PriceCheck takes top honours at BlackBerry awards

PriceCheck has been awarded International App of the Year at BlackBerry Live, the annual international partner conference, in Orlando.

The Naspers-owned price comparison app beat out more than 100 000 competitors to take the title. The awards (formerly the Wireless Achievement Awards), are reportedly intended to celebrate how BlackBerry technology helps to power innovation and brings ideas to life.

“We are proud to have won this award after competing with so many great BlackBerry® 10 apps from around the world,” says PriceCheck GM, Andre de Wet. “This award proves that South Africa has world-class talent when it comes to mobile software development. We also see it as recognition of the value our app brings to mobile consumers.”

“It’s important to realize that this didn’t happen overnight,” says de Wet. “It has taken nearly two years of research, development and subsequent fine-tuning. The time and dedication of my team has paid off and we are especially proud of our BB10 iteration. It takes the best of the BlackBerry handset and the PriceCheck platform and presents an intuitive, functional and incredibly useful app to the user.”

PriceCheck claims it’s seen a rapid increase in the use of app recently. Weekend traffic in April 2013, it claims, surpassed that of the Christmas shopping period in December 2012.

“Mobile shopping is not mobile buying. Our app is designed to help people shop, make decisions and get the best price. We have everything from daily updated pricing on 30 million items to expert reviews on 130 000 big-ticket items like cameras and television. Our users are looking at products while in store and confirming that the product and price is right,” says de Wet.

PriceCheck launched in Nigeria this month and will be expanding into Kenya and Ghana by the end of the year.