Ericsson, in partnership with Sony Ericsson, has announced a regional competition for app developers on the Android platform. The competition, titled Apps for Africa, will run under the aegis of the 2012 Ericsson Application Awards (EAA 2012), an ongoing annual competition for app developers worldwide, organized by Ericsson Research.

Apps for Africa is designed to promote the development of innovative ideas and mobile apps from a variety of environments and situations peculiar to the region. Ericsson says it expects these apps to enable new opportunities for people to collaborate, innovate, learn, care and participate in more efficient ways that positively impact the environment.

Members of the winning teams in each region will each receive a Sony Ericsson Xperia phone, while teams in second place will receive Business Experience Packs including a Sony Ericsson MW600, Office Pro, McAfee, and a micro USB cable.

The competition is open to students, and to small and medium-sized enterprises based in the region; it has been split into four sub competitions for Southern, Eastern, Central and Western Africa. The competition will be rolled-out across Sub Saharan Africa in November. All application submissions will be automatically entered into the global competition – EAA 2012 – ‘Apps for the Networked Society’, for the chance to win a €15,000 (£12,700) cash prize.

There’s more information about the competition here. The deadline for registration is 1 February, 2012. To enter, developer must submit either a video or an idea for an Android app that addresses the theme and makes use of at least one Ericsson Labs API, such as location or text-to-speech, before 28 February, 2012.