Mobile Monday London

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.

Labels: demo, mobile, mobile application, mobilemedia, mobilemonday

UK Trade & Investment has created a unique opportunity for 20 UK companies to engage with the media in the run up to Mobile World Congress 2010.

On 20th January 2010, UKTI will be hosting a media speed networking event in London for the successful companies, these companies will be selected from a panel board and notified of their involvement by 10th December 2009.

The event will enable UK companies to meet with relevant journalists with an interest in Mobile World Congress in advance of the show to share news and generate interest in their company's products and services.

It can be notoriously difficult to gain the attention of journalists at Mobile World Congress, particularly for smaller companies. This event aims to provide an opportunity for companies to do so before the Congress takes place.

There is a strict limit to the number of companies that can benefit from this event and for this reason companies that wish to be considered will need to complete a simple form and also be able to fulfil some strict criteria.

The criteria are:
» Submission must be made by 30 November 2009
» You will need to have someone available to be present in London on 20th January
» You will need to have a newsworthy story: product, innovation, or development that you are able to speak with the media about
» Whilst we will ask journalists not to use the information that they receive until Mobile World Congress, companies attending will need to be certain that the news they have will be ready for public release on 15th February 2010. It will not be possible to include innovations or agreements that are not certain to take place
» You will need to be available on the telephone during November or December 2009 to discuss the news that you will be announcing at Mobile World Congress

What kind of journalists will be attending this event?
We will invite journalists from national, trade, technical and consumer technology publications that have an interest in Mobile World Congress 2010. We will also invite the Mobile World Congress show newspaper and television station.

Will I be certain that my news will be published?
No. This will depend on the news agenda for journalists and the newsworthiness of your stories.

What is in it for me?
You will get the chance to tell the story of your company to up to 20 journalists with an interest in mobile communications before they arrive at Mobile World Congress.

APPLICATION FORM:

Name of Company:
Year founded:
Number of employees:
Turnover:
Primary spokesperson for the media:
Company description:
Company primary market:
Company primary customers (eg manufacturers, mobile operators):
Company's target media publications:
Briefly describe the news you will be announcing at Mobile World Congress 2010:

Submit you application to Jessica Eddens on mobileworldcongress[at]tradefair[dot]co[dot]uk

STOP PRESS: Please note that we will have tickets to give away for Mobile World Congress in a draw for delegates of Heroes of the Mobile Screen on 7 December. You can buy tickets now for £99 (ex VAT/bkg fee) at http://mobileheroes.net/register

Labels: mobile, mwc, ukti

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.

Labels: conference, mobile, mobile monday, momolondon

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!

Labels: Awards, mobile, mobile entertainment forum, mobile monday, mobilemarketing, mobilemedia, mobilemonday, momolondon

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.

Labels: applications, events, lbs, location based services, mobile, mobilemedia

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.

Labels: applications, demo, mobile, mobile monday, momolondon

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.

Labels: competition, mobile, momolondon, vmc, Vodafone, Vodafone Mobile Clicks

Vodafone UK and Mobile Monday London today announce Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009, a competition to inspire start-up businesses and individual developers to create and deliver a new mobile site or service – all creative ideas are welcome.

Mobile Clicks 2009 is run jointly with Vodafone Netherlands. Anyone wishing to enter can visit http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/. The final will be held in Amsterdam in September and will feature three finalists from each country. The first three winners will be awarded a total sum of €150,000.

Last years’ Mobile Clicks’ winners included Nulaz, a location-based social networking service merging Google Maps and Facebook to allow people to see where their friends are, share locations and view local information, Tipspot a new online city guide service and Map the Gap, an idea-sharing application for mobile phones.

The competition consists of three selection rounds, running from April to September 2009. The panel of judges will include mobile internet experts from Vodafone as well as other industry leaders. The winner will be announced in Amsterdam in September this year.

The rules are pretty simple:

• Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009 is open to any individual residing in the Netherlands or the UK from the age of 18 years and to Dutch 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 means that the enterprise/business cannot be older than three years since its inception.
• Each participant may submit only one entry.
• (Previous Dutch) Entries from Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2008 are allowed to participate again in Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009

Registration for this contest is now open. Registration for the Netherlands will close at April 30th, 2009 and registration for the UK will close on May 14th, 2009.

