26 Nov 2015

Apps World 2015

Thanks to Informa, the organisers of Apps World, we were able to offer eight free stands to the Mobile Monday London community.

Thanks to all of you who came to see us, especially those who made it to the pop-up tea party, and well done to the stand winners for making the most out of the opportunity.

We have some pictures and comments below.


Albert

Ivo Weevers , pictured in the middle above, is from Albert - the financial buddy for self-employed on their mobile. Their premise is that current finance and accounting tools are not designed with a mobile-first mindset at all - they are scary and incredibly hard-to-use. As result, millions of freelancers are still dealing with excel files, bags of receipts, and often are not on top of their finances. Albert solves this by making finances on a mobile extremely simple and accessible to everyone. It helps with invoicing, expenses and payments. His team are the people who also created the mobile apps for Natwest, RBS and the BBC Sports, and they are in the Wayra accelerator. Here is what he said about it:  "...It was a great event for us: We made valuable connections for future events, with potential partners from the industry and some people trialling our app and it was great to meet the other startups too..."




MindsEye

Trevor Loveland, (right above), was delighted to show off his new ‘Cash-Free Events’ system. He said "...interest was higher than I ever expected and we got some really good leads that we are following up on. We made contact with some potential collaborators and I found out that I’m able to make a big claim for ‘R&D Tax credits’ for all the work we’ve been doing!..."



Vertizan

Sean Redmond, CEO of Vertizan (pictured above) used the opportunity to launch his new Vitaq 3.0 App Test Automation tool. With test automation technology used in the high integrity software development world, Vitaq is typically used to verify API's in air traffic control, IoT network stacks and safety critical software in automotive applications. They use formal techniques (rules) to automatically create dynamic tests. Over the last year they have integrated this technology with App test frameworks like Appium, Calabash and RealVNC. Here is what he said about his experience 

"...We were swept off our feet from moment the doors opened at Apps World. We demonstrated Vitaq connected with Appium to automatically test the Amazon App on a android mobile phone to over 50 groups of App developers. With our formal techniques based test description, Vitaq acts like a intelligent virtual user. It does everything to the App that a user would, accept that it never gets tired. Vitaq runs twenty four seven creating new test inputs pushing the App through its paces functionally testing and checking. It also monitors, measures and analyses the test coverage against defined use case scenarios. Using this highly automated approach, it is easy to compare the results of your app running on all popular devices.

We were delighted with the quality of the attendees. The buzz about our App test automation rippled through Apps world. The Gartner test automation analyst came to see us, having heard from others about this new highly automated approach to testing Apps.  We had App developers from big companies like American Express, Marks & Spencer and Travelex. We had many indie developers drop by. We even had security experts who were looking for new ways to do vulnerability (PEN) testing of Apps, which Vitaq is very capable of doing. We learnt an enormous amount in the two days and are now ready to exploit this fabulous opportunity..."

2 Nov 2015

Apps World 18-19 Nov - Discounts, Pop up Tea Party & Support our Start-ups!

Join us for Pop Up Tea Party at 3.30pm on the Wednesday 18th. By registering with us for tea here, http://momolo-and-moblacad-atappsworld.eventbrite.co.uk/, you will also get a free pass to the full 2 days. You will find our Mobile Monday London / The Mobile Academy Startup Village clearly marked on the exhibition map (else, just listen for the whooping!).

If you want to go to the paid parts of the exhibition, you can get a 25% discount by registering here http://bit.ly/1VN5cmI and entering code I8RTYMOMO25.

We are delighted also to announce the winners of our competition for a stand in our Startup Village. Do pop over and say hi!

Double    
http://www.joindouble.com
Double is like Tinder but for double dates. You sign up with a friend and then get matched with other pairs nearby. Anonymously like or dislike pairs that Double suggests in you area. If a pair you’ve liked likes you back then it’s ‘Double Trouble!’ and you can have a group chat inside the app. Our vision is to make dating more fun, less awkward and safer for our generation.

Swytch
Additional Numbers for Calls & Texts  
http://www.swytch.com  
Swytch offers you the ability to use additional mobile numbers on your existing handset without adding a SIM card or changing your provider. Get immediate access to as many mobile numbers as you need. It's easy, instant and completely hassle free. A great way to separate business and personal communications, obtain temporary numbers for dating or marketplace services - good for travellers, ex-pats and businesses based abroad.

BugClipper  
http://www.bugclipper.com
In-App Feedback and Visual Bug Reporting Solution for Android and iOS apps making the bug reporting process seamless by allowing testers to report issues directly from app with the help of Screenshots, annotation and Screen Recording so it is easier for testers to report and pinpoint the issue and for developer to see and understand the issue clearly.

