Hats off to Thomson Reuters for testing out the ‘crowd’ to help them build mobile apps for their Thomson Reuters API through their “StreetApps Challenge“. There are six “prizes” for apps builders ranging from $15K in cash to an iPad for external contestants, to “Thomson Reuters Points” and “Shown on Thomson Reuters Jumbotron in NYC” for internal TR employees. There is a long list of official rules, but here’s the two rules that I like the best to show what TR can get in return for its $25K investment:
- All submissions must use the Thomson Reuters API, may employ other, external data sources, and must operate on a qualified mobile device for the Blackberry, Android, iPhone, and iPad platforms.
- Thomson Reuters and its subsidiaries will retain all Intellectual Property rights to any applications chosen to receive prizes, and may use those applications as they wish in the future.
So, for $25K they could end up with six working mobile app for four platforms, and retain all IP rights on these apps (including any money they make off of them.) Brilliant!! This particular competition is for TR’s financial products, but if this is successful maybe they’ll start expanding to their legal products as well. One of my friends commented to me that if it is really, really successful, they can start laying off more people.
It makes me wonder if Toby and I can pony up $25 (that’s twenty-five dollars, not thousand), if we could get one of our readers to develop a mobile app for the 3 Geeks blog. Of course, that depends upon whether Toby has $25 in his wallet right now (’cause I’m a little short.)