MyDistress app-solutely a hit
By AUSTIN CAMOENS
austin@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: The MyDistress smart phone application has gained international recognition, bagging an award at the MSC Malaysia Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (Apicta) Awards 2012.
The application took home an Award of Merit after representing the country in the e-Government & Services category at the awards ceremony in Brunei on Dec 3.
Convep Mobilogy chief executive officer Darren Pang, who jointly created the application with the Selan-gor police, said he was ecstatic about taking home an award.
“Apicta is considered to be one of the most prestigious innovation awards in the ICT industry.
“Just being selected to represent the country was an accomplishment, but actually bringing home an Award of Merit feels awesome,” he said.
MyDistress is a smart-phone application used in combating crime and is available on all major smart-phone platforms.
It allows the victim or public to request assistance from the police during an emergency with just a touch of a button.
“The objective of our partnership with the Selangor police is to use the latest technology to assist them.
“The application now adds to the many crime prevention tools in the police arsenal,” he said
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Plan-ning Department took home the Grand Award, while Brunei-based company ZimacSilicon Technologies Sdn Bhd also took home an Award of Merit in the same category.
Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said he was honoured that the application had won both international and local recognition in the ICT industry.
“This would not have been possible without the commitment and support from everyone involved, especially Pemandu with its inclusion in the GTP 2.0 roadmap to roll out the application nationwide in the future,” he said.
DCP Tun Hisan added that as of yesterday, a total of 141,457 smartphones had downloaded the application.
The MyDistress application is compatible with Android, iOS, Sym-bian and BlackBerry smartphone operating systems.
Those interested in downloading the application can visit https://mydistress.net.
(source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/12/11/nation/12439598&sec=nation)