Round-up of our 6 June 2011 event: HTML vs. Apps–You Decide

This month’s write-up is brought to you by regular Mobile Monday London volunteer, Viji Pathy. Viji is an independent mobile software consultant at MoKaadu Ltd

MoMoLo's “HTML or Apps - You Decide” was a debate on the relative merits of applications and the web as a channel to engage consumers and provide mobile services and products, now and in the near future. The panel consisted of 2 teams with each speaker getting 5 minutes to contribute to the case for their team. The event was sponsored by the lovely folks at BlackBerry.

Chaired by Leila Makki, the debate began with an introduction by Andy Tipton from RIM discussing the main factors which have come together to make mobile such an interesting commercial proposition recently:

• Connectivity used to be the most challenging factor as well as the most expensive element of utilising mobile as a channel, but mobile technologies have become more and more advanced and able to provide always-on connectivity with the advent of WiFi, WiMax and 4G.
• Device Hardware capabilities have increased to allow advanced functionality to be executed on the client side, whether through apps or via the browser.
• Device Software platforms have evolved from the days of basic J2ME devices and only a few smartphone platforms such as Symbian and Windows Mobile, to a range of advanced mobile platforms in the last few years, and on the web side the HTML5 and JavaScript specification advances are facilitating advanced mobile web propositions.
• Finally the Business Model opportunities to monetise services (whether by credit card transaction, advertising or operator billing) has contributed, as well as the ability to streamline user interaction via a 1 click process, such as iTunes or the “one-click” apps introduced by RIM. Andy concluded RIM themselves use a range of native, web, and hybrid solutions which use web technologies wrapped into downloadable apps.

The debate started with Team Captain of Team Apps, Sam Machin (website) from O2. He told us the key advantage of apps was discoverability, the first thing a user could do to find a service they wanted was use the in-built app store on most devices, easily accessible from the home screens, select the relevant category, find a suitable app and complete the process with a 1-click installation. Web searches on the other hand meant using the browser to open a search engine, which might output thousands of pages making it hard to find something which met the user's need directly amongst so much information. Sam also noted that nowadays most apps on the major smartphone platforms are not web apps but native apps which make full use of the platform functionality, and countered the argument that developers were easier to find for web development by noting that there was increasingly huge opportunities and availability for native app developers.

Team Captain of Team Web, Bryan Rieger of Yiibu, made the first argument for Team Web by talking about numbers – of the world population of over 6.7 billion, around 74% have a mobile phone, meaning the are over 5 billion mobile users on the planet. He compared this figure to the number of users for particular smartphone platforms, such as around 100 million iPhone users in total. In addition prices were rapidly coming down for all devices which would only increase overall numbers, and most devices already came with a browser. In fact in many countries, a large proportion of web users only had access to the mobile version, this was especially true of the developing world and emerging markets, but even true of significant numbers in the West. He also noted that there might be limited opportunities to get a return on investment for businesses investing in native only mobile solutions, because of the high development costs and increasingly low prices being charged for apps on most app stores, for instance a large proportion of apps on Apple's store charged the minimum 59p, and significant proportions on both the App Store and the Android Market were completely free. Bryan concluded with the point that everyone has access to the web and that users want the choice of access to the same services from whichever device they are using, and an integrated experience to all services from their device such as links to social networking sites which were only available in the web.

Alex Watson (website), who is head of app development for Dennis Publishing, continued the debate for Team Apps saying the purpose of a web site was often not easily understood by many normal consumers in simple terms, i.e. what was it for? Web sites could often be very complex but lacking a clear purpose. Single purpose apps make sense to users, who are able to easily find a specific utility, download it, and easily navigate to it whenever required from the home screen – this made users build a regular relationship with the app and use the service more. By giving users a more focused experience, concentrating on limited functionality of use to them, users are rewarded and that's why apps are so popular.

Mauricio Reyes from Flirtomatic, then continued the debate for Team Web, he also compared the numbers involved, noting that Apple and Google boasts of 100m iPhones sold and 350K Android devices activated every day were not so impressive compared with the 5.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. Even now feature phones are still selling in huge numbers, so any business should ask itself ‘who are my users?’, ‘what devices do they have?’, and ‘which ones will they be likely to update to in the future?’ Users of mobile services don’t fall neatly into small groups of handset owners so when considering where to put your services, mobile web has to be a major part of your mobile strategy. Mauricio noted that Flirtomatic's revenue split (via add-ons such as virtual gifts) was 74% from mobile web compared to 26% from native apps.

Rebecca Pate who is Mobile Product Manager for Tesco, concluded the debate for Team Apps, noting that at Tesco, native apps have encouraged users to come back regularly to use Tesco's services – this was because apps provided a personalised service for the user with push notifications and personalised widgets which encouraged habitual use, they offered a more enhanced and optimised UX with features such as transition effects and gesture interaction, and integration with other services on the device such as messaging, as well as with device hardware such as accelerometers and the camera.

Finally Cait Roberts (blog) from MePlease, concluded the debate for Team Web, noting that mobile search was getting better and better on the mobile web, with stats indicating that mobile search engine traffic had increased 247% in the past year and that 49% of users on the mobile web had made a purchase based on the mobile web search, these figures were very high compared with the comparative figures for native app usage and purchases. She noted that often apps did not give users a satisfactory experience and they couldn't interact with all the services they required, and mobile users tended to blame the brand rather than the device for a poor mobile experience. So brands needed to create a mobile strategy which include first and foremost a mobile web solution to get full awareness amongst all their users. She cited M&S and Dominos Pizza and other examples of brands having great mobile web solutions as a major part of their mobile strategy had resulted in huge increases in sales.

Next the panel considered questions from the audience.

Did the cost of app development (averaging £20K per app) justify the investment? Rebecca thought it did as Tesco had recouped the investment in their iPhone app within a week of publishing, because of its popularity with users. Sam thought the same and also noted that the mobile web, although potentially a large platform, did not yet equate to real users and and a real market. Bryan however felt that only targeting a tiny proportion of (usually your richest) users could leave huge parts of the population unable to access your services, which was an issue for large companies and government organisations. Team Web also though that the investment did not often pay off if you were relying directly on monetising the app without linking to other business models.

What about services requiring complex functionality, were they better served by mobile web or apps? Sam noted that O2 are currently working on very complex apps using telephony and rich graphics which the mobile web did not yet support. How did the fragmentation of browsers affect the web as a an ubiquitous platform? Cait thought that as long as your baseline for each solution was chosen well, the web could provide better solutions for each user, for instance touch web sites and better search and discovery. Was integrating to web based social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook important for mobile? Alex agreed that a multi-platform approach should be taken, with services available everywhere but with the UX tailored to specific users, such as integration with device features such as sending messages for app users. Did advertising models used in apps have an impact, for example for competitor adverts? Sam thought this was not more of an issue in apps, which gave users a more controlled UX, for instance allowing users to do a highly targeted search in an app store, whereas search engines like Google returned users a lot of generic adverts.

