An app that promises to be like “instant messaging for your wallet” is the overall winner of a developer challenge hosted by the Royal Canadian Mint.
The MintChip challenge began April 4 and issued developer participants a microSD card and a software development kit. The challenge was to create the best app that demonstrates the advantage of digital cash over paper bills and metal coins. MintChip’s digital currency would be stored on a microSD card and traded by users in a peer-to-peer method – just in the same way you use cash in your physical wallet today.
Winning app MintWallet allows users to send money, or requests for money to other users. It relies on a peer-to-peer network to connect users and allow the transfer of digital cash. It ties in QR codes so every payment request will have a QR code automatically generated. That allows payment usages such as scanning the code at a parking meter to pay for your time at a spot. There’s also a “split the bill” feature so a group eating out together at a restaurant can quickly pay their share without any hassle.
MiniCheckout is the popular choice winner for the MintChip Challenge.
A MintWallet app for Windows Phone has been developed, and plans for iOS, Android, and Web-based apps are in the works.
Challenge winners were selected by a seven-member panel of judges that consisted of Osama Bedier, Vice President of Payments, Google; David Birch, Director, Consult Hyperion; Bob Borchers, General Partner, Opus Capital; David Crow, Chief Marketing Officer, Maintenance Assistant Inc.; Jeff King, Senior Director X.commerce Platform Partnerships, eBay; Amanda Lang, Senior Business Correspondent for CBC News and Anchor of The Lang & O’Leary Exchange and the Mint’s President and CEO, Ian E. Bennett.
A popular choice award went to Mini Checkout for receiving more votes than any other app. It promises to eliminate the wait in checkout lines by scanning bar codes with their smartphones, or selecting from a stored catalogue. Then users can pay with their Mint Chip money, and get a digital receipt in return.
MintWallet walks away with $17,000 in the form of a gold wafer for the grand prize. Mini Checkout receives three gold Maple Leaf coins valued at $5,100 for collecting the most votes. There were more than $50,000 in gold prizes up for grabs in the challenge.
Source | MintChip Challenge