OfferMoments  
http://OfferMoments.co.uk  
Minority Report style billboards that change as you walk towards them displaying your social media profile photo, products that match your demographic profile and interests. And now it also scans what's you're wearing and build ls a style profile.

Minglvision  
http://minglvision.com  
Personalised broadcast of Live events: the viewer creates own  virtual experience by choosing from multiple camera angles, on the fly!

Albert    
http://www.getalbert.com  
Albert is the financial buddy for the self-employed on their mobile. Millions of freelancers are still dealing with excel files, bags of receipts, and often are not on top of their finances. Albert solves this by making finances on a mobile extremely simple and accessible to everyone, helping with invoicing, expenses and payments. Albert is built by the people who also created the mobile apps for Natwest, RBS and the BBC Sports, and is in the Wayra accelerator.

BibShot  
http://www.getbibshot.com/  
BibShot is the sports photography marketplace for athletes and spectators to buy and sell photos. We will soothe athletes' pain by offering an affordable, mobile first and mobile best solution.

Vitaq test automation  
http://www.vertizan.com  
Vitaq is a UK developed, Bletchley Park based, innovation of the year award winning test automation tool suite. Vitaq has just been extended to App testing using Python and the Selenium Appium open framework.  Vitaq becomes your intelligent virtual user that will create controlled random exploratory test sequences to push through your user requirement tests. It is proven to find functional bugs and defects that other approaches miss. Let your compute resource do the heavy lifting of release testing, rather than the hugely expensive, cumbersome and error prone methods of development and QA test script writers.

22 Sept 2015

The Mobile Academy and Mobile Monday London return to Apps World 18 and 19 November 2015!

The excitement has already started for Apps World 2015 http://europe.apps-world.net/ as we officially announce that we (that is The Mobile Academy along with Mobile Monday London) will be returning to host a Startup Village on 18th and 19th November. We will also host a pop up tea party at 3.30pm on the 18th, bringing more people along for you to meet.

It’s an amazing opportunity for companies and products less than 2 years old to get feedback, make connections and grab some attention. 

If you’re in any doubt as to whether to apply for a free stand have a look at the stories below from folks who won stands last year. Then do one or more of the following things: 

1. Pitch for a free stand at Apps World

If you are a product or company less than 2 years old; have something demo-able and want to use the 18th and 19th November to the full, make your pitch for a free stand here:  http://bit.ly/1Pjvmtv

2. Register for Apps World – Free or 25% Discount

If you only want to go to the free part of Apps World at ExCel and hopefully join us for our “POP UP TEA” at 3.30pm on Wednesday 18th. you can register here http://momolo-and-moblacad-atappsworld.eventbrite.co.uk and we will pass your information across to Apps World to get your entry passes ready. 

We also have a 25% discount for those of you that want to attend the paid bits. For this, you need to enter the code I8RTYMOMO25 at registration here: http://bit.ly/1VN5cmI no need to register for tea, but we’d love to see you there anyway!

Stories from Last Year

There are some great stories from last year: 

Gary from Double, with Nana and Cathleen
Chris Michael joined The (first) Mobile Academy in 2012 and has been an active member of the community ever since - giving advice to later cohorts and taking the stage at Mobile Monday Demo Nights. We are really excited to let you know that he has now secured funding for Swytch from Neil Hutchinson (Neon Adventures), Yannick Roux (EC1 Capital), James Hilton (CEO of M&C Saatchi Mobile) amongst others with the service launching in October 2015.

He recounts his experience from winning a stand in our Village at Apps World last year: 
“…Over the two days at Apps World we were able to showcase a very early version of the Swytch app to hundreds of people and get their feedback on the service. This was invaluable to us as we were getting first hand contact with potential users at a time where we could take action and build a service that users really wanted. We did get some press exposure too as an interesting upcoming service…”

Scramboo, told us about two of their favourite conversations: "I met a major English football club that are very interested in the product and someone on the first day refused to tell us their identity but later I later received a LinkedIn invite from them - turns out they were very senior in a large corporate...it was very worthwhile"

Gary McDonagh came to The Mobile Academy in 2014 and has told us what a great experience it was for him too and his Startup “Double” http://www.joindouble.com/. He met journalist Eric Auchard, chief tech correspondent for EMEA at Reuters who wrote about them here:  http://reut.rs/1isIykW. He also met the Incubus London team and got on to their pre-accelerator programme as well as Microsoft Ventures where they got to the final.


