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

Hits and Misses of 2010

Yes, it's coming to the end of the year which makes it a good time to reflect on what's been happening in the mobile world for the last 12 months and to have a think about what we might see next year - especially with Mobile World Congress coming up in just a couple of months. Our panel, representing different areas of the mobile industry, will discuss this year's achievements and failures, why they were successful or not and what they think will be the ones to watch in 2011. Panellists include George Nimeh and others to be announced shortly.

This session will form part of the UKTI's Technology World 2-day event and will be held in the afternoon of Wednesday 8th December at London Excel in Docklands – (yes, we’ve spotted it’s not on a Monday and it’s not in the evening and it’s not in Central London). By special arrangement, it is free to attend but you must pre-register. All Mobile Monday London attendees will be entitled to enter the exhibition area (but not the meetings or other conference sessions) at Technology World for free on that day only from 1.30pm. Discounted tickets are available to our members for the event if you wish to attend more sessions and benefit from the unique meetings system in place where you have the chance to have meetings with many foreign companies to do business with them. This is not your usual conference format.

To attend the full two-day Technology World event, please use discount code MOMO20 to get your 20% discount here: https://www.technologyworld.uk.com/register-now/register.aspx

And to register for just the Mobile Monday London session and admittance to the exhibition area only on Wednesday afternoon please go to http://momolo.org

Timings and agenda:

Wednesday 8th December

Please note: this is an afternoon event

2.45pm Doors open

3pm *prompt* start to the panel session

4pm Panel session closes. Networking for an hour.

5pm. Venue closes and we must vacate the building.

Location: London Excel, Technology World event http://www.technologyworld.uk.com/

Sponsors:

UKTI and Technology World

Don’t forget, if you’d like to attend the full two-day Technology World event, please use discount code MOMO20 to get your 20% discount here: https://www.technologyworld.uk.com/register-now/register.aspx

List etiquette – especially jobs and events

Just a quick word on list etiquette for our email list when it comes to job and event postings and what's ok and what's not.

The rule of thumb is... if you're a start-up or SME doing direct recruitment, it's ok to post job requests from time to time and within reason - but please keep them short and to the point and link out to the full job spec/blogpost/whatever. If in doubt, ask us (contact@ mobilemonday.org.uk). Nine times out of ten, it will be just fine. Just occasionally, we might think it has overstepped the mark. What we don't want is for our email group to descend into a sales noticeboard for recruiters. There are other places where that's fine. And if we had the resources (time and people), we'd set up our own jobs mailing list which would *just* be a noticeboard for jobs but alas, we can't do everything we'd like to...

If you are a corporate type of company or a recruitment agency, then this is not the place to post job listings without checking with us first. We have advertising options available from time to time for recruiters. Please get in touch to discuss if that’s of interest.

Pretty much the same goes for event organisers and people promoting events - please check with us first before promoting an event on this list. Half the time it'll be ok, half the time, it might not fit - depends on what we have on our calendar and what else is going on on the list. Again, our email list isn't about publicising events other than Mobile Monday London related ones.

Hope that's clear. But if in doubt, just check with one of the organisers and we'll be happy to advise.

What we'd love to see more of on the list is actual discussion around key issues in the industry, follow-on discussions from topics, companies and ideas covered in recent events, questions and answers about advice and support in doing business in a particular sector or country, thoughts on working with network operators, handset manufacturers, media owners, shared experience in raising investment.... you get the idea. There are some great brains and a vast wealth of experience in this email group and it would be great to see more of that resource shared with everyone.

Looking forward to some good conversations.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Keep in touch with Mobile Monday London

You can find us in all kinds of places: We have an active discussion group on Yahoo! to complement this blog. We're on Facebook and LinkedIn and we tweet quite a bit and use the hashtag #momolo. We also have a (work in progress) community site where you'll find out about our monthly events (which we blog about here as well).

Want to get involved or talk sponsorship? Then please get in touch with us.

Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 are go!

