2014 Global Mobile Awards Winners announced: HTC One is the best smartphone

Winners of the annual Global Mobile Awards conducted by the GSM Association have been announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. For the first time in recent years, consumer electronics giant, Samsung, did not win anything just a day after it unveiled its latest high end smartphone, the Galaxy S5. On the other hand, it was a good day for Samsung’s main competitor from its home country of Korea, LG, as it was feted for “flexing its technological muscle” and announced as the most innovative device manufacturer of the year. As if that was not enough, Samsung’s 2013 flagship’s main competitor, the HTC One, was named the smartphone of the year in an awards gala that saw companies ranging from startups to billion dollar turnover multinationals get awarded in their capacities as innovators to mobile network operators and network infrastructure provisioning companies.

Nokia’s efforts in consolidating the low end market segment were recognized as the Lumia 520 and the Nokia 105 were feted as the best low cost smartphone and best entry level phone respectively. Apple’s iPad Air scooped the only award for the tablet category trumping other notable tablets introduced to the market last year like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition and the Sony Xperia Z tablet from Sony. Korean carrier SK Telecom’s efforts with LTE Advance were also recognized.

Here is the complete list of the winners:

Category 1: The Connected Life Awards

• Best Mobile Health Product or Service: Energize the Chain for Econet Wireless Vaccine Project in Zimbabwe
• Best Mobile Education Product or Service: Enable Mobile Technologies for Magic Pencil
• Best Mobile Product or Service for Automotive: Nuance Communications for Dragon Drive
• Best NFC /Mobile Money Product or Service: Telenor Pakistan & Tameer Micro Finance Bank for Easypaisa
• Best Mobile Publishing Product or Service: Wibbitz for Text-To-Video Technology
• Best Mobile Innovation for ‘Smart Cities’: Accenture plc & RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. for City1Tap
• Best Mobile Enabled Consumer Electronics Device: AT&T & Filip Technologies Inc. for FiLIP

Category 2: Best Mobile Services

• Best Enterprise Mobile Service: AirWatch for AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management, Version 7.0
• Best Consumer Mobile Service: AT&T for AT&T Digital Life
• Best Advertising or Marketing on Mobile: Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Lowe and Partners for Kan Khajura Tesan
• Best Network Based Solution for Serving Customers: GMCR Inc for Globe Prepaid GoSakto: Create Your Own Promo

Category 3: Social & Economic Development

• Best Mobile Product, Initiative or Service in Emerging Markets: Vodafone Foundation in India, the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) for RUDI Sandesha Vyavhar (RSV) project.
• Best Mobile Product or Service for Women in Emerging Markets: Telenor Pakistan & Tameer Micro Finance Bank for Easypaisa
• Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations: Smart Communications for Smart’s SafePh: Yolanda Response
• Best Mobile Product, Service or App for Accessibility or Ease-of-Use: Turkcell for Turkcell My Dream Partner
• The Green Mobile Award: Grameenphone Ltd. for Climate Change Program

Category 4: Apps of the Year

• Best Entertainment App (Gaming, Music, Sports, Video)*: Device 6k
• Judges Choice – Best Overall Mobile App *: CityMapper
• Most Innovative Mobile App: PointGrab for CamMe
• Smartphone App Challenge: Akbank T.A.S. for Akbank Direkt Mobile App

Category 5: Best Mobile Handsets & Devices

• Best Smartphone: HTC One
• Best Low Cost Smartphone : Nokia Lumia 520
• Best Entry Level or Feature phone : Nokia 105
• Most Innovative Device Manufacturer of the Year : LG
• Best Mobile Tablet: Apple iPad Air

Category 6: Best Mobile Technology

• Best Mobile Infrastructure: Nokia Solutions and Networks with Telefonica O2 UK Limited for iSON Automation for Operations
• Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough: Sensory Inc. for TrulyHandsfree™ 3.0
• Best Cloud Based Technology for Mobile: Xively for Xively Cloud Services
• Best Mobile Identity, Safeguard & Security Products/Solutions: SecureAuth IdP – 2 Factor Access Control for the Mobile Enterprise
• Best Solution for Growing Smaller or Independent Networks: Reach-U for Demograft
• Outstanding LTE Contribution:  SK Telecom for Commercial LTE-Advanced Network and KT Corporation for Wideband LTE-A Commercial Service
• Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology – The CTO’s choice: SK Telecom for Commercial LTE-Advanced Network and KT Corporation for Wideband LTE-A Commercial Service