4 Sept 2015

Our Annual Academy is back October 1st...


We’re very happy to let you know that The Mobile Academy is now back for its 6th season and as usual we’ve updated the schedule to reflect ever changing industry trends. Our 200+ alumni have gone on to receive awards, launch successful new products, establish important partnerships, receive early stage funding, win competitions, get jobs they want and get to the top of the App stores.

The Mobile Academy is produced by Mobile Monday London and UCL and the talks, workshops and surgeries are led by many well known industry expert practitioners who are kind enough share their practical insider tips and best practice. See our line up of more than 30 tutors: http://themobileacademy.org.uk/whos-who/ .

Over the 34 hour programme, we address a broad range of topics across business, design and how to work with technology - all the elements we think you need to develop successful mobile experiences. You can see the full programme here: http://themobileacademy.org.uk/programme/. Topics include how to build successful teams, HTML5 vs Native, adopting lean practices, how to work with developers, how to market your mobile app and understanding the latest market opportunities - and by the way we specifically do not teach how to code!


We keep the price for the Academy heavily discounted with access for startups at only £500, rising to £1000 for more established mid sized businesses and £1500 for the bigger guys (all prices + vat + booking fee). There is no other course like this which carries a Certificate of Continuing Professional Development; covers the breadth of the mobile topic and has so many magnificent industry experts poised to help.

This year we are delighted to also offer a bursary place. Apply here: http://bit.ly/1L9dRZp by 9th September.

The course runs every Tuesday and Thursday night, 6.30pm - 9pm, from 1st October to 3rd December mainly at Idea London in Shoreditch. For more information, check out the website: http://themobileacademy.org.uk/ or contact julia@themobileacademy.org.uk

Fancy a taster session?

If you want to sample the course, meet our Course Director (Julia Shalet), other tutors and alumni, there are a number of opportunities coming up:

1. You can join a taster session on "How to do your own User Research", http://meetu.ps/2MBz46, 9th September hosted by the Agile Practitioners Meetup, 6.30pm, on the Strand, London.

2. Join us at Over the Air - a fabulous 36 hour event - part developer conference, part festival and hack day where this year's themes are Opening up the Smart City, Beyond Hactivism, What’s up with Wearables and Next-Generation Mobile Web - 25th / 26th September in Hoxton, London. Register for free here: http://overtheair.org/blog/.

The Mobile Academy is hosted by Mobile Monday London and UCL.

26 May 2015

Mobile Miscellany, 27 May 2015, spring in to Google Next Generation Cloud, prizes & attention-grabbing opportunities for Start-Ups ...

Hello All

We are delighted to be springing back in to action with an exciting programme of events, a new theme and lots of great opportunities for growing businesses. The bad news is that we can't quite tell you about it yet! In the meantime, however, there are a few things going on that we thought you might like to know about:

Google Cloud Platform Event
A new event from the Google Cloud Platform team, "Next" is coming up on 23 June 2015 where you can join hundreds of Developers and IT Professionals to learn about the next generation of Cloud. The event will take place at Tobacco Dock (West Pennington Entrance), 50 Porters Walk, Wapping, London E1W 2SF.

Learn how to build faster and more secure apps with the latest Cloud technologies using mobile, big data, compute and more; meet with peers and Google engineers to discuss the future of cloud computing and receive technical training via hands-on labs. Learn also how to roll out a scalable and easy to deploy backend, and how to unleash powerful insights from your data. Register here (https://goo.gl/lLHRL1) .

10 minutes well spent...
We absolutely love VisionMobile's industry reports - they are packed full of up to date information and astute analysis. The strength of their Annual Developer Survey is totally dependent on your input so if you're involved in app development then please do take the 10-minute survey and tell them what you think about IoT, mobile, desktop and cloud. To incentivise you, there are some fab prizes including an iPhone6, Oculus Rift Dev Kit and an Apple Sports Watch. Take the survey here (http://vmob.me/DE3Q15MoMoLondon) .

Discounted stands for Start-ups at The 7th Future of Wireless International Conference, 23-24 June 2015 at The Emirates, London
We've heard that this is a really good one for showcasing your technology to 350+ industry experts and investors. Alongside two intensive days of expert lectures, case-studies and interactive debates there will be an exhibition, including a dedicated Start-up Zone showcasing the hottest technologies, apps, solutions and gadgets from the UK and international start-up scene. If you move quickly, you could grab yourself a display table at a special price of £300+VAT. Please contact our friends at Cambridge Wireless: lisa.ellis@cambridgewireless.co.uk.

We'll be back to give you more updates very soon...

Julia & Jo