2011-09-01 MyHeritage App Competition

Seven thousand Euri for YourApp

competition

The MyHeritage Family Graph API competition page I reported on Google+ and in an update to the MyHeritage Family Graph API article has just gone live.
MyHeritage challenges you to create a dream app for families. There is a US$ 10.000 prize for the winner.

Family Graph API Competition

timeline

There is a submission period followed by a voting period. Apps can be submitted from today, 2011 Sep 1, through 2011 Nov 15. During the second half of November, the judges will evaluate the submissions, and will publish a shortlist on November 30. The voting period runs from 2011 Dec 1 till December 14. The winner will be announced on 2011 Dec 15.

Some small developer may be happy with the prize money, but for most companies, the real bonus is the media attention.

submissions

One has to wonder how submission MyHeritage expects to receive. The price is in US dollars, and 10 thousand dollars is only 7 thousand Euro. That is roughly how much a medior developer costs a company per month in salary and benefits.
If you were planning to make an app anyway, that 7 thousand Euro is a nice bonus. Some small developer may be happy with the prize money, but for most companies, the real bonus is the media attention.

The Geni API has been out for months now, and there is a handfull of apps using the Geni API. There is no reason to expect that MyHeritage's Family Graph API will attract a stampeding horde of developers. If the judges' only task were to create a shortlist, they would not have a lot to do.

AncestorSync gave MyHeritage a reason to hurry with their public API.

AncestorSync

MyHeritage released their API before any of their own products supports it. MyHeritage probably decided to create a public API in response to the release of the Geni API. AncestorSync gave MyHeritage a reason to hurry with their public API.

Right now, users have to upload GEDCOM or use MyHeritage's own Family Tree Builder application.
In May, Family Tree Builder 5.1 adds Direct Import revealed that MyHeritage had incorporated GenBridge into Family Tree Builder version 5.1, so that it can directly import data from several major genealogy applications, including both Family Tree Maker Classic and New Family Tree Maker (see Family Tree Builder 5.1 adds Direct Import for a table with the full details).
AncestorSync for MyHeritage would allow users to upload their data without having to use Family Tree Builder.

If AncestorSync for MyHeritage is released, works well, and joins the MyHeritage App Competition, what chance do other developers still have of winning this competition?

MyHeritage judging panel

MyHeritage claims that A combination of world leading experts in the tech, investment and family fields will form the judging panel.. MyHeritage has not announced the names of the judges yet, but their ongoing history of bribing bloggers and buying advertorials does not engender trust. What's more, we have heard similar claims from them before…

When MyHeritage announced the MyHeritage Web Awards, they claimed that their expert judging panel had set criteria. They eventually published seven hastily assembled lists, totalling 425 blogs, that did not contain any motivation at all - and then asked blog authors to provide their own descriptions. Question about who their so-called expert judges were, were never answered.
MyHeritage actually changed the nature of the award along the way, and several bloggers revealed that the MyHeritage marketing department had contacted them, asking for confirmation that they would place the badge if they won a place on the lists…

criteria

The competition page states that the judges do not only create the shortlist, but have to rate the applications on the following criteria:

Value for families
Creativity
Originality
Design
Overall user experience
Customized landing page
Virality

voting

When the judges are done, the public gets a chance to vote on the shortlist, but your vote won't matter much. First of all, you will not able to vote at all for any application that isn't on the shortlist. If the judges left an application of the list, you cannot vote it, however much you like that app. Secondly, even if the user's vote is overwhelming in support of one particular app, that still does not make that app the winner. The judges' scores will constitute 80 % of the final score.
To be blunt: the whole user voting thingy is just a media event, it is MyHeritage's own judging panel that makes the actual decision.

updates

2011-09-01 MyHeritage blog post

The MyHeritage blog has a new blog post, by Caroline, titled New! MyHeritage Family Graph API and Best Family App Competition, which pretends that MyHeritage is releasing the Family Graph API today.
The Family Graph API actually went public and was introduced more than two weeks ago, on 2008 Aug 15, in MyHeritage Family Graph API, and MyHeritage issued a press release announcing the already public API to BusinessWire three days ago, on 2011 Aug 29.

2011-10-17 competition fails to excite

All submissions for the contest should have been received by 2011 October 15, but the Family Graph API and the MyHeritage App contest failed to create the excitement that MyHeritage had hoped for. There may be a few apps in beta, but there are no publicly announced apps for the Family Graph API at all. In an embarrassing move that reveals that MyHeritage has received few or no submissions for the contest, MyHeritage has prolongued the submission period with four months, till 2012 Feb 15.

2011-03-01 four entries

MyHeritage announces the four entries in their app competition as four finalists.