SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Endomondo today announced it has been recognized as a winner of the Microsoft Health Users Group (HUG) 2012 Innovation Awards.  This year's winners were honored February 22 in Las Vegas at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference & Exhibition.

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As one of the most popular fitness downloads, Endomondo can be used for distance-based activities and utilizes both GPS and Bing maps to track routes, distance, duration, split times, calorie consumption and more while providing audio feedback on performance. Windows Phone 7 allows end-users to take full advantage of all Endomondo has to offer.

"Our vision is to make fitness fun," said Christian Birk, co-founder of Endomondo.  "To succeed in this goal, Endomondo's service takes full advantage of Microsoft's platform. We've worked hard on this app so recreational athletes across the world will like it."

Endomondo turns mobile devices into personal trainers for millions of people.  But what makes Endomondo stand out from other fitness tracking apps is the social feature. By incorporating aspects found in leading social networks, Endomondo helps users find the motivation to both become active and stay active.  Users can send real-time pep talks to friends while they are exercising, compete against friends, challenge co-workers and share it all on Facebook or Twitter.

This online social fitness network centers on sports that unify active individuals and promotes exercise for both recreational and serious athletes. The network currently tracks up to 200,000 workouts per day.  A recent study conducted for Endomondo in Europe showed a 28 percent increase in exercise activities for those engaged in the community.

"The 2012 Microsoft HUG Innovation Awards recognizes organizations that are using technology to improve general fitness and patient care, reduce costs, streamline clinical and business processes and enable informed decisions," said Steve Aylward, general manager of U.S. Commercial Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft. "Each of this year's winners clearly demonstrated the innovative use of IT to improve fitness, traditional business or clinical processes and, as a result, positively impacts the health and well-being of persons within their organization."

Now in its 15th year, the awards program honors health organizations and independent software vendors and systems integrators who create the most impactful and innovative health solutions with Microsoft-based products.

To join Microsoft HUG, visit http://mshug.org/.

About Endomondo:
Launched in September 2008, Endomondo Sports Tracker turns the mobile phone into a full-fledged personal trainer and a social training partner. The app can be used for running, cycling, walking and all other distance-based outdoor sports. Using GPS, the app tracks route, distance, duration, split times, calorie consumption and more while providing audio feedback on performance. The app offers a full history of workouts, as well as social features that allow users to compete with friends without giving up flexibility. The app also supports heart rate monitors on most handsets.  Endomondo.com incorporates the social community where users can challenge friends and share results. Endomondo Sports Tracker has 7 million users with exponential growth. Being available on seven mobile platforms (iOS, Android, RIM, Symbian, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Java), the app supports almost all GPS phones. It is the highest rated app of its kind in several of the biggest app stores. 

For more information, please visit http://www.endomondo.com and follow @Endomondo on Twitter.

Excerpt from:
Endomondo Social Fitness App Named a Winner of Microsoft Health Users Group 2012 Innovation Award