Will apps end be like ringtones, i.e. hugely hyped for a few years then disappear? Alex thought ringtones were a different case because users were often scammed after purchase, but Cait thought there might be a similar problem emerging with apps where unsatisfied users were unable to get refunds from app stores. Was app store curation going to be an issue for apps, for instance with Apple controlling distribution and placing restrictions on app store content (such as gambling apps), businesses were not free to create products in the way they could on the web? Team Web agreed but Alex noted there could be benefits for app store curation, giving the users a better experience, Team App also noted the control Google had over decreasing rankings in user searches.

Is there a monetisation model using the web for software creators not linked to an existing business, such as games creators? Cait thought there was and pointed out web based social media is increasingly monetising web solutions through various models, Mauricio also agreed noting Flirtomatic uses a model of online payment for virtual currency and gifts which has proved successful.

How did the panel see things progressing in 5-10 years time? Sam thought that although the web would have long since caught up on existing technologies, it will always trail future technologies introduced in apps by companies such as Apple because of the need for standards agreements, so premium services will always be available first on high-end platforms and devices. Alex also noted that the technologies introduced in apps have a positive effect on the mobile web and vice versa, so there would be mutual benefit in having both options. If the browser ended up being just another app, how would the tide away from the web be stopped? Bryan thought there were issues with moving into an app-only scenario, with companies like Apple and Microsoft tying businesses and developers into their proprietary platforms, whereas the web provided them with a layer of abstraction. Alex thought there were similar issues on the web with companies like Google wanting everything free to sell their own business model.

Could installable web apps be another option? Sam agreed noting that the technologies used were less important than the ability for users to have focused installable solutions easily available to them on their device home screens. Is it the case that apps are the more reliable option now, but that will change in future as the mobile web becomes a better platform? Bryan thought that the mobile web was not very far behind apps in technology terms, and Cait emphasised that that they key was finding out where your consumers are currently accessing web services from and supporting that channel. The final comments from the audience supported a multi-platform strategy, with apps and the web used for different purposes as required.

With the debate rounded up, the audience cast the final vote on which solution they saw as the future. The result was very close indeed, but the winners were...Team Web – Bryan, Cait and Mauricio.

A big thank you to all our speakers – Leila Makki, Sam Machin, Alex Watson, Rebecca Pate, Bryan Rieger, Mauricio Reyes, Cait Roberts and Andy Tipton. A big thank you to our sponsors, BlackBerry – don’t forget to check out their BlackBerry Developer Zone and you may also be interested to take a look at this year's BlackBerry Developer Challenge... lots of categories and lots of prizes on offer.

Our next events are on 20 June on Geo-spatial matters with UCL and on 4 July, where we’re taking a look at the state of the developer nation with BlueVia. Registration is now open for both events at http://momolo.org

NN4D–NAVTEQ Developer Day–London 8 June

Mobile Monday London is very pleased to be supporting NN4D with their upcoming developer day on 8 June in London. It’s free to attend, but registration is required: http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/market/developerday/p_devday.jsp/. This is a unique opportunity and the first time the NN4D team have brought developer days to Europe. They’ve just had a great developer day with Mobile Monday Tel Aviv so let’s make sure this is a great one too.

Why come?

• Learn directly from NAVTEQ and our partners Nokia, Samsung, Orange, Blue Via, deCarta and more about their map data and partner APIs to quickly apply your skills to create the most compelling location-based mobile apps
• Listen to developers share their lessons learned
• Explore augmented reality and next-generation technologies for location-based 3D apps and games
• Learn about free technical support, free marketing support and free business development opportunities to meet global channel partners (this is the most interesting bit for me – the opportunities are very real and are there for the asking and can make a real difference to your business)
• Network with peers, meet experts and discover how to get your app in front of potential customers and industry influencers
• Participate in a Lucky Draw to win an iPad and other prizes and giveaways

Learn about the latest developments and innovation in location through case studies, interactive panel discussions and unique networking opportunities. Meet the people who matter both on the business side and the technical side. They will be out in force to help you.

Find out what the global opportunity is for location-based applications and how NAVTEQ data can help you differentiate your applications. Discover how the NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) can assist you every step of the way, from building your app straight through to business development and marketing and help you meet global channel partners. And all this is offered free. They will never ask for a penny from you in fees or in revenue share. Ever.

The technical portions of the day focus on APIs and SDKs that enable both mainstream location-based apps and services, and next-generation technologies for location-based 3D apps and games.Learn how to get started creating location enabled mobile apps from partners, such as Nokia, Samsung and deCarta who will introduce you to their APIs.

The day is suitable for both business people making decisions about mobile apps and services and how they can be distributed and marketed and also developers and coders who need to know more about the nitty gritty of the technical detail.  The full agenda is here: http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/market/developerday/agenda2/p_agenda2.jsp

Where is it?

Dexter House, 2 Royal Mint Court, Tower Hill, London EC3N 4QN  – nearest tube is Tower Hill map.

The event is co-located with Mobile Apps World and there are discounts available to attend that if you wish.

When is it?

Wednesday 8 June 2011 – registration opens at 8.30am and the day will finish around 5.30pm.

RSVP

The NAVTEQ® Developer Day is free of charge but you must pre-register. Please RSVP here:  http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/market/developerday/p_devday.jsp

See you there next week!

Open Mobile Summit–special deal for MoMoLo members

Good news! We have secured 10 tickets for Mobile Monday London members to attend the Open Mobile Summit London, June 8-9, at £850 (retail is £1395). First come, first served – offer ends Friday May 20. So you have just 5 days to get yourself organised. You can register with VIP code MOMOLO at: https://www.openmobilesummit.com/lon/register/

Not only that, if you are CEO of a small mobile app publisher, you can email the conference organiser, Robin Batt robin@openmobilemedia.com to apply for a further subsidized ‘developer’ pass. So why not give it a go if that sounds like you? No harm in asking, I’d say, if you fit the bill.

The Open Mobile Summit aims to connect the most influential and the most innovative in mobile, internet and media in an intimate networking environment. It’s not often you get the opportunity to rub shoulders with folks like Stephen Elop CEO Nokia, David Ko SVP Zynga, Peter Vesterbacka Rovio – and hear from Amazon, Groupon, Tesco.com, Conde Nast, Playfish, YouTube, Endemol, Fremantle, Boku, Zong and other industry giants. See the full agenda online here http://www.openmobilesummit.com/agenda.aspx

This is a really influential crowd – so if you’re looking for heavyweight partners to make your next idea fly, get to the Open Mobile Summit. The UKTI are also hosting a UK apps showcase at the party on June 8^th.  You may well see some familiar MoMoLo faces there.

