iPhone 4 Wins Best Mobile Device at MWC
Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine Chloe Albanesius - Pc Magazine Thu Feb 17, 12:09 am ET
BARCELONA - The iPhone 4 walked away with the "best mobile device" award here at Mobile World Congress, despite the fact that Apple does not have a presence at the conference.
HTC also won best device manufacturer of the year.
In selecting the iPhone 4 for the top honor at the Global Mobile Awards, the judges noted the device's "great screen, sharp design, fantastic materials, and phenomenal ecosystem for app developers."
"In a tight race, the iPhone 4 built on the success of its predecessors to set the pace for smarthones," according to the GSMA, the global mobile phone industry trade group that runs the awards and MWC.
The awards were handed out by a panel of mostly European journalists and analysts, including PCMag's lead analyst for mobile, Sascha Segan. Companies couldn't nominate their own products for handset of the year - the judges themselves came up with nominations that they narrowed down to a shortlist online. They determined the winner during a marathon multi-hour meeting/conference call in London, with judges dialing in from New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. There was a pretty heated debate over the handset winner, with the decision being a close one in the end.
HTC was selected as device manufacturer of the year because it "has built its market presence from nowhere, with fresh branding and marketing and a strong portfolio of devices across many platforms," according to the judges.
"In particular, it has proven an exceptionally popular and enduring phone manufacturer," they continued. "With great communication and good customer service, this is a well-deserved award."
The judges highlighted the HTC Desire as a device that "set the bar for Android phones across much of the world in 2010."
On the app front, Rovio's "Angry Birds" was the big winner, taking home the best mobile app award and the best mobile app on the Apple platform.
"This is an application that is simple, intuitive, incredibly addictive, and perfect for 'snacking' consumption," the judges said of Angry Birds. "It has underlined the importance of the applications market, and helped raise the credibility of small independent developers outside the mainstream."
BlackBerry Messenger, meanwhile, won for best app in BlackBerry App World, and Google Maps was selected as the best Android app.
Sascha Segan contributed to this report. |
