Orange hosts ‘Code Camp' event in the US to find best of breed applications for customers

• 200 to attend Code Camp in Sarasota , Florida from 18 – 20 April
• Camp lasts for 72 hours, 24 hour food on offer, sleeping bags provided, opening Pow-Wow
• Segway Human Transporter up for grabs for best application developed at Code Camp
• Tutorials, interactive workshops and the chance to present new products and applications to Orange for review
• Support from industry partners Symbian, Microsoft, Nokia and Palm
  

London -  Orange today announces that around 200 delegates are expected to attend its Code Camp event in Florida , taking place from 18–20 April . Following the success of its award-winning event last September in France - Code Camp - Orange is now looking to the US to increase its exposure to developer excellence.

For the delegates, it will be an intensive three-day experience from 18-20 April , where developers will live and breathe ‘coding' 24 hours a day in Sarasota , Florida . Their time will be filled with tutorials and interactive workshops and will be given access to a Coding Room and Orange Developer Centre with 3G coverage. Most importantly of all, they will have the chance to present their products and ideas to senior representatives from Orange .

Orange
Richard Hanscott, Vice President of Orange Group Business Development and Partnerships comments: “Having recruited many US-based developers at JavaOne and CTIA in San Francisco , we're keen to build closer relationships with that valuable part of the developer community - Code Camp U.S is a great way to do that. We're delighted to have support from sponsors including Symbian (platinum), Microsoft, Nokia, PalmSource (gold) and Sybase. The event is really about industry collaboration to deliver innovative, exciting mobile application solutions and content to our customers.” 

As the Platinum Sponsor, Symbian's developer team is hosting a series of Symbian OS workshops and tutorials during Code Camp. Symbian OS is the world's leading smartphone operating system and its open standards allows mobile developers to create advanced and innovative applications for over 24 million Symbian OS phones already in the hands of mobile phone buyers.

Symbian's sessions will focus on Symbian OS user interfaces, new technology and in-depth advice for developers to get their applications Symbian Signed, enabling wider distribution and network operator uptake. For the duration of the Camp the ‘Symbian Talent' contest offers developers an opportunity to flaunt their Symbian OS applications to Symbian's onsite judges and stand a chance of winning a new Symbian OS phone.  

Symbian Ltd.
David Wood , EVP Research, Symbian comments: “Orange Code Camp is a great environment for smartphone developers to get together, discuss the latest product development ideas, share tips and tricks, and create compelling applications and content. Through working closely with Orange and the Code Camp participants, we expect to see many new Symbian OS applications that will generate significant revenue for network operators and developers alike. I look forward to widening Symbian's developer community and strengthening 1-1 relationships with US-based developers at Camp.” 

Delegates at the event will all have the opportunity to enter a competition to win a Segway Human Transporter. The developer of the best overall product of Code Camp 2005 will be awarded with the Segway – a further four runners-up will receive devices from Orange .

The two ‘star' delegates at the event will be the winners of the Java Challenge launched by Orange and Nokia last year. The winner of the consumer category was Ascendo with the ‘Ascendo Fitness' product that enables users to keep track of calorie consumption and calories burnt during exercise. J2X with ‘Mileage Tracker Pro' took the Business Application award with an application designed to enable users to keep track of personal mileage using their mobile device.

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Notes to Editors

Orange and wirefree and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange PCS. The Orange group is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies and a subsidiary of the France Telecom group, with operations in 16 countries across Europe and beyond. It provides a broad range of personal communications services, including Orange GSM1800 services and other digital cellular telephone services. Within the Orange Group, the Orange brand operates in the UK , France , Switzerland , Romania , Slovakia , Thailand , the Ivory Coast , the Dominican Republic , Cameroon , the Netherlands , Botswana , and Madagascar . The Orange group also has controlled operations in Belgium (Mobistar). The Orange group has a joint controlling interest in Egypt (MobiNil) and minority interests in Portugal (Optimus) and Austria (One). As at the end of December 2004, Orange was the largest mobile operator in both the UK with over 14.2 million active customers, and France with over 21.24 million registered customers. As at the end of December 2004, Orange controlled companies had almost 54 million customers worldwide. Orange , along with TIM , Telefonica and T-Mobile, is a founding member of the FreeMove alliance.

Orange Partner is a global partner and developer program from one of the world's leading mobile operators - Orange . The program provides mobile application and content developers with online training, a research database, tools, testing processes, application programming interfaces and peer-to-peer contact via the Orange the  portal. It also provides access to Orange global development centres and a whole range of other support services to members of the program. Orange Partner has been created to provide support to developers wishing to develop and propose solutions for possible distribution to over 54 million customers in 16 countries.

Code Camp US will take place in Sarasota , Florida between 18-20 April.