BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jan 14, 2015) - RunKeeper and Waze have been named the grand-prize winners in the first-ever Ovation Awards -- winning the "Standing Ovation" awards for App of Year for Android and iOS respectively. The apps top a list that also includes Spotify, Evernote and Flipboard, which were all winners for best app in their OS and category in the awards' inaugural year. The Ovation Awards were created by Applause to celebrate app quality as defined by the people who matter most -- the ones who live, breathe and, most importantly, use apps.
Determining the Winners
Launched on November 12, 2014, the Ovation Awards determined the winners in three stages:
- Selecting the 200 Finalists - To accurately measure user sentiment in order to narrow down millions of apps to a field of 200 finalists, a team of Applause analysts and data scientists utilized the mountain of data that fuels Applause Analytics (number of reviews, Applause score to measure user sentiment, et al). The team combined this information with additional data sources to gauge each app's popularity and impact on the apps ecosystem to come up with a proprietary algorithm that determined the field of finalists. For the inaugural Ovation Awards, only apps from the U.S. app stores were selected.
- Public voting - Held from Nov 12th - Dec 14th, app users were able to vote for one or 20 apps (one per category, per OS) from our pool of 200 finalists. This data was then given to the panel of judges for final consideration.
- The Judges weighed in - Our judges then interpreted the data between December 14th and January 9th to determine the winners for each OS and category, as well as the "Standing Ovation" winners, which were selected from the list of category winners. The panel of judges included accomplished mobile engineers, VCs, journalists, CEOs and others who understand apps inside and out.
Category Winners for the 2014 Ovation Award Winners
Business/Finance & Productivity
iOS Winner: Evernote
Android Winner: Gmail
Education
iOS Winner: Lumosity
Android Winner: Duolingo
Entertainment & Fun
iOS Winner: IMDB
Android Winner: Netflix
Games
iOS Winner: Candy Crush Saga
Android Winner: Temple Run 2
Health and Wellness
iOS Winner: MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter
Android Winner: RunKeeper*
Retail & Lifestyle
iOS Winner: eBay
Android Winner: Instagram
Music & Multimedia
iOS Winner: Pandora
Android Winner: Spotify
News/Info. & Books
iOS Winner: Flipboard
Android Winner: Feedly
Sports
iOS Winner: Yahoo Sports
Android Winner: ESPN Sportscenter
Travel
iOS Winner: Waze*
Android Winner: TripAdvisor
*indicates app is also grand-prize, "Standing Ovation" winner and App of the Year for the OS.
Prizes
The 20 category winners and the two grand prize winners will all receive fantastic prizes that acknowledge the current and continued quality of their app. In total, Applause is awarding more than $1 Million in cash and free app quality services.
"With thousands of votes from the public and great judges like Robert Scoble, Hermione Way and Geraldine LeMeur lending their expertise, we are thrilled with the success of the first-ever Ovation Awards," said Applause CEO Doron Reuveni. "We're already looking forward to the next Ovation Awards and honoring more great apps that people love."
About Applause
Launched in 2008 as uTest, Applause is leading the app quality revolution by enabling companies to deliver digital experiences that win -- from web to mobile to wearables and beyond. By combining in-the-wild testing services, software tools and analytics, Applause helps companies achieve the 360° app quality they need to thrive in the modern apps economy. Thousands of companies -- including Google, Fox, Amazon, Box, Concur and RunKeeper -- choose Applause to launch apps that delight their users. Learn more at www.applause.com and follow @applause on Twitter.