Now in its 6^th year The Mobile Apps Showdown is an award that’s voted on by CES attendees and given to the app that they believe has the best chance of succeeding and thriving in a crowded, chaotic marketplace. All of the finalists are extraordinary products. A team of expert judges were enlisted to winnow down a list of nearly 70 products to 10 finalists. At the same time, voters online were casting votes for their favorites. The vote was incredibly close, and all ten of the finalists bared their companies’ souls in 4-minute long presentations. Final winners were declared via an applause meter in the standing-room only ballroom and via an online vote.

A few highlights of the event for those who missed it.

The winner of the online vote was UCiC and for good reason. It goes a step beyond everything we know about social media today to combine people contributing real photos, from real locations, in real time. “How’s the line at the concert at the Hollywood Bowl?” “What happened during the Je Suis Charlie march?” Find out as other uCiC users across the globe share their photos.
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The live event winner went to a product that collects all of your photos from any device you own, gathers them up and lets you display them on a digital photo screen or share them to any of your screen. No more trying to remember where you put those scores of photos you took; they’re all nicely laid out in a timeline thanks to this marvelous entry from Lyve.
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Other cool finalists included Breathometer an app that connects to $69 Breeze, the world’s only wearable, portable breathalyzer that’s helping users make informed social drinking decisions. . It’ll immediately detect the alcohol level in your bloodstream and tell you when you should not be behind the wheel of a car.
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Lenovo in the app business? You bet! SHAREit gives everyone (not just Lenovo users) a lightning fast way to share photos, videos, music, contacts, apps and more from one device to another. SHAREit kisses transfer cables and Buetooth behind, putting them in the dust when it comes to transfer speed. It uses WiFi on steroids.
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In a year when everyone from Grandma to Target was hacked, privacy and security have become the most important words in the Internet-age dictionary. We put Blur to the test and it sailed through with flying colors. Blur managed to blur the judge’s identities – managing password creation, encrypting data, protecting online purchases and more. What we liked about it was that it went far beyond just passwords and blurred your entire identity including credit cards, address and phone number. Who is that masked app? WATCH VIDEO

In the “sweetness” category we chose Yuggler. It brings families together by recommending things that they can do — often right in their own backyard. From special events at the zoo to local garage sales, when one Yuggler family makes a recommendation others can follow. Juggling and You equals Yuggler as the company’s founder likes to say. WATCH VIDEO

Hard core fitness buffs went nuts for FitNet These folks deliver live fitness lessons – anything from Zumba to cross training with top notch instructors, all streaming live to your device. But better yet, they capture your movements in a motion sensing window so you watch yourself work out and gain cred points for obeying your coach. These guys had the crowd roaring as they re-enacted what the screen experience would look like using the world’s largest paper iPad ever seen. WATCH VIDEO

SpotOn is a cross between Eye-Spy and group pop culture. You get to snap a celeb photo (like Jon Hein our emcee at the event) and then identify “stuff” – his shirt, his shows, and his brand of eyeglasses. The more you spot in the picture the more points your team gets. Then you play against others. WATCH VIDEO

Once the crowd worked up an appetite by roaring and guffawing, Perfect Bake by Pure Imagination stepped in to save the day by doling out homemade cookies (no, not those cookies, the real chocolate chip ones) to the audience. Perfect Bake is a combination of a digital scale, mixing bowls and an app that walks you through over 350 great recipes. By calculating your recipe and telling you precisely when to stop baking for a crowd or a couple becomes a science even a bake-o-phobic can tackle. WATCH VIDEO

HiQ is sort of the cautious antidote to Perfect Bake. It tests your health IQ with a series of really unique questions and then gives you remedial advice to help change your behavior for the better. It’s a quiz for those who want to stay in good shape. WATCH VIDEO