STOP PRESS: The competition is now open to entrants from Spain as well as the UK, The Netherlands and Portugal. Closing date remains the same at 22 August 2010.

~~~~~~~~~~

And it’s bigger and better than last year and Mobile Monday London is very pleased to be supporting this year’s Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 competition.

You can read some bits and pieces about last year’s event here and here's some excellent thoughts and advice from last year's runners-up, Woobius, on what they got out of entering the competition. There's also a little video from them you can watch too which is worth a look.

So, back to this year's competition. The aim is to find the best mobile internet start-up across the UK, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands and reward the winner with Euro 100,000 and the runner-up with Euro 50,000.

The competition opens today and closes on 22nd August at midnight. But please don’t leave your entry until the last minute. All entries need to be completed in English and you do need to adhere to the Terms and Conditions. The actual competition Ts & Cs are only a few pages – the rest of the document relates to the Ts & Cs for Vodafone’s Widget platform which you must also agree to. Yes, it’s a long document, but please give it the once over to make sure you’re happy with it. I’ve read it and I can’t see anything particularly nasty in there, but I’m not an expert on these things, nor am I a lawyer so don’t just take my word for it. [Update: These have been shortened.]

The application form is pretty straight forward but I highly recommend that you take some thought before you fill it in. There is limited space, and limited time for the judges to read and take in what you’re writing, so it means you need to to think through clearly what your proposition is, describe the features but make sure you also state the benefits as these are what make you attractive to customers. All entries are confidential.

You can only enter once and once you’ve entered, you may not amend your entry.

Entry is now open at http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/

The 5 judging criteria are:

• originality, creativity and innovation;
• technical and operational feasibility;
• economic and financial viability;
• value to end-users;
• and finally, on the quality of the management team.

If you have specific questions or concerns, please get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to answer your questions or put you in touch with someone who can.

Entry Criteria:

• Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 is open to any individual aged 18 or over resident in the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain or the United Kingdom and to Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and UK-based start-up companies, businesses, institutions and all other organisations.
• Participants must be or must have the intention to become a start-up enterprise/ business in the field of mobile internet products or services. Start-up in this context means that the enterprise/business must be less than 3 years old.
• Each participant may submit only one entry.
• Entries from Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2008 and 2009 may resubmit to Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010.
• There is no charge for entry

There are three stages to the contest:

1. We will collate all the entries and the local jury will review them to get to a shortlist of 5.
2. We will then review the shortlist to find a single company or individual to put forward to the final.
3. The UK finalist will present at the final to be held at Picnic in Amsterdam on 24 September 2010 alongside the finalists from The Netherlands and Portugal.

Last year we were able to put three companies through to the final at Picnic. They were Audioboo, Rummble and Woobius. Woobius came third and walked away with a Euro 25,000 prize. And Audioboo and Rummble have both done very well since last year’s contest, both recently raising funds and growing their respective businesses.

We asked all our UK finalists from VMC2009 what they thought of the competition last year and whether or not it was worth entering.

Mark Rock from Audioboo tells us: "Vodafone Mobile Clicks was one of the freshest competitions of 2009. To have a mobile network operator embrace the start-up community in this way was fantastic. The quality of the judging through 3 rounds was excellent, if a little gruelling, And the support & help given all the way through to being taken to Amsterdam to compete in the finals (we didn't win, by the way) was above and beyond the normal competition process. Vodafone Mobile Clicks is worth the effort"

And Andrew Scott from Rummble said: "Vodafone put considerable energy behind the Mobile Clicks competition which definitely contributed to our profile .. it was also a lot of fun!"

Bob Leung, CEO of Woobius tells us 'Vodafone Mobile Clicks helped us take an idea from concept to working prototype, with the assistance of an expert jury, over several rounds. We used the prize money to take the product to market, and now we are working with leading players in the construction industry. We're building them their very own Woobius Eye, that they use to share information live between desktops and mobile phones, between offices and construction sites. It's a great success. The prize money really helped us to advance our idea over our competitors and we urge anyone with a good idea to enter this fantastic competition.'

And here’s a couple of pictures of the Woobius team with their prize cheque. Well done Woobius!

So, get the thinking caps on and get entering. The Mobile Monday London team wishes you the best of luck!

The official press release is below.