“The Open Mobile Summit, more than any other mobile conference, connects the people really driving innovation in our industry. The London ’11 line-up is exceptional”

Mark Curtis, CEO, Flirtomatic

This event is nearly sold out so expect these special priced passes to go fast.

Demo night–Spring Edition April 2011–a round up

What a great night. Loads of energy, a full-house, 16 demos, new devices to play with and free beer courtesy of IntelAppUp. What more could you ask for?!

Our regular columnist, Lauren McGregor has done a lovely round-up of the evening in case you missed it. Over to you Lauren…

Demo night graced us with its presence once again this Monday and it proved to not only be a popular one, but also one full of exciting new ventures. I have to admit that demo night is one of my favourites at Mobile Monday, an eclectic mix of start-ups and big mobile companies dabbling its toes in new and exciting areas. This week we had the very lovely Intel (also our sponsor for the night) telling us all about its app store, as well as some cool app developers and marketers delving in the world of NFC, geo-targeting, gaming, cloud computing and more. I have attached below a short summery of each of the three minute pitches, along with the all important links to their websites and the speakers details. As ever, if you have any questions send them over or post a comment and if you have any video clips then please let us know so we can see them.

Intel AppUp http://appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/join – it’s free to join and there are lots of benefits
You are not anyone if you don't have an app store, or so it seems, and Intel are not one to be left out. Nena from Intel took to the stage to tell us a bit more. Intel's app store contains a core focus of apps, currently around 3,000, based around Windows architecture and directed towards netbooks/laptops and tablet devices. It contains many of the top charters including Tweetdeck and Angry Birds and developers  enjoy a 70% revenue share and a less crowded app store.  Intel has also a few partners within the OEM and retail space, including Dell, preloaded devices, and retailer Dixons, who co-market goods in-store, both in return for a revenue share. So what are the benefits to the consumers, well Intel allows its customers to download their apps on up to 5 devices, a try before you buy system and the security that comes with the brand.

Staying with Intel we had a brief intro to Meego from Sulamita, an open source Linux project sponsored by Intel. This multi-platform network allows developers create just one source of code. One of our audience members was quick to raise the question of Nokia's investment in this project (i.e. it's speculated they may not be very soon) and Intel jumped in and assured us that it is very focused on Meego.

Ribot, Anthony Ribot, co-founder.
Ribot is all about customer experience and more specifically, the everyday customer, bringing them the small screen experience. Following research funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) Ribot looked into needs for older generation and found that they in fact had just three core needs from a mobile device - independence, simplicity and connectivity.  This led the team to develop the Threedom app, which contains these three needs via three on screen buttons. The app currently sits on Android, but the team are moving to multiple platforms and hope to partner with a handset manufacture to create a device based on Threedom - watch this space.

QRpedia  and Terence Eden
Mobile Monday regular Terence has teamed up with Wikipedia to create QRpedia - finally a QR code app that stands out from the crowd. Following a trip to the British Museum, Terence noticed that the information available on artefacts such as the Rosetta Stone where somewhat lacking in detail and left him with a thirst for more knowledge. So it came to him, if only there was a way of storing lots of information in a small space that can be transferred onto my mobile device….and so QRpedia was born. This mobile Wikipedia app, allows museum visitors to scan a QR code and receive full Wikipedia info on that item. It doesn't stop there though folks, the app also recognises the language of the phone and redirects to the correct Wikipedia page - thus no issues with tourists from multiple countries being able to use the app.

A member of the audience asked if NFC was on the roadmap to which Terence returned another question…How many of you own or think your next phone will have a camera? and; How many of you have a or think your next phone will have NFC? I think this visualised the answer well - NFC simply is not mass-market enough yet. Another question of roaming charges came up and Terence said that he hopes to work in conjunction with museums to provide wi-fi to alleviate any huge roaming bills. 

You can see the video of Terence’s presentation here.

TouchType, SwiftKey http://swiftkey.net/ and www.touchtype-online.com/api Joe Braidwood, chief marketing officer.
Swiftkey has for a while now provided Android smartphone owners with a predictive, personal and intelligent text service and the team came to tell us about the next step for SwiftKey. The version 2 scans your internet accounts (Facebook, email, tweets), analyses your conversations and uses this to provide advanced predictive capabilities for your message writing. They also announced that the service is coming to tablet devices soon and that advanced voice integration to the app is on the roadmap. The team is interested in tie-ups with OEMs and has opened up its APIs to other developers interested in taking advantage of the intelligent word prediction.

Poynt http://www.poynt.com/
Poynt initially launched on BlackBerry App World and has since gone cross platform and boasts 7 million unique users, 1 billion interactions thus far and a growth rate of 30,000 users per day. Poynt provides local search functionality on your mobile device tightly linked to the users location, working with business and local amenities to provide special Groupon-esque deals on the go (soon to integrate Groupon and LivingSocial deals-of-the-day to location). The idea being, rather then having one search app for movies, one for restaurants and so on, you have all your searches in one app.  Although the team is not looking at any check-in based integration, it does provide a share function for Facebook.

The Game Creators http://www.thegamecreators.com/  with AppGameKit - Rick Vanner and Lee Bamber
After 11 years working in the world of the PC, Rick and Lee decided it was time to move to mobile – and hence created the AppGameKit. During a very comical presentation the guys picked upon one of the most annoying parts of development - multiple platforms for your apps. Fear not, they said for they have a solution - write once and deploy anywhere with zero porting…too good to be true? After showing us a demo of a game written on this platform, Ninja Ski, on a netbook, iPhone, iPad and Nokia device, the audience was more convinced.  The code is written once either in C++ or Basic and you need only deploy one time, any upgrades also sync across platform with no issues and  changes sync across platform. It even automatically recognises the controller type e.g. your on an Xbox or a touchscreen tablet and reacts accordingly to your commands. The AppGameKit is to be released in June and free to try with various pricing models thereafter.

TweetaLondonCab http://tweetalondoncab.co.uk/default.aspx demonstrated by Richard Cudlip, a licensed cabbie.
London cabbies have been using twitter to share information on traffic, jobs and general information for some time successfully, but the core idea behind TweetaLondonCab was to provide a real-time booking service via twitter. Now linked up with Taxi Spot, the team is looking to rollout a service where users can search on a map and view local cabs and be able to order the closest to them via twitter or the app. Behind the scenes there’s a complex system to manage the bookings and to allocate the right job to the right taxi driver. ‘Why not call a cab?’ asked one of the audience and the reply is that drivers are all self-employed and independent so this is a way of finding an independent black cab driver in your locality in London.

