South African app beats international competition
21 January 2015
Car Guru, an app created by South African developer Sukasha Singh, beat off stiff
competition from other emerging markets to be named runner up in the international
Vodafone appStar competition.
Vodafone, the international mobile telecommunications group, selected 10 regional
winners from Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, India and South Africa to compete in the final
leg of the competition in Bangalore, India, explained Singh. The awards were handed
out on 15 January.
In the South African leg of the competition, Car Guru, which works on Apple and
Android phones and tablets, won the Best Upcoming Developer award; Mike Kroger's
Tracker app won the Best Established Developer award.
Singh and Kroger went on to compete against the other country winners, with
Singh's app recognised in the Best Upcoming Developer category. The winner in this
category was a Kenyan app, Guide Rig.
"It was an honour to represent my country
in this competition and I'm really proud
about the runner-up award because the other competitors had very good apps," she
added.
Vodafone sponsors the appStar competition in its emerging markets to encourage and
support app developers.
Car Guru is a multipurpose motoring app featuring motoring news, cars for sale,
business directories and more. It is free and can be downloaded from Google Play and
the iTunes App Store.
Singh, a motoring journalist, said the first version of the app was released about two
years ago. "We tweeked it and released Version 2 in September 2014. We have
between 5 000 and 10 000 users."
Car Guru's mission is to "simplify your motoring experience, to provide one easy-to-
use resource for all your motoring needs".
It not only provides motoring news or just cars for sale. "We combine various
elements to give you, the user, a holistic experience," says the developers. "The free
Car Guru app is the result of two
years of research into the app world, concentrating
specifically on what consumers appreciate most about their favourite apps."
On Car Guru, users can search for cars on sale in their price bracket; read what
motoring writers say about those cars; calculate your repayments and even search
for dealers in their area to test-drive those cars.
SAinfo reporter
Vodafone Group head of innovation Pratapa Bernard (left) and Car Guru developer Sukasha Singh, in Bangalore. (Image: Car Guru)
