So far the ‘Christmas Presents’ campaign to raise money for Childline and the UN Foundation has been supported by generous individuals and freelancers.  Today Esendex – the clever people that do all kinds of things with SMS – stepped up and made a very generous corporate donation to support these two great causes.  We’ve reserved them some tickets in our charity draw to share in the office.

Thanks to everyone at Esendex and good luck in the draw!

If your firm would like to make a donation please do so here and be sure to let me know.  Alternatively just e-mail me at ben.smith@mobileindustryreview.com and I’ll sort it all out for you!

EIGHT Esendex team members, along with company co-founders, Adam Bird and Julian Hucker are indulging their passion for Triathlon this Sunday.

September 21st to be exact.

They’re all competing in The Last Minute Triathlon at Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

Now I’m not that into running myself. I enjoy an occasional swim, especially in a heated pool and especially when there’s a sauna next door. As for cycling, well. I could take or leave that.

Richard Stannard loves it though. He’s one of Britain’s top triathletes and is also sponsored by Esendex. Richard is going along — not to compete, as I understand it, but to offer advice and assistance to the hordes.

Here’s what Julian Hucker has to say:

“We are keen amateur triathletes and sports enthusiasts and Adam and I encourage staff to participle whenever possible. Sponsoring the event is great for us and, with Richard’s support, it lets us show our dedication, as well as contributing to the local community.:

As well as sponsoring Richard, Esendex are also Headline sponsors of the Triathlon — and, predictably, they are also providing the SMS results service for spectators and fans. Nice one.

Some advice for the Esendex team? I’ve got plenty:

1. Lots of Lucozade
2. No burgers ’til the finish.
3. At least you’re swimming in a pool and not some godawful freezing cold lake.

Ok I’m out of advice now.

Every success to you all!

Here is the announcement from Esendex:

The SMS Developer Challenge invited talented developers form across the globe to submit their ideas for innovative use of 2-way SMS.

With fellow judges Mike Short, Chairman of the Mobile Data Association, Ewan MacLeod, Editor of SMS
Text News, we awarded first place – a cash prize of £1,000 – to TextQube. Developed by UK-based Reynardine Software, TextQube makes it very easy for companies to mobilise their existing data by simply querying database information on a PC by SMS.

We all agreed that TextQube has real potential to drive more innovation in 2-way SMS as it allows businesses to trial a service to assess the business case before committing to further development and enhancements.

Mike Thompson of Reynardine Software said, “It’s terrific to win this competition and a big thanks to Esendex for the opportunity to demonstrate the product and Reynardine’s passion for efficient 2-way communication by mobile. TextQube is fantastic for SMEs that want to mobilise and control information on a new level.”

Two runners-up have been awarded £500 each, CotralisSMSGPS from the Netherlands, and CallMeBack from Singapore. CotralisSMSGPS, chosen because it uses SMS to augment a blog post with a location, enables blog postings to be made from anywhere. Conference call service, CallMeBack was chosen due to its ability to use SMS to put the user in control of a conference call.

Mike Short commented, “All entries to the challenge have shown extraordinary levels of creativity and innovation. Dedicated to the mobile industry, I’m always eager to know about new developments so it was interesting for me to see the ideas that people have for the use of 2-way SMS.”

“As a mobile fanatic, I’ve really enjoyed judging this competition” said Ewan MacLeod. “The high quality of entrants reflected the interest in technology for the future of SMS as a communication and business service.”

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I’m delighted for all concerned. We’ll do a follow-up on the winner and each runner-up!