDA is the first of several competitions showcasing innovation and talent of Singapore students in creating mobile-optimised applications using Yahoo! Blueprint. A total of 24 teams from six Singapore tertiary institutes - Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, and Temasek Polytechnic, took part in this year's challenge. Submissions were judged on usability, quality, innovation, effective use of technology, and relevance to the companies and their customers. Members from the four winning widget teams each received a cash prize and will have their winning widgets showcased on the mobile widget gallery in Yahoo! Go 3.0.