The winners of the Global Messaging Awards 2010  are:

Innovation in Messaging
Research in Motion
BlackBerry  Messenger 5.0 is RIM’s real-time, mobile instant messaging application service.  It allows users to share pictures, videos, voice notes, calendar appointments  and lists with both their individual or group contacts. There are over 41  million BlackBerry subscriber accounts, and RIM shipped more than 10.5 million  devices in the last quarter alone. BlackBerry Messenger offers deep integration  with the smartphone’s addressbook and media gallery, making it easy for user to  stay in touch and share content. All contact lists are backed up onto the  BlackBerry server, and files of up to 6Mb can be transferred between users. It  also allows users to connect using 2D barcodes as invitations. Almost half of  the global BlackBerry subscriber base has registered to use the service.
This award category was sponsored by Airwide Solutions.
Anthony  Payne, Director, Platform Marketing, RIM receives the award from Mike  Grenville, 160Characters (right).

Messaging Infrastructure or Platform
Shorthand and mBlox (joint entry)
This joint entry bundles popular web content into one simple, easy-to-use mobile application called TextApps. Only 12% of the world’s 4bn mobile users have a data plan - how can we get content to the rest? Users pick their content from service such as CNN, Facebook and Twitter, and the application then uses the SMS channel to bring them web content without the need for a data plan. With 21 sites already integrated, and more than 40 planned in the next few weeks, the  service is growing rapidly. Users simply choose content from a menu, and the  SMS-based interaction is managed by the application.
Andrew Bud, mBlox Chairman receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters  (right).

Messaging Application or Service: Public Sector
Derdack GmbH
Derdack, an independent software vendor based in Germany, implemented a centralised SMS notification hub for HIS-IZZ Hospitals. The service means critical alerts can be sent out in real-time to the correct staff members using SMS. HSS-IZZ is a  network of four hospitals in Brussels, and Derdack created a new messaging system to replace the outdated pager-based solution used to send alerts to staff. By integrating with a calendar of staff availability, the system is able  to ensure that exactly the right people are notified about critical events. The system is also able to manage workflow notifications for non-urgent warnings  such as open fire doors.
Matthes Derdak, CEO, Derdak receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters  (right). 

Messaging Application: Business
ImpulsePay
A mobile  purchasing solution that offers content owners an alternative to credit card  payment or Premium SMS. Using “Direct to Bill” technology, businesses can apply  a charge to the customer’s mobile phone bill or credit within operators’  accounts. It’s easy for website owners to get started with ImpulsePay, just by  adding a snippet of JavaScript to their site. A wide range of tariffs are  available and the revenue share deal pays out 10 days after the transaction has  been made. Higher payout rates are available for charities. The user experience  is simple, a secure PIN is sent from the website to the mobile device by SMS,  and when the user enters that PIN the transaction is complete. The service works on any handset in the UK and is compatible with all mobile networks.
Chris  Newell, CEO, Impulse Pay receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters  (right) with Robert Hamilton, (left) host for the evening.

Messaging Application: Consumer 
Huawei
Huawei’s  Mobile Newspaper Service enables carriers to use mobile phones to send news and information in pictures, text, sound, and animation to subscribers. Carriers,  working together with newspaper publishers, send daily news to subscribers  using delivery channels including SMS, MMS and WAP. The platform is fully customisable and has a strong reporting platform to provide operators and  publishers with up-to-date insights on what is being consumed. Targeted  advertising, based on the user’s specified interests is also available. With  over 100m paid subscribers (and that number growing very rapidly) it is proving  to be a very popular and rewarding service.
Tang Fei, Director, Huwaei receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters (right).

Mobile Financial Services Solution 
Comviva
Powered  by Comviva, France Telecom has launched Orange Money to target the unbanked in  Africa using USSD-based menus so that customers can carry out transactions  without having to remember keywords. 90% of Africans do not have a bank  account, and France Telecom has launched Orange Money, powered by Comviva’s  mobiquity platform. The service supports cash deposits, withdrawals and  transfers and can also be used to pay utility bills, top-up airtime accounts or  make purchases from selected retailers. The service has launched in Ivory  Coast, Senegal, Mali and Madagascar. The platform can handle 4 million  transactions per day, and supports real-time, multi-device, multi-operator,  multi-bank interoperability. In Ivory Coast alone, more than 10,000 customers  per month use the service.
Robert Hamilton (left) host for the evening talks to Raj Kesarimall, VP Comviva  Technologies as he receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters  (right).

Messaging Application or Service: Social Use
Mobile Giving Foundation
The Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF) was established to allow people to make a micro-donation, using their mobile phones. Mobile giving has revolutionised  fundraising for charities across North America with more than $50 million donated in the first quarter of 2010. Mobile Giving Foundation was created in 2005 in the wake of the Indonesian Tsunami. Supporting micro-donations of $5 or $10, made by simply texting a keyword to a short-code, MGF’s platform has  helped many mobile fund-raising efforts in the USA and Canada. By obtaining  agreements with the major North American carriers, it has been possible to guarantee that 100% pass-through of donations can be achieved. MGF works with over 400 charities, benefitting tens of millions of people. The 2010 Haiti earthquake relief effort use MGF to raise more than $43 million of aid from  more than four million people. With further ambitious goals to reduce the time  to launch a campaign across all carriers from 21 days to 8 and reduce time from  donation to carrier-reconciliation from 30 days to less than 5, MGF plans to  expand its model into Asia and Europe.

Effective Use of Mobile Ticketing
mBlox / Arriva
A joint  entry between Arriva, mBlox and Concept Data Technologies providing an m-ticketing service for Arriva that incorporated the new sender pays model for mobile data, meaning consumers using the service on the approximately 1,000 routes served by Arriva do not pay any data charges to download their tickets. MBlox m-ticketing service uses a downloadable mobile application, which lets  users buy daily, weekly or monthly tickets from their phone. Customers can pay using a registered credit or debit card, or also using the popular PayPoint  system. The system covers more than 1,000 routes on Arriva’s regional fleet of  4,500 buses. In the first three months 8,000 customers made more than 50,000  journeys using m-tickets. Since its launch in November 2009 more than 200,000  journeys have been completed.
Andrew Bud, mBlox Chairman receives the award from Mike Grenville, 160Characters (right).