Meffy awards set to highlight mobile content & commerce innovators

In case you haven’t heard, mobile is kinda a big thing — and it’s only going to get bigger. Mcommerce is set for a growth spurt, as global mobile payment transaction values are predicted to increase 61.9% from 2011 to hit US$171 billion by the end of the year. Mobile startups are selling for billions and mobile app developers are in hot demand. In order to find and showcase the greatest innovators in the mobile content and commerce industry, the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has opened nominations for the 9th annual Meffy awards.

The awards are judged by an independent, international panel of journalists, academics, analysts and venture capitalists from around the world, and previous winners include CocaCola, Shazam, EA Games and Zimbabwean startup ForgetMeNot Africa. Last year, 200 companies entered the awards from over 30 countries.

Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director commented: “MEF reviews the categories on an annual basis to reflect the industry’s evolution and this year, we are recognising the profound impact of mobile on key verticals and consumers around the world. The new Meffys Consumer Trust Award will also honour those companies at the forefront of creating best practice in privacy and security, key to creating a sustainable ecosystem in 2012 and beyond.”

In addition to the new awards, all nominees in each of the four innovation categories will be given the opportunity to pitch to the C-level executives at the MEF CEO Summit to be held at City Hall, on the evening preceding the Meffys. The CEOs will then vote to determine the most innovative mobile product or service and the winner of this “CEO Summit Award for Innovation” will be honoured at the Meffys Gala Awards Dinner.

The 2012 Meffys categories:

1. Social & Entertainment App
2. Life tools App
3. Brand on Mobile
4. Publisher on Mobile
5. Content Service
6. m-Commerce Service
7. Consumer Trust
8. Discovery & Engagement
9. Social Responsibility & Development

Innovation categories

10. Innovation Award for Apps
11. Innovation Award for Technology
12. Innovation Award for Growth Markets
13. Innovation Award for Monetization

The submission process is now open and companies from around the world are invited to submit entries in 13 categories until the deadline of July 19th. The 2012 winners will be announced at a gala dinner on 12th September 2012 at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair, London, UK.