NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Focusing on the power of technology to create change for a better world, [ AT&T ]* and Ericsson joined forces to host an AT&T Mobile App Hackathon Sept. 22-23 in coordination with the [ Social Good Summit ]. Hackathons bring developers—or "hackers"—together for a marathon rapid development session. Developers form teams to create the best [ mobile applications ] while competing against each other for prizes. In the short 36-hour competition, more than 120 attendees created 21 mobile apps that offer solutions to real societal challenges.

"The New York Hackathon is an excellent example of Technology for Good in action, bringing creativity and urgency to create a positive force for change," said Ericsson VP, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Elaine Weidman-Grunewald. "Since one of our major goals during this year's Social Good Summit is to bring improved access to secondary education for girls, we specifically challenged the developers on that theme. We hope the results will offer new solutions to the education challenge."

Developers presented ideas to address a broad spectrum of needs, working to solve issues locally and globally from substance abuse to disaster response to feeding the hungry. The winning apps brought the best technical execution and sleek user experiences to the issues they addressed:

DecisionMakr– 1^st Place Overall– allows Twitter users to give real-time qualitative and quantitative feedback to decision makers at conferences, town halls, and other public events
Addic-aid– 2^ndPlace Overall– helps problem drinkers overcome their condition with an easy meeting finder and a semi-anonymous support network
Hope– 3^rdPlace Overall– allows food donors and charities to more quickly and easily communicate how much and what types of supplies they currently have and need

"Technology and innovation have the power to transform our world and to make it a better place to live—to bring us together as a global community and to create solutions to our most challenging problems," said AT&T Senior Executive Vice President of Technology and Network Operations [ John Donovan ]. "AT&T is committed to empowering developers with resources like our open network, API platform and events like the hackathon at the Social Good Summit so that we can continuously fuel the creation of new ideas that make communities stronger and lives better."

The AT&T Developer Program, born from the company's commitment to innovation and third-party development, is the longest running carrier developer program and the one rated best by [ Evans Data Corporation ] for the past six years. To encourage even more developer interaction and innovation, AT&T operates three Foundry locations in Palo Alto, Tel Aviv and Plano. The [ AT&T Foundry ] is one part of AT&T's overall [ innovation strategy ] that aims to accelerate technology development by collaborating with third party developers, venture capitalists and technology providers – sometimes by taking lead on a project, other times by contributing expertise, connections and resources to help developers bring an idea to reality.

Membership is free to all at [ http://developer.att.com/ ].

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: [ T ]) is a premier communications holding company and [ one of the most honored companies in the world ]. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's largest 4G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse^® and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at [ http://www.att.com ]. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at [ http://www.att.com/newsroom ] and as part of an RSS feed at [ www.att.com/rss ]. Or follow our news on Twitter at [ @ATT ].

© 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. 4G not available everywhere. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

About Ericsson
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers' networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscribers.

We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company's net sales were SEK 226.9 billion (USD 35.0 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.
[ www.ericsson.com ]
[ www.twitter.com/ericssonpress ]
[ www.facebook.com/ericsson ]
[ www.youtube.com/ericssonpress ]

SOURCE AT&T Inc.

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ATamp;;T And Ericsson Announce Social Good Hackathon Winners

AT&T And Ericsson Announce Social Good Hackathon Winners

21 Teams Competed in the 36-Hour App Development Competition Held in Conjunction with the Social Good Summit