Local Social from Rococo http://www.rococosoft.com/, Sean O’Sullivan
Rococo provides proximity marketing software using short-range location technologies like bluetooth, NFC and wifi to interact with its users - both person to person and person to business. It provides an open API and comes Android and J2ME supported, its partners create the apps and Rococo makes them ‘proximity aware’. Sean’s looking for partnerships that can make good use of their proximity aware technology.

Smart Wifi from Kineto http://www.kineto.com/, Mark Powell (co-founder)
This app uses wifi to to run all your usual mobile functionality; calls, sms etc, - even when you don’t have your usual mobile signal. You also won't have to pay for roaming while you are abroad as you will use your home network on wifi and run your calls and messaging over this. The app is to come pre-loaded on all android T-Mobile (US and soon UK) and Orange (UK) - with more to be announced soon. It’s already preloaded on some devices and operators brand the name differently. From the operators perspective, it doesn't lose its customers due to lack of coverage and another huge plus is that it also alleviates capacity of data running on their networks. Impressive.

Nuance Mobile http://www.nuance.com/, Reimund Schmald
Nuance gave us a quick intro to its latest creation Flex T9 – advanced text to speech with multi-lingual voice recognition (and Reimund proved this by speaking into various phones in various languages. Nuance is a large company and their system is already in use for games, coffee machines and cars. It is available to buy now in the Android Marketplace for £3.

Insiteo http://www.insiteo.com/ , Tiago Mateus
Insiteo is an indoor positioning system that incorporates dynamic mapping to guide users around for example a shopping centre, airport, hospital or an exhibition. The app works by triangulating the users position using wifi access points, with an impressive accuracy of 5m inside. The app can also deliver geo-targeted advertisements and is completely opt-in.

AiRaid – Rise of the Undead , Keith Bauwise
This Samsung Bada app is a first-person 360 degree augmented reality shooter game, there is just one goal to survive for a full 2 minutes - which is hard when ghosts are attacking you. The backdrop for the game is the area around you and so you can imagine people fighting imaginary ghouls with their phones thrust in front of them. The team has created a good online community of players sharing high scores and experiences.
The game is open source to other developers and they are open for them to overlay graphics and expand on the app. In the future, the team is also looking at ways to integrate GPS to the game play.

NaturalMotion Games and, Torsten Reil, CEO and co-founder
With a background in games and animation development (Grand Theft Auto, Backbreaker to name but a few), the team wanted to create a truly social game using the same realistic animation that drives their console games. They’ve now found a way to make that animation engine fast and responsive enough for mobile. And with this in mind they are working with game developers to do this. The Munkyfun app they demoed was one where you can own your own horse, feed it, play with it, tend to it, ride it and as one eagle eyed audience member spotted - it looks like race them too! Through the camera mode, you can view and interact with the horse and take pictures to share and these look incredibly life-like. The revenue streams are not just about paid-for downloads but also micro-transactions within the experience.

Torsten is a former Ted speaker so you might like to take a look at his video explaining how the study of biology can help make natural-looking animated people -- by building a human from the inside out, with bones, muscles and a nervous system.

Parcel Genie http://www.parcelgenie.com/, John Taylor CEO
Parcel Genie claims to be the world’s first gift messaging service on mobile, you can send real little gifts without needing the recipients address. All gifts are below £5 for example a chocolate bar or a game and you can pay with either PayPal, premium SMS or a credit/debit card. The recipient receives a message asking where they would like their gift to be delivered and what it is. Once the location is confirmed (99% acceptance rate) the recipient receives the gift the next day with a personal message and the sender pays the P&P. The app is rolling out on Android and iPhone and is already available on Windows Phone 7.

Spark http://www.sparkinspires.com/ with Mindings http://www.mindings.com/main, Stuart Arnott
The idea for this came up when Stuart’s mother was very ill. Stuart used to send her photos every day so that she didn’t miss out on seeing her new family and could keep her spirits up during a very difficult time. Sadly, Stuart’s Mum lost her life, but he thought that there must be a better way to do this. And as a geek, he was just the person to do this. And so he created version 1.0 of Mindings which was a picture frame with email upload. Next Stuart integrated flickr uploads for version 2. Now on version 3 the device adds captions for photographs, calendar integration iCal and Google Calendar for alerts, Facebook integration, medication reminders, in-built health devices e.g. blood, glucose, heart monitors. All this information is stored and can be shared with other family members/health care professionals remotely to monitor and interact with the user - a far cry from the original photo frame device. The cost of the device will be around £80 at launch (October 2011) and subscription to the services will cost an additional £5 per month.

LifeSort http://www.lifesort.com/, James Norris
This cloud-based service offers one place to store, sort and share your documents within one unique infrastructure that is fully customisable giving more flexibility than the likes of Dropbox. The app can be viewed on an iPhone/iPad and via a desktop browser and all saved material is fully accessible across multiple devices and saved across device. As pointed out by an audience member, this does bear multiple similarities to Dropbox, but James assured us that it is different due to its unique infrastructure and customisation…we will have to try it for ourselves then, trials available.

We’re just experimenting with Lanyrd so if you’re on twitter and attended the event, feel free to add yourself. Equally, if you wrote a blogpost, took photos or video, or did an interview, please add it there too (and let us know in the comments). http://lanyrd.com/2011/momolo-april/ Thanks!

And finally, Daniel Appelquist took a whole bunch of photos on the evening which we’ve put into a slide show for your delectation.

 

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

A big thank you to IntelAppUp for sponsoring the event and thanks everyone for coming that made it such a success. Our next events are on 16 May (machine to machine and the internet of things) and 6 June (Web vs. Native debate). Register and RSVP at http://momolo.org

Meffys Awards now Open for Entries

Stop Press: Closing date extended to Friday 6 May at 5pm.

Doing something interesting in mobile apps and services? Got a cracking case study in mobile marketing? Innovating in mobile content? Then you should consider entering this year’s Meffys Awards which are now open for entries. These are one of the most prestigious global mobile awards and are definitely worth consideration.

This year’s Meffys categories span the entire mobile content & commerce ecosystem. Now in its 8th year, the Meffys honour achievements across mobile content and commerce and recognise the best innovation around the globe. Entries are judges by expert panels of leading journalists, analysts, academics and VCs. The winners will be announced at a Gala dinner attended by the industry’s most influential players on 7^th July at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s famous Covent Garden.

Companies wishing to enter should visit: www.meffys.com and submit their entries by 26^th April 2011.