VODAFONE MOBILE CLICKS 2010 COMPETITION ANNOUNCED

Search to find best mobile internet start-up across three European markets is on

27^th July, 2010. Vodafone today announced the launch of Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010, a competition to identify and develop the best, most innovative mobile internet start-ups. Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 will run across three European markets - Netherlands, Portugal and UK.

The contest is open to any start-up with a great idea for a mobile site, service or application and entrants can compete for the €150,000 prize fund by submitting entries to http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/. The competition is open now, and the closing date for entries is midnight, August 22nd, 2010.

Each entry will be judged on five criteria: originality, creativity and innovation; technical and operational feasibility; economic and financial viability; value to end-users; and finally, on the quality of the management team.

The judging will take place over three rounds. Each competing market will draw up a shortlist of their five best local submissions, a winner will be selected from each shortlist and finally all local winners will be invited to represent their country in a live final at the PICNIC Festival in Holland on September 24^th, 2010, where the overall winner will be chosen by a panel of mobile industry experts, including Om Malik, founder of the GigaOM Network, Russell Buckley, VP Global Alliances at Admob, and Rudy de Waele, Founder of dotopen, the Mobile Premier Awards and co-founder of the Mobile 2.0 Conferences in San Francisco and Barcelona.

Launched in 2008, Vodafone Mobile Clicks is a Vodafone initiative designed to accelerate innovation in the mobile internet sector across Europe. It is now the biggest mobile start-up competition of its kind.

“Through initiatives like Vodafone Mobile Clicks and our wider developer outreach programme, we’re finding ways to help stimulate, grow and commercialise the innovation that is at the heart of the mobile ecosystem,” said Lee Epting, Director of Content Services at Vodafone Group. “Vodafone Mobile Clicks is really about empowering ambitious, young start-ups to develop their ideas and accelerate them into market. I’m excited to be judging another year of inspiring entries from entrants across Europe.”

Previous Vodafone Mobile Clicks winners include Layar, an Amsterdam-based company who developed an augmented reality service that allows mobile customers to see information on nearby points of interest – for example houses for sale, popular bars and tourist information – by simply looking through a phone’s camera lens. The service launched in June 2009, and throughout 2010 the platform has seen 20% month-on-month growth. Layar has recently announced a strategic partnership with phone manufacturers LG and Samsung.

For further information about the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 competition, or to enter your company, go to: http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/

Technorati Tags: Vodafone Mobile Clicks,vodafone,competition,start-up,mobile internet,mobile applications,entrepreneurship

Living in a Multi-Platform World – a review

Wow, this was a popular event and generated much discussion both at the event, and afterwards. A big thank you to Oded Ran and the Windows Phone team for sponsoring the event and hosting us in their wonderful offices in Victoria. It was great.

Our regular columnist, Lauren McGregor has given her take on the event. Over to you Lauren.

At the latest Mobile Monday London event, the panel dissected the issues surrounding the various platforms that are available to application developers … are there too many? Are multiple platforms a bad thing? What does multi platform mean for end users, industry stakeholders, developers and device manufactures? This is no longer just about mobile as there are many different platforms to be integrated into the customer experience including in-store and online. How can we make it easier?

On the panel this week we had - Odense Ran, Microsoft, Tom Hume, Future Platforms, Jenny Ennis, Flirtomatic, Ilia Uvarov, RG/A, Nick Lansley, Tesco -- chaired by Marek Pawloski, MEX and PMN.

Fragmentation within the mobile industry is a huge issue, made more complicated by the variety of new devices coming to market every week. We also have millions of mobile devices equipped to handle voice and messaging, many have browser functionality and are Java enabled. However, the smartphone market is much smaller in comparison with approximately 11% market share. Tesco recognise this as an issue when it comes to applications i.e. the majority of its customers would not use an app. Flirtomatic started off life as a Java app five years ago, but found the same issue which prevented them from reaching all its potential customers. It found a simple and clever way of doing this … the mobile internet – which proved highly successful.

The developers behind the apps have to stump up most of the frustration when it comes to multiple platforms for their apps … developing, marketing and managing for each platform ... a big headache. What can handset manufacturers do to help developers navigate the current platform landscape and make a profit from investing in them? The general consensus on the night was competitive pricing... so if the price is right!

