The #mybizapp challenge has found its four finalists

This week we took one step closer to identifying the triumphant #mybizapp contestant who will take away the grand prize of £30,000 towards app development. After much deliberation by our expert judges, we are proud to announce the four finalists as:

David Blockley (@enviro_m8)

Paul Teague (@PaulTeagueUK)

Joel Chu (@joelchu)

Rahul Rahman (@Rayhul),

The finalists will receive a 4G mobile hotspot and 3GB of data per month for a year. Congratulations to all of them.

After the long process of shortlisting a vast number of innovative and exciting entries down to twenty-five, we then started with the first phase of judging which was held this week in our Slough offices. The panel was made up of an array of experts, each with valuable knowledge and expertise making them well-equipped to assess the entries against the judging criteria.

There were some great entries, many of which contained in depth pitches and innovative ideas. Entrants explained how their apps would provide solutions for genuine and recognisable difficulties facing businesses today as well as  suggesting how O2 4G could supercharge them even more. So shortlisting the final four was very difficult!

David Blockley’s app ‘EnviroM8’ is intended to allow businesses to measure, monitor and minimise their carbon emissions and mileage expenses. The judges agreed that this app could be very useful in a competitive market, as could Paul Teague’s suggestion ‘ReportBack’. This app, which lets users create detailed field-based reports on their mobile device, was noted for having a broad potential appeal to a wide range of users. Rahul Rahman proposed an app that digitises receipts, which could be ‘invaluable for retailers’ according to one judge. ‘BillMeUp’, the idea put forward by Joel Chu to create automated invoices and payslips, was also praised for its simple and well-thought-out functionality.

Our judges clearly have a difficult decision on their hands to choose a winner by next week. Follow us @O2BusinessUK to see who they’ll choose.