GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards nominees announced

The GSM Association(GSMA) has announced the nominees for the 17th annual Global Mobile Awards, a ceremony that honours “excellence and innovation in mobile communications”.

The GSMA, founded in 1995, is an association of mobile operators and related companies devoted to supporting the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system.

Out of the 600 entries received by the GSMA a total of 158 nominees have been shortlisted for this years Global Mobile Awards.

“Reflecting the intensity of competition and innovation across the mobile ecosystem, we saw a record 600 entries and an exceptionally high-quality field of contenders vying for this year’s Global Mobile Awards,” said Michael O Hara, chief marketing officer, GSMA.

The nominees include tech and social heavyweights such as Facebook, Evernote, Google, Cisco Systems Inc., Zynga and Flipboard.

Some of Africa’s mobile providers also made the nominees list with nods for Safaricom and Vodacom.

For 2012, the GSMA has introduced 18 new awards, with notable developments in categories such as applications of the year, mobile innovation, mobile marketing and advertising, and social and economic development.

More than 170 independent analysts, journalists, academics and industry experts throughout the world participated in the judging of the 2012 awards.

The winners will be announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on the 28th February 2012. The ceremony is open to all pre-approved Global Mobile Awards nominees, Mobile World Congress Platinum, Gold and Silver Pass conference attendees and accredited press attending the Congress.