For highlights from the 2010 awards ceremony and a list of 2010 winners, please visit: http://www.meffys.com/about/2010-highlights

Entering the 2011 Meffys

MEF will be accepting entries for the 2011 Meffys from today. Companies interested in entering the awards or nominating a candidate for the Outstanding Contribution Awards should go to the Meffys website at www.meffys.com for full details.

Entry prices for 2011 are as follows: £350 per entry; £150 for MEF Members. This year, MEF is also offering a special developer rate of £75 per entry (3 employees or less, no external funding and in business for no more than 1 year). Please see the http://www.meffys.com/enter/cost-of-entry for further information.

Meffys Categories for 2011

Best Game
Best Music Service
Best TV & Video Service
Best Content
Best Content Discovery & Personalisation Service
Best Social Media Service
Best Ad Campaign
new this year Best Brand on Mobile
new this year Best Mobile Website
Best Blockbuster App
Best Innovative App*
Best Technology Innovation*
Best Innovative Business Model*
Best Innovation in a Mobile First Market*
Best M-Commerce Service
Best Business Intelligence
Best Mobile Connected Device
Outstanding Contribution Award

*These categories qualify for the developer rates. See http://www.meffys.com/enter/cost-of-entry for more info.

So get those thinking caps on. With Easter looming, April 26 will come around really quickly so don’t leave it too late to get your entry in.

Technorati Tags: awards,Meffys,Mobile Entertainment Forum

Keep taking the tablets… next event, 7 March 2011, sponsored by BSkyB

You have to have been living under a rock if you haven't noticed the proliferation of announcements about everyone and her husband launching a tablet device of some description. Whether it's the BlackBerry Playbook, the Motorola Xoom, the iPad or one of the new Samsung devices, there's no getting away from it, the new category of tablet devices is taking off.

But what does this mean to the mobile world? It does feel like tablet devices are coming under the remit of the mobile teams - largely based on operating system knowledge and partly because of the whole apps thing that mobile teams are already familiar with. Media owners in particular appear to have embraced tablet devices with the FT being one of the first to launch their iPad app last May with other media owners in print and now TV, not that far behind launching. Hey, even EA games has produced a specific version of Need for Speed Undercover for the BlackBerry Playbook. The big guns are taking this seriously.

In this panel session, supported by BSkyB, we're going to explore the business models around tablet devices, what the opportunities and threats are specific to the device. Will we go beyond content consumption and move into content creation or enterprise apps. Will the new tablets make the mobile web stronger with HTML5 support or shift us deeper into the application ecosystem?

The panel will be led by Leila Makki of TelecomTV fame and she will be joined by David Gibbs, Director of Mobile Applications and Services, BSkyB and Mark Payton, Editorial Director, Haymarket Consumer Media. Further panellists to be confirmed.

We are also pleased to let you know that we will indeed have tablet devices available for you to have a look at and play with in both BlackBerry and Gingerbread flavours from our friends at RIM and Google. I daresay there may be a few iPads floating around too.

Photo credit: LoopZilla. Used under Creative Commons licence.

Agenda:

Doors open at 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start.

Panel session 6.30pm until 7.45pm followed by networking and drinks.

Venue: CBI at Centrepoint – nearest tube is Tottenham Court Road. Centrepoint is directly above Tottenham Court Road tube station. Please use the entrance at street level.

Please register and RSVP at http://momolo.org/ if you'd like to come.

Sponsors:

One of the world's largest broadcasters, Sky, is driving a fresh and inspiring approach to entertainment - with over 10 million subscribers and 16,000 talented employees helping us to produce a wealth of outstanding content delivered to a variety of platforms and devices. At Sky, technology is the key to driving us forward and delivering ground-breaking innovations.

Sky’s interactive and mobile technology department is the power behind the biggest commercial mobile internet platform in the UK as well as many award winning applications and services. This includes the world's first subscription based live TV service on the iPhone and iPad as well as 5 of the all time top 100 most downloaded iPhone applications that are actively used by millions of people each week.

Looking to take advantage of the potential that the new generation of phones and particularly tablets offer, we are looking for mobile technologists who have a passion for pushing the boundaries to get the most out of these platforms. Working in a collaborative, agile way, we empower small, focused, cross-functional teams to deliver fantastic solutions that make the best out of the great Sky content. Successful people will have a real focus on quality and enjoy working in a team of other disciplined software engineers.

We are looking for people across all technical disciplines with specific interest in experts in the android and iOS platforms.

Our current openings include:

• Developers
• QA experts
• Scrum Masters
• Project Managers
• System Administrators
• Product Owners

We do all we can to make Sky a great place to work – as fun as it is fast-moving. Progression is such a vital part of life at Sky, so you’ll definitely find plenty of opportunity to stretch your talents.

We reward these talents with great benefits. Free Sky+ HD, broadband and our top viewing packages are the most popular, we’re happy to say. On top of that, there’s an excellent pension, share save scheme and private healthcare. And, because we’re going all out to be carbon neutral, we offer discounts on bikes and eco-friendly cars for getting to work.

To apply for jobs at Sky please visit http://www.workforsky.com

Win a free place to exhibit at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, February 2011

The Digital Communications KTN, working in association with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), is pleased to announce a competition open to UK-based SMEs with an innovative new mobile or wireless solution or product.

On offer are free places to showcase your solution or product on the UKTI stand, located on the Avenida at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona from 14 - 17 February 2011. This is your chance to introduce your high technology product to the more than 60,000 key industry decision makers that are expected to attend.

How to enter: If you would like to take part in this competition please summarise in no more than 500 words:

• the nature of your new solution or product,
• its value proposition and benefit to the customer,
• and why you believe your company should be awarded a place to showcase it at next year’s Mobile World Congress.

Summaries should be sent to info@dcktn.org.uk and arrive no later than 5:00pm on Friday, 3 September 2010.

A panel representing the Digital Communications KTN and UKTI will assess all submissions received by this date. Up to twenty short listed companies will then be given the opportunity to present their products at finals held at locations determined by the geographic spread of the short-listed entries – and one of these finals will be in October in London, organised by Mobile Monday London.

Previous winners include Movirtu, Palringo, CuteCircuit and Touchtype.

Registration for these events will be free, and will be open to all members of the Digital Communications KTN on a first come first served basis. They will provide an excellent opportunity for the short-listed companies to draw their products to the attention of a wider audience. A panel of judges will select companies from those presenting at the finals to each be the recipient of a free place to showcase its product on the UKTI Stand at the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Keep up to date with the work of the Digital Communications KTN by becoming a member. Membership of the Digital Communications KTN is free, and participants are encouraged to register as members at http://www.dcktn.org.uk . If you have any questions or comments please email us at info@dcktn.org.uk.

