The Vodafone AppStar challenge finals will be held in Kenya in December. This was revealed by Alex Siboe, Senior Manager Programs at Safaricom during Mobile Monday held this week at the iHub. The AppStar Challenge looks at showcasing apps by developers from Egypt, Kenya, India, South Africa, and Tanzania on a global scale.

Alex says Safaricom decided to team up with Vodafone on the Appstar challenge so that developers in Kenya would have a wider opportunity beyond the country. Submissions to the challenge can be in Android, J2ME, Windows Phone 8, iOS platforms.

The firm also announced the opening up of their billing platform to developers "in a couple of months", thus allowing developers on the Safaricom app store to bill Safaricom users.

Two Kenyan apps, Gerald Kibugi with the Tough Jungle game and Gilbert Rono with the Eureka education app topped the Vodafone Appstar challenge l