When it comes to application updates from the developer, additional complications can arise. Many consumers just don’t update their apps, this is largely due to perceived benefits for the users, but also the experience that the app stores provide; not making it clear enough to the user as to when an update is needed or how to download it. Tesco pointed out that Apple is one with its finger on the pulse here … making it quick and easy to be alerted of an update and highlighting it's benefits. One of Tesco’s recent updates for its ‘Finder app’ received a 97% update response rate. It puts this down to the fact that the update benefits were clearly communicated to the user. Perhaps a traffic light system for updates could work to let the user know how urgent the update is, therefore ensuring more downloads?

The issue of virtual currency and in-app payments raised its head during the debate and Flirtomatic, which uses virtual currency, said that it was difficult to decide how to bill users – PayPal, credit card? The panel agreed that credit card payments were the most efficient and well received method of payment for their customers. The best user case when talking mobile money is the emerging markets, a segment that is growing fast largely due to lack of access to PCs and/or credit cards for payments.

It is not all about multi platform though, the multiple channels that companies can now reach the end user with is also very exciting. An example from Tesco was that while watching a cookery programme on your TV set and being able to order the ingredients directly via a web link. Fragmentation is a price we have we have to pay for the benefit of having such a wide array of devices available to us, but also an opportunity to make something different … grab the users attention and make some money!

And not only did Lauren do a write up, but quite a few in our audience did too and they’re all well worth a read.

Simon Judge: http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/1059

Adam Cohen Rose: http://adamcohenrose.blogspot.com/2010/06/momolondon-living-in-multi-platform.html

Improbulus: http://www.consumingexperience.com/2010/06/mobile-phones-too-many-platforms-how.html

Panellist, Nick Lansley, also did a write up http://techfortesco.blogspot.com/2010/06/mobile-monday-and-living-in-multi.html (although we actually had 200 folks there not 60, Nick!).

John Cooper: http://www.jaycoo.net/?p=125

Aurelian from Life is Better On: http://blog.lifeisbetteron.com/2010/06/24/living-in-a-multi-platform-world-at-junes-mobile-monday-london/ And there’s a small photoset on flickr from Aurelian too (the image above is one of this set – Thanks Aurelian!).

If we missed anyone’s write-up or pictures of the event, please get in touch so we can add the relevant link/s.

Until the next time on 19th July…

Technorati Tags: momolo,mobile applications,mobile internet,mobile platforms

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

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.

Ed Hodges will be here to show Touchnote Postcards which allows you to send physical postcards from your phone to anyone, anywhere in the world.

John Roberts from Qustodian talking about mobile marketing

And maybe a few surprises too… watch this space!

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!

 

Need accommodation in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress? Then Justin’s your man

Contact Justin Email: justin@reventz.com Phone:   +44(0)2071937952   Mobile:  44(0)7507861533 

rEventz is the premiere events agency throughout Europe, specialising in Spain and are Mobile Monday London’s latest partner during the run up to Mobile World Congress. rEventz expertise lies in making attending Mobile World Congress easy for you by finding you the right accommodation, the right meeting places, and making sure your stay in Barcelona is fuss-free.

Justin and his team have been working closely with the Mobile World Congress for over 5 years with some of the biggest (and smallest) companies in the industry and with a large stock of hotel rooms and other services; we can tailor every package perfectly to the individual needs of each individual client. And Justin knows Barcelona backwards which is a great help, especially if you’re new to Congress.

Every client has their own dedicated project manager working on their booking and only their booking so you so there are no distractions and all of your requests are handled immediately. If 100% perfection is the minimum that you ask for – trust rEventz with your next Event and see what 110% satisfaction feels like. Previous satisfied clients include O2/Telefonica, Tele Atlas, Cisco Systems, Verisign, Seven, Opera, Aliph, NXP and more.

All of rEventz’s hotels are located in the heart of Barcelona with easy access to the Fira Exhibition Centre and the Placa Cataluña (the very centre of the city) where most of the restaurants are and where most of the evening networking happens.  So rest assured with rEventz we will keep you central and where you need to be avoiding unnecessary travel. All hotels are located within 5 mins of the nearest Metro station and all have taxis readily available. 

Listed below are the most up to date list of available hotels with rEventz; with pricing on average less than the official organiser is offering.  For further information about any of these hotels including pictures don’t hesitate to contact Justin. Yes, we know hotel prices are expensive during Mobile World Congress, but these are below the usual rate for the week of Congress when all prices seem to go up – sometimes double or even treble the usual room rates. Yes, it sucks, but Justin’s negotiated some good rates for Mobile Monday London members.

• Hotel Paral.lel 2* - This hotel is an excellent budget hotel and although a 2* offers superb service and rooms for its rating, the hotel also has the added bonus of being just a 10 min walk to the Fira Exhibition Centre and just 10 mins to the centre of town – Placa Cataluña .  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  20 rooms available: €250/night inc tax and breakfast
