Smule launches $10,000 Ocarina iPhone contest

iPhone developer Smule has launched a $10,000 contest based around its Ocarina game/app.

Players are being invited to upload videos of themselves playing the app – which is a virtual wind instrument – to YouTube. The best ten entrants will each win $1,000.

The contest runs until 10th January next year. It caps a successful year for Smule, which according to this Newsweek feature will generate nearly $1 million of revenue from its four iPhone apps.

It's a sign of how some indie developers are making hay while the sun shines on Apple's App Store, despite protests from larger games publishers that the dominance of free and sub-$1 apps is hurting their own sales.

Anyway, to see more details on Smule's Ocarino contest, watch the video below:

08 March 2010 No opportunity to make money on Android, says Smule

16 December 2009 Ocarina developer Smule raises $8 million in third VC round

06 March 2009 Smule reveals 700k Ocarina iPhone downloads

12 February 2009 iPhone Ocarina firm Smule gets $3.9m funding