Microsoft has entered into a partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to help develop and launch the official 2015 Eurovision Song Contest mobile apps. Those apps are debuting on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 before they launch for iOS and Android later this week.
The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest-running TV shows in the world. It began in 1956 and allows each country that's a member of the EBU to submit a song that's performed on the show. Each song is then voted on by the public, along with a professional jury from each country, to determine the winning song. 40 countries will take part in Eurovision 2015, with over 200 million people expected to watch the show later in May.
Microsoft says:
Based on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, the ultimate Eurovision Song Contest companion app is available in English across all EU countries, as well as in Dutch, Swedish, German, Danish, French and Spanish. Coming first on Windows Phone, and created together with voting and peak performance app specialist digame mobile GmbH, the new app makes sure watching the show will be more exciting than ever! As viewers follow the action on television, the app introduces participating artists, lyrics for each song (allowing impromptu karaoke!), information on their country of origin, and, of course, the results.
Here's what users of the apps can expect right now and when the Eurovision contest itself starts in May:
- An overview of the latest stories, photos and videos
- MatchMaker: Find out with which Eurovision decade you match best
- Music shop (album release 20th April 2015), now also with the karaoke version for each song
- Merchandising shop, where you can buy your own Eurovision souvenirs
Coming in May 2015, right before the shows:
- Follow each show live: With detailed information about the show, artists, songs and countries
- Two additional languages: French and Spanish
- Detailed participant profiles: Get to know the artists
- Selfie filters: Give your pictures a touch of Eurovision
Microsoft is also helping the hundreds of volunteers who work on the Eurovision Song Contest by providing them with Lumia 535 smartphones and access to the Yammer business social network so they can keep in touch with each other before and during the shows.
Download the Eurovision Song Contest app from the Windows Phone Store (Free)
Download the Eurovision Song Contest app from the Windows Store (Free)
Source: Microsoft
