BlackBerry Announces BlackBerry Achievement Award Recipients

Source: BlackBerry Press - Press Releases - May 15, 2013 

BlackBerry Announces BlackBerry Achievement Award Recipients 

BlackBerry Live 2013, Orlando FL – BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) announced today the recipients of this year’s BlackBerry Achievement Awards at BlackBerry® Live™ 2013.

The BlackBerry Achievement Awards are presented to organizations that are doing business in new and innovative ways with BlackBerry products and services. The awards were classified into five categories: App of the Year, Putting Customers First, Mobile Innovation of the Year, Making the World a Better Place, and Entrepreneur of the Year.

App of the Year Award

Winner: PriceCheck Pty Ltd -- PriceCheck Mobile for BlackBerry 10 takes shopping to a whole new level by using a BlackBerry 10 smartphone to do the legwork and price comparisons, so customers don't have to be near a computer or store. The app accesses pricing for more than 30 million products on sale through the Internet and online stores in South Africa. Built using HTML5 and JavaScript® source code, the app is wrapped with Cascades™ and uses some feature plug-ins.

Finalists: 

• Cooklet
• Cine Hoyts 

Putting Customers First

Winner: ING DIRECT Canada -- ING DIRECT offers today's financially conscious customers a unique mobile banking experience on their BlackBerry 10 smartphones. As well as making it convenient and secure to conduct transactions, the app focuses on increasing savings with "Orange Alerts" that push notifications to the BlackBerry® Hub when balances reach pre-determined levels. Other features such as "Small Sacrifices" encourage positive decisions about saving and financial information by sharing info through Facebook®, Twitter®, BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) and YouTube®.

Finalists: 

·         MMMOOO

·         LoyaltyMatch Inc. 

Mobile Innovation of the Year 

Winner: DIRECTV -- As a large satellite TV provider in Latin America and the Caribbean, DIRECTV makes customer service for their five million customers a priority. Their app for BlackBerry smartphones allows their 4,000 technicians to manage an entire service call and work order process from their phones, and supports Bluetooth® technology to validate and adjust satellite signal strength.The app is helping DIRECTV improve customer satisfaction, reduce paperwork and technical calls, as well as decrease return visits to customer homes.

Finalists: 

• ippin (Refresh Mobile Ltd.)
• WaytagO

Making the World a Better Place 

Winner: e-Cycle LLC -- e-Cycle LLC has a simple, but meaningful mandate: offer enterprises a way to retire millions of mobile devices responsibly, by protecting data security, preserving the environment, and generating buyback revenue. As a recipient of e-Stewards® certification, e-Cycle is on the frontline of ensuring that harmful, toxic chemicals from mobile devices are not sent to landfills but are instead recycled safely. Their buyback program reimburses costs for devices that can have more value in the market, which offsets the costs of a company upgrading to new devices.

Finalists: 

·         University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB)

·         Sussex Police

Entrepreneur of the Year

Winner: Nobex Technologies Inc -- Many BlackBerry enthusiasts are familiar with Nobex Technologies' innovative mobile app that allows people to listen radio stations on the go and share the experience and chat with friends through BBM. Nobex Radio for BlackBerry 10 continues its inventiveness with a newly designed app. It adds podcast functionality that allows people to search and subscribe to thousands of podcasts, with notifications sent to the BlackBerry Hub when new episodes are available.

Finalists: 

·         EducationApps Limited

·         SkyPark Café

For more information on the BlackBerry Achievement Awards program, please visit http://www.blackberrylive.com/special-programs/achievement-awards/

About BlackBerry

A global leader in wireless innovation, BlackBerry® revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. BlackBerry is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: BBRY) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BB). For more information, visit www.blackberry.com .