And if you’re entering this competition, and you’re a start-up from the UK, Portugal or the Netherlands, less than three years old, then don’t forget to enter the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition too for a chance to win Euro 100,000 or Euro 50,000. More details about the competition here. Closing date 22 August 2010.

 

Technorati Tags: DCKTN,UKTI,vodafone mobile Clicks,competition,mobile internet,start-up,SME

Where Mobile Meets Media #2 – event round up

Mobile Monday London volunteer, Lauren McGregor gives us her take on our latest event – Where Mobile Meets Media #2 – a follow on from our successful Barcelona session at Mobile World Congress. We had a fantastic turnout and was sponsored jointly by DCKTN and Mojiva. Many thanks to them for their valuable support.

So over to Lauren:

There has been much hype recently over the future of publishing, be it the death of print, the rebirth of paywalls or the excitement around interactive digital editions. Regardless of the headline, one name has been cropping up time again; the iPad. Heralded as the ‘game changer’ the device can fit into a number of areas including gaming/internet/eBooks/rich media, in addition one that has really caught my eye is that of publishing. As an iPhone owner (sorry) I have become accustomed to reading articles on my handset and I am not alone in this it seems: the iPhone accounts for a whopping 80% of the BBC’s mobile websites readers according to Jason Daponte – one of this week’s panellists. Yes, the iPhone has a small market share when it comes to devices in the marketplace, but blimey, those who have the iPhone really seem to use it..a lot! So I’m wondering if the same will be said of the iPad in the coming months? Many on the panel commented tonight that the iPad is a ‘coffee-table’ device and I would have to agree, but our browsing and media consumption habits are changing and the thought of reading my iPad on the sofa is actually quite a nice one. So I’m awaiting iPad usage results in the coming weeks and months with interest.

So a bit more about the panel.

The Panel discussion …

Russell Buckley, AdMob @russellbuckley – chair, Neil Johnson MD Teletext Mobile (AND), Dave Gwozdz CEO Mojiva @mojiva @gwozdz, Jason Daponte BBC @jasondaponte, David Gibbs BSkyB @dgibbs72 and our very own Helen Keegan @technokitten.

The move from print to digital is the perfect example for ensuring your brand is reaching customers through every channel available. It is no longer about a static news website; news can be shared and viewed via social media e.g. twitter so easily and the addition of location, makes the mobile phone a key target for brands. We are demanding personalised, portable, fast and relevant content through our mobile devices and advertisers need to take advantage of this. For the BBC, 50% of its iPhone page views are through WiFi further highlighting that we want content on the move.

One of the main concerns with the move from print to digital is how to make money, with much of this content previously available for free, will brand loyalty prevail? Potentially, I feel that if a news site provides me with a story that adds something I can’t find on another ‘free’ site then I will pay. That could be a video and/or image, interactive features, exclusive/personalised content or just a particular writer that I enjoy reading. There are a number of pricing models that could be applied for pay-walls including pay-as-you-go, monthly subscription or day-passes - the key here is to not make it a huge hassle every time we want to pay, a PayPal type service would be perfect … simple but feeling secure. Another option would be to use ads or sponsored apps to fund the content – media owners need to experiment with what works best for them and their readers.

The iPhone was mentioned quite a few times tonight and I understand that this can be annoying, but admit it or not, it has completely revolutionised business plans. If you own an iPhone you are five times more likely to use data then any other platform, which is a huge, and it’s also why so many target the iPhone above another platform. However, from a customer point of view iPhone only accounts for 10-15% market share and so by doing this you automatically alienating over 80% of your audience. Getting the balance right here is tricky, but one thing we can assure is that the majority of your readers will not have an iPhone or smartphone of sorts.

So what is the future of the publishing industry? Print magazines and national newspapers will be here forever or at least a lot longer … but will decline. The key take home message from today’s event is that media owners need to reduce the cost of producing good content and maximise the niche aspect of the content that they produce, be different.

Thanks for that Lauren!

This was a really in-depth panel session so it’s hard to convey everything that was covered in one short blog post. However, a few of our audience also blogged about the session – and some of them in-depth so please do have a read of the following:

Belen Barros Pena’s MoMoLo Chronicles

Life is Better On’s take on the event

And a very comprehensive round up from MoMoLo regular, Adam Cohen Rose (Adam’s also written up great round-ups of previous MoMoLo events too if you care to take a look at his archive).

Lauren also did a personal interview with David Gwozdz from Mojiva, including some top tips when thinking about mobile marketing, which you can read over at her new blog - TechTelGirl.

And if that’s not enough, you should take a look at Cait Tierney’s video vox pops that she recorded at the event for Techfluff.tv. She interviewed some of our community on their thoughts on publishing, the iPad and more. I particularly like Dan Doherty’s description of his experience with his latest HTC phone – it’s a classic.

Lauren also did a short interview with Dave Gwozdz from Mojiva who co-sponsored the event. We’ll share the link here once it’s been published.

A special thank you to our lovely sponsors for the evening – DCKTN and Mojiva – our wonderful panellists and to everyone who came in person and also to those who joined the fun via twitter. All in all, it was a cracking session.

Our next event is on 14^th June and we’re covering platform fragmentation... registration open shortly at our website.

Technorati Tags: mobile media,mobile content,bbc,bskyb,DMGT,teletext,admob,mojiva,mobile monday london,momolo,mobile monday,ipad,iphone,publishing

*Exclusive* Start-up tickets available for the Open Mobile Summit London 26 and 27 May

That’s right, you heard me. I met with Robin Batt, who runs the Open Mobile Summit happening in London next month at the Hilton Tower Bridge, and she’s offering Mobile Monday London 10 tickets to the conference for £850 + VAT. (Regular price £1395). Register here with VIP Code “momo” – the 10 specially priced tickets will be allocated first come first served.

The Open Mobile Summit explores the convergence of Internet and mobile worlds at the strategic level and focuses on how we can all build and monetize an open mobile ecosystem. Now in its second year in London and with a very impressive line-up of over 60 speakers, in an intimate networking environment, this is a highly regarded event.

“I attend a lot of conferences around the world and this was one of the best I have attended in a long time. The OMS had a real CxO crowd, and unlike the big trade shows there was real networking” Pascal Lorne, CEO, Miyowa

It’s not often you get to rub shoulders with people like Olaf Swantee, group wide CEO of Orange at France Telecom, Alberto Torres EVP Nokia or US entrepreneurs like Josh Williams the CEO of Gowalla.  So, if you have a great mobile idea, service or proposition, and are looking for some heavyweight partners to make it happen, the Open Mobile Summit might be just the forum for you.

