Here They Are — Winners of 2011′s Mobile Apps Showdown

It’s been a prolonged and intense completion but, finally, you’ve had your say. When I say “you,” I mean those of you who have or will actually put our contestants to the test of real and every day life.

You’ve declared the two winners of Mobile Apps Showdown CES 2011. A live audience at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas selected DriveSafe.ly 2.0, an app that addresses the hazards of road distraction. Voters in an online ballot elected Line2, which gives smartphone users a second line.

The two apps bested some 70 others that participated in the competition. A team of 10 judges from the NetShelter Technology Media network of sites — the guys who appear on the right site of every page here — whittled the field to 25 semifinalists, all of which were included in the online Winner-Take-All vote. They then selected the 10 finalists, each of which appeared before some 500 CES attendees.

DriveSafe.ly won in a “voice vote” by the live audience. We used a tried-and-true applause-o-meter vote. After all 10 finalists had presented themselves in a strictly enforced four-minute “demo,” it attracted the biggest cheer, as measured by the room’s sound system.

Line2 won the online ballot with 51,832 votes

DriveSafe.ly was developed to rescue multitasking drivers from the temptation of keeping only one eye on the road and the other on their smartphone. It lets you listen to your text and email via a real-time text to speech feature. If you’re driving, the app also automatically responds on your behalf with a message indicating that you’re busy.

Line 2 is a service that helps you add second line to your regular mobile number. Instead of routing a single line to multiple phones, this application allows you to set granular controls on your business and personal numbers and allows you to switch between regular voice, wifi and 3G connections. For $15 dollars per month it can save you a ton on long distance bills and it even offers a conference call feature.