Sunnyvale, California, March 10, 2010 – Silicon Valley's first Android Hackathon is attracting over 150 mobile developers to compete for fun and prizes as they meet other developers and learn more about Google's Android operating system, which powers the latest mobile smartphones. This free event on Saturday, March 13, 2010 is open to all developers, both novice and advanced, and takes place at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, CA at 10:00AM. Teams will spontaneously form to work on the new Android applications that most interest the developers. Working in teams or as individual contributors, the programming continues throughout the day until late into the evening. Attendees are invited to show off their hackathon applications a few days later at the March 17 meeting of the SV Android Developer Meetup. The members of the audience will vote for their top picks. The winning teams will receive prizes for the most popular applications.
The Saturday hackathon continues the Silicon Valley tradition of other free-form coding events like the SuperHappyDevHouse and the iPhoneDevCamp. The event is best described as a relaxed environment led by the developers themselves. This same sentiment is echoed in the venue, the developer-led Hacker Dojo. Built by developers for developers, Hacker Dojo was opened in 2009 and has a collection of workspaces designed for programmers and startup companies to work in a loose structured and creative environment.
The Android Hackathon provides a great venue for programmers and other Android enthusasts to meet others that share their interests. It has also attracted the attention of companies who are eager to engage with developers in the dynamic mobile market surrounding Google's Android operating system. “Hackathon events provide a great environment for developers to compete amongst each other by exploring new ideas and developing applications in a short period of time”, says Mark Godwin, CEO of Access Growth, “these events drive new innovation and push the general community of Android developers to create broader applications.”
This free day-long event is the result of work from dozens of volunteers in Android community. The hackathon has been organized by members of the Informal Android Developer Meetup, SV Android Meetup, and San Francisco Android Meetup to provide joint activities among their members and developers across the Bay Area. “The interest in Android from local mobile developers has been quickly growing over the last year but has really skyrocketed in the last few months. Multiple Android developer groups have worked together to host the Android Hackathon. This first Android Hackathon gives developers a chance to come together for a day of fun and competition, to meet new people, and to learn more about programming Android.”
MORE INFORMATION
The latest information on the Android Hackathon is available at its web site at http://androidhackathon.org and on its Twitter channel at @androidhacking. Information on how to sign up to view and vote on the hackathon applications at the March 17th meeting of the SV Android Meetup. The event will be streamed live at http://www.ustream.tv/