• The Hotel Aston 3* - This first-class business is well priced and is just 10 mins by taxi or metro to the Fira Exhibition Centre and Placa Cataluña.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  17 rooms available: €240/night inc tax and breakfast
• Hotel Junior 3* - Another first class, budget business hotel and the sister hotel to the Hotel Aston (located 30 seconds from it) and is located 10 mins to both The Fira Exhibition Centre and Placa Cataluña via metro or taxi.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  15 rooms available: €235/night inc tax and breakfast
• The Hotel Ramblas 3* - Excellent budget hotel offering all of the services that you could need during the event, located in the heart of Barcelona on Las Ramblas; a 5 min walk to Placa Cataluña and under 10 mins via taxi or metro to The Fira Exhibition Centre.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  10 rooms available:  €240/night inc tax breakfast
• Hotel H10 Cataluña Plaza 3* Superior - This hotel is located right in heart of the city in Placa Cataluña so you couldn’t be more central and has recently been refurbished to the highest standard.  5 mins to the Fira Exhibition Centre via metro/taxi.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  10 rooms available €315/night inc tax and breakfast
• Hotel Reding 3* - This very comfortable business hotel is centrally located at just a 2 min walk to Placa Cataluña and 5 mins to the Fira Exhibition Centre via metro or taxi.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  14 rooms available: €325/night inc tax and breakfast
• The Sunotel Central 4* - This great business hotel offers everything that you would expect from a 4* hotel and is ideally located at just a 10 min walk to the Fira Exhibition Centre and under 10 mins to Placa Cataluña via metro or taxi.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  14 rooms available: €345/night inc tax and breakfast
• The Hesperia Del Mar 4* - This new 4* hotel is another good excellent hotel.  Although located by the port of Barcelona its still just 10 mins in a taxi or metro to the Fira Exhibition Centre and Placa Cataluña (you don’t have to go through the centre of town – thus avoiding traffic).  Due to the fact that it is slightly further away though it offers 4* hotel rooms at 3* prices!  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  20 rooms available: €275/night inc tax and breakfast
• The Grand Hotel Central 4* Superior - Saving the best for last: this gorgeous boutique hotel offers unparalleled comfort and style.  The hotel is also ideally located right in the heart of Barcelona offering perfect quality at unbeatable prices.  The hotel is just 5 mins on foot to Placa Cataluña and under 10 mins to the Fira Exhibition Centre via metro or taxi.  Free Wi-Fi is available in all of the rooms of the hotel.
  20 rooms available:  €320/night inc tax and breakfast

rEventz
rE...Inventing Corporate Solutions
www.rEventz.com
Tel:               + 44 (0) 207 193 7952        

Fax:              + 44 (0) 207 900 2357
Mobile:         + 44 (0) 750 786 1533

Heroes of the Mobile Screen – 7 Dec 09 at the BFI Southbank, London

Some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to of late. Well, if you have, then I can reveal to you that I’ve been working on a new conference, Heroes of the Mobile Screen, which is on next month on 7 December at the rather wonderful BFI on London’s Southbank. And I’d love for you to spread the word (like our wonderful media partners), buy tickets and join the conversation. And I’m afraid this has taken our attention for the last few weeks which means we’ve had to cancel November’s Mobile Monday London event. Hopefully, this will all make up for it.

The team behind the conference, Isabel Fox, Neil Robertson, Carlo Longino, Dominic Travers and yours truly are also involved in running Mobile Monday London, Swedish Beers Mobile Networking, Future of Mobile, Over The Air, Mobile 2.0 and Tech Media Invest events amongst other things.

The day-long event at BFI Southbank will differ from anything else around (at least that’s what we’re aiming for) and get the stakeholders of mobile involved in discussing the issues affecting them and their customers. Uniquely the event also has teenagers on stage to tell the industry what they want from their mobile, what they expect from their network operators and what’s most important to them in terms of their mobile life.

Heroes of the Mobile Screen is already attracting a number of high calibre ‘heroes’ with speakers and panellists answering the call from around the world, including Kei Shimada, JP Rangaswami and Kevin Marks, Belinda Parmar, Julia Shalet, Doug Richard and Harald Neidhardt are all confirmed. The speakers are listed here and the agenda can be found here.

Heroes of the Mobile Screen opens with a keynote from Kei Shimada sharing his experience of what’s happening in Japan and what we can learn from that here in the West. And continues with four core pillars supporting discussion throughout the day.

The money
What's making money, who's making money and what's being invested in and where the money's going to be in the future? The answers to all the questions we want to ask of successful mobile service providers and VCs.

The impact of social/location
What is the impact of social media and location technology? What do customers want, what are the business models, what are the solutions to privacy issues. Carriers are placing their bets in this area, but will they pay off?

Teenage heroes
Led by digital youth marketing expert Julia Shalet (pictured left), this is a new format where we invite four companies to pitch their product, service or device live on stage to six teenagers and they tell us what they really think.

Real customers, real applications, real marketing