This certainly isn’t your average crowd of mobile web enthusiasts and deserves to be differentiated as such. It’s been on our radar for a couple of years now and we think it’s important because it brings together the heavy hitters from the wireless establishment, together with the start-ups and innovators. That’s quite unusual but needs to happen if we are to drive real change and innovation in mobile markets and services…and open the mobile Internet ecosystem. And that’s why Mobile Monday London is pleased to be a supporting organisation to the event.

Lastly, if you’re the CEO of a start-up application publishing company then you may qualify for one of 5 fully sponsored passes. For more information, please email Robin to see if you qualify. 

Otherwise don’t forget the first 10 people to use the MOMO code can get a pass for £850 https://www.openmobilesummit.com/lon/register/

Hope to see some of you there!

Technorati Tags: open mobile summit,events,conference,mobile media,mobile applications

So who are you going to see on 29 March at Demo Night?

Well, it’s shaping up to be an interesting evening and it’ll be a busy one for sure judging by the registrations we’ve had. We have a variety of companies and individuals who will be showing you what they’re up to and we’re hoping for lots of discussion.

And we’re proudly sponsored by IPC Media, Orange Vallee and BlackBerry.

             

So who do we have? In no particular order:

James Hugman from Future Platforms will be presenting the Guardian Anywhere, a free product we've released for Android devices which helps you read your daily newspaper (and which we're looking to license to other news properties).

Chetan Damani from Imano will be demonstrating the acrossair augmented reality browser to explain how it works and how potential partners can integrate with their platform.

Finbar Hawkins, HipLogic evangelist, will be showing everyone HipLogic Live, available now on Nokia and Windows Mobile and available soon for Android, which gives you a one-touch access point to your social networks, news stories and applications that is always on.

Marko Balabanovic is presenting from lastminute.com labs. What’s good around here? Mobile apps that recommend things to do in cities from lastminute.com labs, with some brand new launches.

Matt Pollitt will be joining us from ustwo to show us PositionApp - With over 200,000 downloads, nearly 1 million user sessions, PositionApp is the number one mobile app discovery and metrics tool in the iTunes store.

Katie Lips is coming from Little World Gifts and will show us their virtual gifts platform on next generation mobile devices.

Georgina Mackenzie from Toytek will be presenting their app, The Ultimate Alphabet, a puzzle-based word game using clues and anagrams to explore 26 realistic and surreal paintings; from basic to complex and even specialist words hidden within these images.

Giles Corbett from Orange Vallee will be showing us ON which makes phonebooks smarter by bringing together all users’ contacts and by helping manage user notifications across a range of different contact groups http://www.lifeisbetteron.com/

Sander Munsterman is from XS2TheWorld which is an award winning innovative mobile marketing company creating tailor made solutions for consumers and brands. They’re going to showcase their fuel checker application built for BP.

Martin Macmillan will be presenting from Bounce Mobile. They provide applications that give consumers new ways to interact with digital music via their mobile. The app they’ll be showing us is Fireplayer which is an app that allows you to remix and share your favourite music on your mobile. 

Terence Eden will be showing off one of his latest projects http://ivote2010.co.uk/ 

Plus

Ed Moore from Ocasta Labs sharing what they’re doing with Agora which is a mobile optimised social marketplace that matches buyers & sellers of goods & services by interest, location & reputation. 

John Roberts from Qustodian talking about mobile marketing

And maybe a few surprises too… watch this space!

 

29th March is Demo night!

Exciting news! We're very pleased to announce that our next event is on Monday 29th March and will be kindly hosted by IPC Media at the Blue Fin Building on Southwark Street. And just like the last time we were there back in June, we're going to do a demo night. So we're after interesting mobile applications, services and products to present to our community. We have room for about 10 or so companies to demo their wares during the evening. The format is show 'n tell style of about 5 minutes (we'll be strict with the time) with a chance for questions, comments and constructive feedback from the audience. Want to know how it worked last time? Then take a look at our blog archive from last June - http://mobilemonday.org.uk/archive/2009_06_01_archive.html

So are you up for presenting on the 29th March? Is there something out there that you think deserves to see the light of day. Then we'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to be considered, please email helen@[removethis]mobilemonday.org.uk or alex@[removethis]mobilemonday.org.uk as we're coordinating this one. We also need to know how you need to demo whatever it is you'd like to demo (slides, visualiser, audio, wifi etc).

If anyone out there can also bring kit to help us for the evening - that would be fantastic. We need visualisers, femtocell kits, remote clickers - you get the idea. If anyone can help out with this kind of stuff, we'll be eternally grateful. Help boosting the mobile signal would be particularly helpful. We're on the top floor of a tall building and mobile reception can peter out the further up the building you go (although we will have wifi).

And on that note, we're still after a co-sponsor for the evening so we can have more beer and can cover the cost of hiring in any equipment that we need. If you're interested in supporting this one, please get in touch with Helen or Alex as above.

Technorati Tags: demo night,mobile applications,mobile web,mobile internet,mobile services,show 'n tell

Where mobile meets media…

It’s a big topic. We’re led to believe that the mainstream media world is in trouble with declining advertising revenues and difficulty in matching available revenues with cost of production. And not only that, there’s a whole new world of mobile and social media out there with unclear revenue models. Where do you place your bets? Do you knock down your existing business to create the new one? Do you wait before making your move but risk missing the boat altogether. These are all questions the answers to which are still unclear.

And this topic was also on our minds in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress where the UKTI hosted a Mobile Monday London panel session discussing this very thing. Paul Skeldon from Telemedia 360 took some video of it, the highlights of which you can see below. It's in four parts with Russell Buckley, VP of Global Alliances at Admob chairing (and co-founder of Mobile Monday Germany and co-star at the Mobhappy blog), and Chris Boden from Lonely Planet in Australia, Lucie McLean from the BBC, Steve Ives, CEO at Taptu and yours truly on the panel.

Is Traditional Media Dead?

Is Advertising Dead?

Are Applications Dead?

Will the iPad Save Us?

Paul also covered the panel session in this month’s Telemedia 360’s PDF newsletter which is worth a read if media and mobile is your game. [You can download a free copy from their website.] I am widely quoted in the article but to get the full context, it’s probably best to view the videos *and* read the article too to get the whole picture.

You might also be interested to know that the FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference was on this week. Although not there, some of the tweets from it are worth a look. Have a look for the hashtag #FTMedia10 and follow FTDigitalMedia on Twitter. I’m sure there’ll be some news and blog coverage coming out of this conference too, so watch this space.

Another *must read* article is this one Understanding the participatory news consumer – a comprehensive breakdown of the latest Pew Internet research showing what the US digital news consumer is up to on their mobile phone. I’m not going to repeat what the article covers, but it shows that mobile internet users access the internet more often than their fixed line counterparts:

“On-the-go news consumers:  Who are they?

