Shortlist for the Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition – EMEA Tournament also revealed

The ceremony is one of the highlights of the GSMA Mobile World Congress, the world’s leading event for the mobile communications industry, which will be held 16-19 February in Barcelona.

“Our congratulations go to all the nominees in this year’s Global Mobile Awards and Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “Mobile communications continue to drive social, economic and technological developments, and this becomes even more critical in the uncertain economic environment we’re living in. To have been shortlisted from the impressive, high-quality field of more than 450 companies that entered is a tremendous achievement, and we look forward to celebrating the innovation and ingenuity of our winners at the Global Mobile Awards evening next month.”

The awards ceremony will be hosted by the rising star of British comedy, Michael McIntyre, and the evening will feature exclusive performances and special guest appearances from leaders in the mobile and entertainment industries.

For the Global Mobile Awards, the GSMA’s judging panels reviewed more than 450 submissions to select 80 finalists across 16 categories. Categories range from ‘Best Mobile Handset’ to a host of mobile entertainment awards for games, music and video, advertising and social networking services. New categories this year also include ‘Best Mobile Money Service’ and the ‘Green Mobile Awards’.

The EMEA leg and final stage of the GSMA’s 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition will also take place at the Mobile World Congress, where 15 nominees will compete in five categories ranging from ‘Most Innovative True Mobile Start Up’ to ‘Most Innovative Consumer Application or Service’. The finalists will pitch their presentations to a panel of senior executives from mobile operators, industry suppliers and venture capitalists. The two winners from the EMEA leg will then compete against finalists from the Americas, Asia and Virtual tournaments for the title of ‘2009 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Award Champion’. The winner will also be announced at the Global Mobile Awards dinner on Tuesday 17th February.

The Platinum sponsor of the Global Mobile Awards is Qualcomm, and category sponsors include: A.T. Kearney (Green Mobile category), Purple labs (Best Mobile Handset category), Movius (Marketing & Promotion category), HiT (Mobile Entertainment category), and the Government of Catalunya (Mobile Innovation category & host sponsor).

View the 2009 Global Mobile Awards nominations at: www.globalmobileawards.com/nominees.shtml. For full details of the Global Mobile Awards and to book your place, please visit: www.globalmobileawards.com.

For more information on the Mobile Innovation Marketplace and to view the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition EMEA nominations, please visit: www.mobileinnovation.org.

For full details of the 2009 Mobile World Congress, please visit: www.mobileworldcongress.com.