Chikka: App developers are the new rock stars

MANILA, Philippines - Chikka Philippines, maker of the Chikka Text Messenger, saluted the “rock stars” of the Web and mobile app development community at the first-ever Foursquare Hack Day in the country.

“Developers are the new ‘rock stars,’ not only for setting trends but also for advocating openness and creating a revolution aimed to make technology work for social reforms and economic progress,” said Chito Bustamante Chikka’s CEO and head of Smart’s Product Research, Innovation and Strategic Management (PRISM) Group.

Bustamante, together with the Smart Developer Network (Smart DevNet) team, helped Foursquare welcome some 100 participants who turned up for the whole-day challenge to create the best “More Fun in the Philippines” app utilizing Foursquare’s application programming interface (API).

Foursquare’s very own software engineer Sajid Mehmood also expressed his delight in bringing the Hack Day, the first-ever official Foursquare developer event outside of the United States, to the Philippines where Web and mobile development is rapidly flourishing.

“We are excited to be working with the app developer community in the Philippines,” said Mehmood, noting that the Filipino dev spirit is instrumental in the future of app development in the country.

Bustamante, who was also impressed by the energy and the eagerness of the young developers, echoed Mehmood’s optimism and shared his hopes for the Philippines and the new “rock stars” of the app world.

“We visualize the Philippines becoming a well-spring of development in a few years time. And we hope to foster a whole ecosystem for enablers, producers and consumers in the Philippine Web and mobile development scene so that it can evolve as vibrantly as possible,” he said.

The competition churned out many brilliant and promising applications; but in the end, only three teams were accorded the Foursquare honors. Team Triple A bagged the grand prize with its PicXplorer app that can instantly create an “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” poster of photos posted from specific venues.

Coming in second was the Eight Small Things app from Team Zinder. And, completing the top three was Chikka’s own delegation, Team Self Servants — composed of Melvin Fetalvero, Jason Sia, and Mai Cervanters — with its “It’s More Fun in the Philippines Experience” app.