A double session with the first half covering customers and what they really want on mobile with a focus on women in particular with some new research and insight into what women want from Belinda Parmar of Lady Geek. The second half will cover mobile marketing and advertising, what's working, what's not and what's coming next.

I came up with idea around the event because we realised that most of the events I attend throughout the year all talk around the same subjects, with the same people and bring up the same issues, without resolution. It’s time for us to stop talking to ourselves, look out beyond our industry and make some changes for the better. I believe it’s important to engage our colleagues in marketing, web 2.0 and media as well as more of our mobile colleagues from throughout the value chain. The exciting stuff is going to happen when industries cross over – that’s where the innovation is. In putting the agenda together, we believe we have something that will appeal to a wide audience – whether you’re a director of marketing for an FMCG brand or a web developer toying with the idea of developing apps for android or iphone.  And to do that, we need to share real customer insight that we can use to make ours and others mobile lives better.

Tickets are now available online now for £99 (ex VAT and booking fee) at http://mobileheroes.net . We’ve kept the price deliberately low and it’s subsidised by sponsors who we’ll be able to announce shortly.

If you’re interested in sponsoring the event in some way, please get in touch with me via email.

If you’re interested in pitching your gadget, application or service to our teenagers, please email Dominic Travers to put your name forward.

We are keeping a waiting list for potential speakers and panellists. If you’d like to be considered, please contact me.

So get your tickets now and become a fan on Facebook or follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/hotms too.

Technorati Tags: conference,mobile monday,mobile monday london,events,london,mobile media,mobile marketing,mobile applications,mobile network operators,learning,networking

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

Vote for your favourite start-up and help them win Vodafone Mobile Clicks

We're coming to  the end of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition now and we have our 6 finalists. They'll be off to PICNIC next week in Amsterdam to fight it out to win hard cash for their start-up. There's 150k Euros up for grabs so it's a tough one. And there are six excellent finalists to choose from too. It wasn’t easy to get to the final six, but we did. There are three finalists from the UK and three from the Netherlands and there are 3 cash prizes up for grabs out of a total prize fund of 150k Euros.

The jury for the final is Richard Titus, Lee Epting, Rudy de Waele, Vincent Everts & Heike Scholz.

But it's not just down to the jury. Mobile Monday London members have a part to play in the process too. There has already been public voting which closes this Friday which is open to anyone http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/vote/ but in addition, we have been asked to create a poll so you can choose your favourite start-up and who you would give a prize too. The votes from Mobile Monday London members will be weighted more heavily than the public vote, so your vote really does count.

I've opened up the poll over at Yahoo Groups (I couldn't find a better way to run it so that it was one vote per person). If you're not already signed up to Yahoo Groups, then please sign up and make sure you fill in the bit that says why you want to join the group so we know you're genuine.
Our friends at Mobile Monday Amsterdam are going through a similar process and have already been busy voting.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon/polls

There is just one vote so use it wisely, but please DO vote! The poll will be open for a week only and will close on 22nd September in advance of the finalists heading off to Amsterdam.

And in case you're wondering who the companies are and would like a bit more info, then here you go...

Woobius http://www.woobius.com/ (UK)
A service for the construction industry allowing them to collaborate by gathering all info & data in one place with access for the team. With the help of Woobius Eye for mobile, it is possible to solve problems & reduce build costs & the number of mistakes made.

Rummble http://www.rummble.com/ (UK)
A service that recommends content to the user, based on people with the same interests and hobbies. By sharing information and creating a trust network, the customer will get more interesting & relevant content.

Mobypicture http://www.mobypicture.com/ (NL)
Share photos, videos & audio with friends at social network sites like hyves, facebook and twitter with one press of a button.

Audioboo http://audioboo.fm/ (UK)
Directly record audio (eg interviews or quotes) & share it with social network sites like twitter and facebook. The last recorded, most popular and featured "boos" from the community can be played as well.

Layar http://layar.com/ (NL)
A browser that uses 'augmented reality' so a user can see what is in their surroundings by looking through the camera of their handset.

MyNameIsE http://www.mynameise.com/ (NL)
Connecting people on & offline by gathering their profiles on various social networks in one place. These can be shared in real life via mobile or bespoke device, The Connector.

Thanks everyone and please get voting!

Technorati Tags: Mobile Monday London,vote,Vodafone Mobile Clicks,competition,start-up,Rummble,Woobius,MobyPicture,Audioboo,Layar,MyNameIsE