For more on last years’ winners, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owuDNC-IAdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CMXW7eLrZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUqPmNnIXj0

We’ll have more details about the competition up on the Mobile Monday London website as and when they happen and we’ll have some Vodafone people on hand at our upcoming events too. In the meantime, head over to Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009 and see how you can get your hands on some of that €150, 000 prize fund to kick start your business and get your service to market. The closing date for UK entries is 14th May 2009 so get your thinking caps on. Good luck!

Update - 6 May 2009

Some people have raised concerns over IP and confidentiality so we would like to reassure you.

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 on http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com .
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).

Labels: innovation, mobile, mobile development, mobilemonday, startups

Thanks to all who participated in the last Mobile Monday London event, talking about what Mobile Operators are doing to support developers and innovation. Thanks especially to our sponsors, O2 Litmus and Vodafone!

Labels: dotMobi, events, mno, mobile, mobilemonday, momolondon, o2, operator, symbian, Vodafone

Yes, I know it's been a while coming but it's been kinda busy at technokitten towers lately so I haven't manage to catch up on everything yet but I thought it was about time to tell you about our Mobile Monday and Swedish Beers birthday party.

If you weren't there, you missed a treat. Tim Green, editor of Mobile Entertainment Magazine did a wonderful job in the role of Parky to host our chat show stylee event with guests Dr Mike Short (VP R&D O2 Telefonica), Russell Buckley (MD Europe Admob and Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association), Madhuban Kumar (Founder, Ereni Partners) and the infamous Bill Thompson from the BBC's digital planet amongst other things. And the mid-way entertainment was provided by the wonderful guys at MIReview. More on that later.

As I was busy organising everything I was in and out of the room so didn't hear the whole thing but since the rooms was packed there were plenty people who did and some of them even wrote about it including Tom Hume, Russell and James Cameron.

And the MIReview guys were fab. They recorded their weekly show live (the first time they've done this) and also did some vox pops at Swedish Beers afterwards. Below are the links to the official segments and the last clip is from Ribot, who recorded the live recording in all its glory so you can see the before and after, effectively.


MIR Show - Week 45 - MoMo London Live from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.


MIR Show - Week 45 - Omar Hamoui, founder of AdMob from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.


MIR Show - Week 45 - Justin Davies, Co-Founder of NinetyTen from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.





Mobile Industry Review invade Mobile Monday London from ribot on Vimeo.

The Swedish Beers party afterwards at Bar 101 was a blast as usual and special thanks has to go to Future of Mobile and MX Telecom for their generosity and support in sponsoring the evening. There were already lots of people waiting for us by the time we got there, which was great. And there were folks there from all areas of the industry and far too many to name check them all - but included Future Platforms, O2, Vodafone, dotmobi, IIR, Carsonified, NinetyTen, Rummble, INQ, Admob, Ereni Partners, IQinc, MX Telecom, Spinvox, Ring Ring, Media, Trutap, Ribot, Fred's Talent, Hai Media, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Six Degrees, Yahoo!, Google, Kizoom, AdIq, NitroMobile, Symbian, Truphone, Nokia, Synchro Arts, Flirtomatic, Mippin, Ericsson, MMA, Splendid Communications, Vertu, MobGeo, Sony Ericsson, Yiibu, and more besides. It was good to see some familiar faces too and have a catch up over a beer and also good to meet some new faces too.

And a *special* thanks to everyone involved in getting this particular show on the road, especially Sevgi, Stephanie, Lisa and Bryan for their support and help on the night.

Update: in case you're interested, quite a few folks blogged about the evening too so feel free to browse the following blog posts.

http://www.msearchgroove.com/2008/11/11/engagement-is-conversation-admob/
http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/11/11/happy-birthday-dear-momo/
http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2008/11/were_live_at_momo_london_swedish_beers_tonight.html
http://www.tomhume.org/2008/11/mobile-monday.html
http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2008/11/momo_london_swedish_beers.html

Labels: chatshow, mobile, mobilemonday, momolondon, networking, swedishbeers