mobiHunt teams spotted at Holland Village checkpoint

November 8, 2008 – It took only 93 minutes for husband-and-wife team Linus Goh Siak Wee and Joye Lim Chiew Ling to complete an island-wide mobile phone treasure hunt and emerged as the champion of the NS Portal mobiHunt 2008. Linus and Joye walked away with the top prize of $1,500 cash prize.

Their secret weapon in zipping through Holland Avenue, Orchard Road, Shenton Way and other heavy traffic areas was their motorbike. “We took part in mobiHunt last year but didn’t do well,” says Linus. “So, this year we are more prepared. It was easy to cut through traffic and when we reached a checkpoint, there was no need to park as Joye simply got down to answer the questions, and then we were on our way to the next station!”

Organised by NCS Portal City for the second year running, the NS Portal mobiHunt 2008 uses location-based solutions via MeSH (Mobile eServices Hub), a one-stop mobile service platform developed by NCS Group, to guide all 45 teams from the start to the end point.

From the flag-off at SAFRA Mount Faber on Saturday morning, the mobile treasure hunt took the 123 participants to eight popular rendezvous points, that include Holland Village, the Kaplan Campus at Starhub building, Tangs, Velocity at Novena Square, NTUC HQ in Shenton Way, Marina Square, Raffles Town Club and VivoCity.

Not only did the teams have to race against time, they had to answer questions that were received via MeSH that were sent to their mobile phones as they approached each check point.

Most of the teams took more than two hours to complete the eight checkpoints, using cars, taxis, buses and just plain foot power. A prize-presentation was held in the late afternoon at the SAFRA club.

General Manager Ng See Sing of NCS Portal City, says: “By using MeSH - -currently the one-stop mobile service platform available to NSmen via the NS Portal (www.ns.sg) -- as the platform for mobiHunt 2008, I hope consumers are convinced of the power of mobile communication technology in enhancing our daily lives.”

At the Kaplan Campus, participants check out the study brochures to get answers for their mobile quizzes.

The final stop at Vivocity where contestants have to count the number of fountain spouts.

Winners Joye and Linus.