The typical on-the-go news consumer is a white male, age 34, who has graduated from college and is employed full-time.  Given their younger profile, it is not surprising that 40% of this group are parents of young children (compared with 30% of the general adult population), and 32% have never been married.  One in three (32%) live in households with incomes of $75,000 or more. As a subset of the broader mobile internet population, on-the-go news consumers reflect many of their characteristics (see table below).

Not surprisingly, on-the-go news consumers maximize their cell phone use.  They are 67% more likely than other cell phone users to text message, more than twice as likely to take pictures with their phones, and four times as likely to use their phones to instant message.  They are also especially heavy internet users—80% of this on-the-go group are online on a given day, compared with just 67% of other internet users—and they engage in activities such as blogging (20% v. 11%), using social networking sites (73% v. 48%), and using status update sites like Twitter (29% v. 14%) at significantly higher rates than other internet users.”

Technorati Tags: mobile,mobile media,barcelona,mwc10,mobile world congress,Russell Buckley,BBC,Lonely Planet,Taptu

The Mobile Premier Awards opens – and there’s an award for female entrepreneurs

You might be familiar with the Global Peer Awards that Rudy de Waele has been running in partnership with Mobile Monday for the last few years in Barcelona. Well, he’s now extended the concept to include more networks, including the Women in Mobile Data Association (see us on Facebook and LinkedIn) and has launched The Mobile Premier Awards 2010 and it is now open for entries.

The Mobile Premier Awards recognize the year’s best in Mobile Start-up Innovation and are the largest open, global start-up competition in the mobile industry. The awards are the point of reference in start-up premiers during the Mobile World Congress on February 15, 2010 in Barcelona (yes, it’s nearly that time of year again) and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the mobile industry.

We’re particularly excited about the award for female entrepreneurship… Anyway, more details about the whole shebang here. It’s free to enter and it seems to me to be exciting to be involved in it with both my Mobile Monday London hat and my Women in Mobile Data Association hat on. (Good job I like wearing hats eh).

The Mobile Premier Awards 2010 will include the following awards:

* MPA in Innovation - The best grassroots start-up innovation chosen by their peers in partnership with Mobile Monday. The Mobile Monday chapters will vote for their local most innovative start-up. An international jury of the most recognized mobile industry experts will select the 20 finalists from all the local chapter nominees to pitch at the event in Barcelona in front of investors, operators, media companies, peer entrepreneurs, and press and influential bloggers.

* MPA in Marketing - The best start-up in Mobile Marketing

* MPA in Entertainment - The best start-up in Mobile Entertainment in partnership with the Mobile Entertainment Forum

* MPA in User Experience - The best start-up in Mobile User Experience in partnership with MEX.

* MPA in Social Change - The best start-up using mobile for social change in partnership with Mobile Active.org

* MPA in Female Entrepreneurship - The best woman-led mobile start-up in partnership with Women2.0 and the Women in Mobile Data Association

Participation to these awards is free and open to any start-up with a mobile angle. Go to www.mobilepremierawards.com and take your chance to walk the red carpet in Barcelona!

Technorati Tags: mobile,women,wimd,women in mobile data,mobile peer awards,mobile premier awards,global peer awards,mobile monday,mobile monday london,mobile world congress,barcelona,start-up,entrepreneurship

Go your own way?

Ok, admittedly that’s a song title from the rather marvellous Rumours by Fleetwood Mac which I’m listening to as I write this, but it also describes where we’re at with location based services. LBS seems to be the new black, it was big news at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year and there seem to be various location based apps cropping up out of the iphone woodwork. But it’s not all rosy in the location based world. Sure, we can use pretty maps on our phones but what else is out there and does anyone actually care?

That’s why I was particularly interested to read Stuart Dredge’s article recently in Mobile Entertainment magazine where he dispels some myths of mobile entertainment (and arguably the rest of the mobile world too and number 9 particularly resonated with me:

"Location-based technology is intrinsically exciting for consumers...

No it's not. The phrase "location-based technology" intrinsically puts most people who aren't in the mobile industry to sleep. And they look equally unimpressed if you promise them their phone can guide them to the nearest cashpoint.

That was the big selling point of the early days of LBS, until the industry realised that even half-cut consumers can womble their way to the nearest bank machine under their own steam. Now the buzz is around social location, and mashing up your handset's GPS with social media and Web 2.0 services.

The problem is that this is all still technology-led. The assumption that everyone wants to track their friends - and especially that they regularly go out in town with no specific plans in mind of who to meet or where to go - is unproven at best. As is the idea that people want to geotag all their photos and videos and share them with the world, all the time.

The next year or two will see some really smart, desirable mobile services launch that use location. But it's the ones that are actually based on stuff people want to do that will succeed.

It's more about great, desirable services that happen to have location elements in the mix.”

So that’s exactly what we’re going to take a look at on 12th October. Stuart Dredge has kindly agreed to chair the session for us where we’ll find out what services out there, challenging how we position and market them, how much location matters (or not), and what customers really want or need. We reckon it’ll be a lively debate kindly supported by Skyhook Wireless and GetJar. We have some great panellists lined up for you which we’ll be announcing in a few days. And we’ll have some demos for your delectation. We’re also still interested to find out which LBS apps and services you use and why so do keep contributing to the email thread on the topic.

What: Go your own way? A fresh look at location based services.

When: 12th October 2009 – 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start.

Where: CBI at Centrepoint

Register and RSVP here

Photo credit Smiling_Da_Vinci on flickr.Used under Creative Commons licence.

Technorati Tags: location-based services,lbs,mobile,momolo,mobile monday london,mobile monday,events

June 2nd: Whassup in Mobile Media and Marketing?

Our next event (sponsored by Wireless Foundry) will be on June 2nd and will feature a high-level panel discussion on current mobile web, services and applications from a media and marketing perspective. We'll take a look at everything from mobile web to proximity to messaging to games and highlight creative execution and effective campaigns. We'll also discuss what media-owners and agencies want and how we as an industry should or could respond. We will also be challenging our expert panel to take a glimpse into the future and tell us what's catching their eye on the mobile horizon and what they think will capture the public's attention in the future.

Helen Keegan of Beep Marketing will chair the panel and it will feature Stephen Pinches from the Financial Time, Matthew Postgate from the BBC, Robert Thurner from Incetivated and, fresh from leading the successful MEX conference this week, Marek Pawlowski of PMN!

Those details again:

Theme: Whassup in Mobile Media and Marketing?
When: June 2nd (doors open at 6pm as usual)
Where: Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX, UK
(http://www.rss.org.uk)

Our kind sponsor: Wireless Foundry!

Registration now open (you must be subscribed to the mailing list to register).