Big up yourselves if you were at demo night last night!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped, sponsored, attended or demo'd at last night's Mobile Monday London event. Even though I say it myself, it was a great success. The three room format seemed to work particularly well for a demo session. We also had some lovely feedback on the night which means a lot to us.

But there are some specific thank yous I need to mention to you all...

To our lovely sponsors, IPC Media (such a great space, really helpful staff on site, and great views across London town) http://www.ipcmedia.com and Samsung Mobile Innovator who announced their Samsung Innovation Quest widget making competition last night http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/gtm/siq/samsungiq.do (hard cash prizes for the winners - worth a look) and to the weather fairies who kept it dry for us so we could use the wonderful roof terrace.

A huge thank you to our lovely helpers without whom, we couldn't have run the event so smoothly - Tiffany Mitchell, Julia Shalet, Nik Buckman, Improbulus and Mark Hawkins - you all did a great job :D

To the lovely staff at IPC for looking after us so well - Heidi, Naomi, the bar staff and the very calm and collected Jose for managing the technical stuff.

To our great demo companies who gave us a varied and interesting evening : Ben Whittaker from Masabi showcasing the latest yet simplest in rail ticketing, Dan Phillips from Ookl who showed us how to make cultural and learning venues even more fun, Jeff Bloom from Synchro Arts/ Singtone who proved to us they can make *anyone* sound good when they sing, Simon Taylor from Corebridge who managed to share with us what they’re doing around CRM on the go, Alex Will from Spoonfed who make it easy to find out what’s on in London local to you, Tanvin Sharif from Vopium which is like Skype but better as it’s seamlessly integrated into your mobile phone’s address book, Mun Kong from d2see / Peepr.tv who showed us what fun you can have with a web cam and a mobile phone, Simon Maddox from 0870.me who wants to make it easy for people to ring 0870 and 0845 numbers at local and national rates from your phone and is doing this for love not money, Alex Housley from Total Hotspots who makes it easy for you to find your nearest wifi hotspot with reviews, Mark Rock from Best Before Media who showcased the runaway success that is Audioboo for folks into audio micro-blogging, Dave Hodder from Artilium who work with MNOs to make it easy for them to open up their networks to third parties and also do something rather special around LBS without the need for GPS, James Norris from Proxama who showed us the latest developments in NFC wallets, and Adam Hoyle from Do Tank Studios who showed us how easy it is to create photo mash ups on your phone using their Photofit app.

A thank you to Ben Smith from The Really Mobile Project http://thereallymobileproject.com who covered the event for us and will be posting stuff about the event shortly.

A thank you to my fellow organisers on the night Dan Appelquist and Alex Craxton. Jo Rabin, you were missed!

And a final thank you to all of you who came and participated. Your questions, tweets, feedback and presence made it all worthwhile. If you're interested to see what was said on twitter, search for #momolondon and #momolo which were the hashtags we used last night. You can follow us on twitter too.

If you took photos or are writing up a blog post re last night's event, then please do let us know and share the links with us here. I can see there are already some photos up on flickr.

If you'd like to sponsor or co-sponsor an upcoming event or our website, then please do get in touch with one of us - dan@ alex@ jo@ helen@ mobilemonday.org.uk

And if you'd like to be on our roster of helpers, please contact me and I'll add you to the mailing list for that too.

Till the next time…

Technorati Tags: momo,momolo,momolondon,mobile monday london,demo night,mobile applications,iphone applications,iphone apps,ipc media,samsung,samsung mobile innovator,ookl,singtone,masabi,corebridge,spoonfed,vopium,peepr.tv,0870.me,photofit,total hotspots,audioboo,artilium,proxama,nfc

Announcing the demo night line-up

Well, it's almost time for Mobile Monday London's demo night and we have now finalised the list of folks who want to show us their wares.

Just to remind you of the logistics first... Our lovely sponsors this month are IPC Media (whose fantastic offices we'll be seeing on the night) and Samsung Mobile Innovator (who will be making a special announcement on Monday evening). Doors will open at 6pm for a *prompt* and we mean *prompt* start at 6.30pm as we have a LOT to get through and I didn't want anyone to miss out. The demos should be done by 8.30pm and we'll have drinks and networking then and if it's a lovely evening, we'll be out on the stunning roof terrace. You'll find IPC Media's offices at The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street up on the 10th floor (nearest tubes Waterloo, Southwark, London Bridge).

Please allow enough time to get through security on the ground floor and
take the lift up to the 10th floor where we'll be holding the event. Also please
make sure you are registered well in advance so we can whizz you through security. We cannot guarantee you entry unless you are registered.

We have capacity for 155 across three rooms and we'll be rotating the demo teams across all three rooms so that you'll get chance to see everything. You won't miss out by not being in a particular room.

Each demo company will have 3 minutes to pitch their wares, and not just show what their product does but also share at least one insight. At the end of each section, there'll be chance for questions from the audience. This process will be repeated three times with the three groups of demo companies. The products and services you'll see on the night are:

Vopium - like Skype but fully integrated into your mobile's phonebook
Peepr.TV - webcam streaming to mobile
0870.me - standard rate calls instead of 0870
Photofit - photo mashup application
Total Hotspots - Rummble your nearest wifi hotspot
Audioboo - audio micro-blogging as much loved by Stephen Fry amongst others
Artilium - making LBS easy for developers
Proxama - the latest in NFC wallets
Ookl - mobile learning
Singtones - karaoke on your phone
Masabi - rail ticketing
Corebridge - CRM on the go
Spoonfed - London restaurant finder

We're looking forward to seeing you all on Monday night.

Vodafone Mobile Clicks Competition Deadline: 22nd May 2009

Breaking News 13 May 09: The deadline for your entry for UK participants is no longer 14th May 2009 and is now Friday 22nd May 2009.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yes, it's not long to go now to get your entry in for the Vodafone Mobile Clicks Competition. There's just about a week to go so there's still time. We've tried to keep the application process simple and you can even be pre-start-up and just have a great idea to apply.

We also wanted to reassure you over who owns the IP and any confidentiality concerns so to make things clear...

• Confidentiality is secured. All people involved are informed and committed to this confidentiality.
• The rights of the idea will be with the owner/submitter.
• With your entry, we don't need every single detail - just enough detail to give us a clear picture of the WHAT and the HOW of the mobile service.
• We respect the situations in which the start-ups do not have a patent yet. See our very very strict confidentiality claims. Above and in the Ts & Cs.
• Ideas will NOT be shared with competitors or other companies. Only the jury and the organizing team(s) involved will have ALL the registration data (UK and NL). The Press and Other Startups in this contest will ONLY have RESTRICTED access to only a few Registration Fields (e.g. Name, Contact Details, Short Description of Service).

If you have any further questions, then please refer them to Helen Keegan. Also have a look at our previous blogpost on the competition criteria.

Good luck and let's see what Britain's talented mobile developers have to offer!

p.s. you can follow the competition on twitter and we have set up a facebook event too for it. Oh and Mobile Monday London is also in twitter if you hadn't spotted us already.

New event 20 April 2009: How to Finance your Business in a Credit Crunch

The Digital Communications Knowledge Transfer Network in association with Mobile Monday London presents 'How to finance your business in a credit crunch'. Doors open at 6pm for a 6.30pm start on Monday 20th April. There will be short presentations and a panel session representing all aspects of the financial value chain from VC through Angel Investor to Entrepreneurs and more. We also have a few surprises up our sleeve to stimulate the debate.

We’re in a credit crunch but that doesn't mean that you can't still be successful in these challenging times. This is your chance to get your finance questions answered. We aim to answer questions relevant to businesses at all stages in their growth, from start-up to grown-up. This is your chance to find out:

Is it impossible to get finance right now? What are the options open to a mobile business? Should I move my business to the US to have better chance of finance? What's the reality when you sell to a corporate? What are the Government sponsored opportunities available? What are investors looking for right now? How do I make sure that my valuation isn't diluted? Are banks really able to help? How long will the credit crunch last? What is value in this day and age? Is there still money to be made in the mobile industry and if so in which sectors? Which corporates and network operators are investing in smaller businesses? Are competitions and grants worth the effort? Is a merger or acquisition more hassle than it's worth?

It should be a lively panel and there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. Some of our experts in the room will also be running surgery sessions during the networking that follows. Here you will be able to get more in-depth advice on a one-to-one basis, discuss your specific next steps and, based on your business needs, find out which programmes and pathways are worth pursuing

Please go to http://alpha.mobilemonday.org.uk to register.

Membership of the Digital Communications KTN is free, and all attendees are encouraged to register as members at www.dcktn.org.uk

The Logistics

Date: Monday 20 April 2009

Time: Doors open at 18:00 for a prompt start at 18:30

Venue:CBI at Centrepoint

Agenda

18:00 Doors open

18:30 Presentations - from DCKTN, Numeritas, Gateway2Investment, Vodafone Mobile Clicks

19:00 Panel session and discussion - Benjamin Ellis, Redcatco; Pamir Gelenbe, Newton More Partners; Rose Lewis, Pembridge Partners LLP; Carl Uminski, IMW; Chris Padfield, London Business Angels and London Seed Capital;

20:00 Surgery sessions open and networking. Surgeries from Pembridge Partners, Vodafone Mobile Clicks, London Seed Capital, Numeritas and DCKTN.

22:00 Doors close

Food and drinks will be served at the event courtesy of the Digital Communications KTN.
We will be confirming our venue, speakers, panellists and surgery sessions shortly.

The Digital Communications Knowledge Transfer Network has been established by an industry-led group of leading players, with funding from the Technology Strategy Board. We seek to bring competitive advantage to the UK by promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing between the users and providers of Digital Communications, and helping to drive innovation in the sector.