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Elo TouchSystems has brought touchscreen iMacs to the market and in an effort to bring more development for the product, they are having a fantastic contest. Elo TouchSystems is offering three iTouch enhanced iMacs to the winners in three categories of development; Tomorrow's School, Tomorrow's Home, or Tomorrow's Organization.
If you are a developer looking to get into a new and very important line of software development, then work up a demo of the product and submit it to Elo TouchSystems. The winners will be announced at MacWorld Expo in New York. We have a small Spin at the end of the rules. According to Elo TouchSystems:
Amateur and professional software developers are invited to submit software applications for Elo TouchSystem's iTouch-enhanced Mac. It's simple, just put together a three to five minute demo of your software application designed for a touch interface and e-mail it to itouch@elotouch.com. All entries will be judged at MacWorld, July 21-23, 1999, and the winner in each category (tomorrow's home, school, or organization) will be sent an iTouch-enhanced iMac.
Think Touch!
Touch-activated applications simplify routine tasks, eliminate repetitive effort, facilitate faster transactions, improve customer service, and decrease training time — while often improving the quality of the results. Evidence of this is seen in the number of everyday applications that have already moved to touch: personal banking, hotel and airline reservations, gasoline purchase, drivers license testing, self-service Internet-based retail solutions, etc. How did they happen? Some inspired people combined the available hardware and application software, and applied it to specific commerce or communication flows. This is an area where the iTouch-enhanced iMac is a contender — specialized, small footprint kiosks (i.e. tabletop, shelf-ready or portable) already account for over 25% of all kiosks installed in the USA. The potential is infinite. All that is needed is the right software. Whether your idea is for tomorrow's school, home or organization.
Rules and stuff:
iTouch-Enhanced iMac Challenge
Submission Details
- Eligibility
Any software developer 18 years of age or older is eligible to enter.
- Entry
Submit a README file and the demo code file(s) compressed into one Stuffit file. README file contents should include the following:
Developer Contact Information:
- Name
- Address
- Phone
- E-mail address
- Preferred iMac color
Entry that fits one of the following categories:
- Tomorrow's School
- Tomorrow's Home
- Tomorrow's Organization
Please include a 100 word Application Scenario Description, that includes the intended end-user and how the iTouch-enhanced iMac solution will benefit them. Example: An iTouch-enhanced kiosk in a retail store allows customers to access merchandise not on the floor without increasing inventory, and frees clerks from the task of ordering products from catalogs or another store, so they can focus on the customer.
The rights to any commercially viable applications will remain with the submitter.
Also include:
DEMO Code Files and any installation requirements (QuckTime Version, other files) or additional instructions for the demo to work successfully.
**Entry must be compatible with one of the three default iMac resolution choices on the Monitor and Sounds Control Panel. It must also be interactive, require touch input (after initial set up) as the means for navigating through it, and accomplishing an objective that makes it a compelling usage of a touch-enhanced iMac.
- Entry Deadline
E-mail the compressed file and completed entry to itouch@elotouch.com before midnight, July 15, 1999.
- Judging
Ten semi-finalist submissions will be selected from the entries. The semi-finalist entries will be exhibited in the Elo TouchSystems booth, #169, at MacWorld, July 21-23, 1999.
Semi-finalists are not required to attend MacWorld.
- Judges
Anyone visiting Elo’s Exhibit #169 at MacWorld in July 1999 will be able to participate in the selection of the winners by voting for their top favorite entry in each category. Those selections receiving the most votes in a category will be deemed the winners.
- Prizes
Three winners will be notified and receive an iTouch-enhanced iMac within ten business days following the close of MacWorld.
For the latest TouchReady details visit www.elotouch.com or send inquiries to itouch@elotouch.com .
The Mac Observer Spin: This is a great contest in a very exciting new area in the Mac world. Touchscreen iMacs could have an enormous impact in several different markets. Kiosks and Point-of-Sale solutions are obvious, but educational software and other business possibilities are also virtually limitless.
In addition, imagine a mixing board for home/professional studios controlled by a touchscreen interface. Games too could greatly benefit greatly from touchscreen. We are sure that many other developers might come up with all sorts of other exciting ways to apply a touchscreen to an interface.
The iTouch enhanced iMacs offer a whole new way for Macs to become even more prominent than they have become of late.
[Editor's Note: Elo TouchSystems is a sponsor of The Mac Observer]
Elo TouchSystems
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