The Ubuntu App Showdown is back – and this time it’s aiming to bolster the app offerings of Ubuntu Touch ahead of its planned 1.0 release this October.
The contest follows a similar structure to that of the ‘desktop’ version run last year, and won by Google Reader app ‘Lightread’.
For the next 6 weeks developers are invited to create news apps (or port existing ones) to Ubuntu Touch using the Ubuntu SDK.
A judging panel that includes Canonical community manager Jono Bacon, Lisette Slegers from the Canonical design team & avid Touch app dev Nekhelesh Ramananthan, will review and grade each entry on the following criteria:
- General Interest – Would “regular” phone users find this app useful?
- Features – Does if offer a range of features?
- Quality – Is it stable & bug free?
- Design – Does it follow the Ubuntu Design Guidelines?
Additional points will also be awarded to entries that promote their progress during the contest; those that adapt to different screen-sizes; and those that make use of Ubuntu services such as Online Accounts and U1DB.
Applications have to be created in one of the languages supported by the Ubuntu SDK, and must be released under an open source license that allows Canonical (and others) to distribute it.
Lastly, you must legally own the relevant copyright/permissions to assets, code etc.
Prizes
The two highest-scoring applications in the ‘Original App’ category, along with the highest scoring app in the ‘Ported’ segment, will each win a Nexus 4 phone that – in a stroke of genius – comes preinstalled with Ubuntu Touch!
Winning developers will also be afforded the opportunity to work with the Ubuntu Design and Engineering team to get their app included in the final Ubuntu for phones images.
Yes, you read that right – your app could be shipped by default on Ubuntu Touch.
Interested? For the full rules refer to this post or, with the starting pistol sounded, get coding!