1,788 entries compete for $5mil Android prize money

Submissions for the $10million Android Developers Challenge have closed, and Google has announced that when the dust settled there were 1,788 entries from over 70 countries. Azhar Hashem writes:

When we announced the Android Developer Challenge back in January, developers started submitting entries right away but it wasn't until the April 14 deadline approached that the flood really began. The rate of submissions spiked in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, reaching as high as 170+ submissions per hour.

Entries included games, social-networking applications, utilities, productivity, and developer tools. Now, over 100 judges, mostly from OHA member companies, will vote on the winners. 50 semi-finalists will be announced in May. The semi-finalists will receive $25k each and move on to the round 2. 10 of those will win $100k, and 10 will win $275k.

50 prizes of $25k each equals $1.25mil. 10*$100k = $1mil, and 10*$275k = $2.75mil. That's a total of $5mil, so what happened to the other $5mil? It turns out there will be completely separate challenge launched after the first Android handsets become available. The submission deadline for "Challenge II" has not yet been announced, but it will likely be about this time next year. If you missed your chance to enter the first challenge, don't despair because you can try for the next one.