Mobile World Congress 2011 Agenda -The Definitive Event Planner

BARCELONA- Due to popular demand, I am sharing an excellent summary of the main Mobile World Congress 2011 events happening within and without the Fira grounds during the four days of 'mobile madness' from 14-17th of February in Barcelona. I normally aim to keep my blog posts nice and short to help reading them, but today is an exception...

Special thanks to MobileMonday for compiling the list (Photo Credit: LeCool Magazine).

Sunday, February 13th

EVENT: Showstoppers Invite Only
TIME: 17:00 to 20:00
LOCATION: Husa Rey Juan Carlos, Avinguda Diagonal, 661, Barcelona

EVENT: SonyEricsson Press Conference: Xperia Family Invite Only
TIME: 18:00 to
LOCATION: Opium Mar, Paseo Marítimo 34, Barcelona

Mobile Sunday Barcelona 2011-01-15
WHEN: Sunday, February 13, 2011, 7 PM
WHERE: VINTAGE, Carrer de la Fusina, 7, 08003 Barcelona
WEBSITE: http://www.m-trends.org/2011/01/mobile-sunday-barcelona-2011.html

The sixth annual Mobile Monday Sunday – an unofficial, informal and generally cool and funky gathering of mobile bloggers and their chums is hosted by Rudy de Waele (m-trends.org), meets at one of the coolest bars in Barcelona, the VINTAGE, that has a spacious, jazzy, loungy atmosphere with various rooms and salons. On offerfor 500 guests is drinks and nibbles, a heated terrace, sofas, private salons, four screens and a dancefloor. Attended by start-ups to VCs, operators to handset manufacturers, making an influential crowd. This is also a unique chance for you to meet the most influent bloggers writing about mobile and to meet the MobileMonday global chapter founders all in one spot.

Monday, February 14th

Mobile World Congress Brokerage 2011
WHEN: Monday-Wednesday, February 14-16, 2011
WHERE: Fira de Barcelona
WEBSITE: http://mobile.b2bmatchmaking.com/p_index.php

This forum will bring together suppliers and users of mobile technology and know-how from all over Europe (and other countries such as Canada, Israel, United States and more) to discuss solutions and new opportunities for the future. The Mobile Brokerage Event 2011 is the ideal environment for: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), offering and those looking for new technologies; scientists and research institutes offering innovative RTD results; start-up companies and entrepreneurs; operators willing to meet innovators and added-value service providers.

Special Mobile Monday

• About: “A special event « Mobile Monday » will be organized on the Demo Area of the French Pavilion“
• Time: 14 February, 2011:3:00-3:50pm
• Location: French Pavilion, “Demo space” on 2E47, Fira Barcelona
• RSVP: None required. More information here.
• Cost: Free

Teleca Destination Innovation: Daily Cocktail Hour

• About: “We’ll be serving drinks and snacks every day during the show between 5 and 6. Visit us at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain between February 14-17 and see how our solutions give you an edge in the mobile world. We offer device manufacturers, consumer electronics and automotive companies ways to greater profit and shorter development times in Mobile Linux smartphones and tablets, In-Vehicle Infotainment and end-to-end applications. It’s your destination for real innovation.”
• Time: 14 February, 2011: 5-6pm
• Location: 8B79 in Hall 8
• RSVP: Not required
• Cost: Free

EVENT: Block Party! No RSVP required
Sponsored by RIM, NTT Solmare and Velti
TIME: 17:00 to 19:00
LOCATION: Hall 7, Stand 7B42, 7C44, and 7C58, Fira de Barcelona

EVENT: European Leaders – Hot Topics at MWC 2011 More Info — RSVP here
Sponsored by SVB, Hotwire, LD&A & Whitebull
TIME: 18:00 to 21:00
LOCATION: Hotel Omm, c/Rosselo 265, Barcelona

Mobile Premier Awards
WHEN: Monday, February 14, 2011, 3 PM
WHERE: Telefonica R&D Catalunya Headquaters
WEBSITE: http://www.mobilepremierawards.com

The Mobile Premier Awards are among the most influential events in the mobile industry and the point of reference in early-stage innovation during the Mobile World Congress, featuring 20 finalists from the AppCircuses events held during 2010. Participation is free and open to any start-up or developer with a mobile app! Registration will start 2:30 PM, drinks will be offered after the event in the same location until ca. 8 PM.The nominated apps for the Mobile Premier Awards 2011 edition include the AppCircus winners of the 2010 series of events and a selection of the best apps of the AppCircus Categories. All entries will be judged by an international jury (2011 jury TBC) in the week from January 17-22. The finalists to present at the event will be announced on January 24, 2011

Mobile Valentines Day
WHEN: Monday, February 14, 2011 7-11:30pm
WHERE: Alsur Cafe el Born: Carrer dels Carders 17, Barcelona.
WEBSITE: http://www.amiando.com/em/mvalentine/263571228

*RSVP required, please visit website.

Each year in February we get together to celebrate our true love to mobile devices by taking part in Mobile World Congress, which starts this year on February 14th. To share your passion to mobile we are happy to invite you to Mobile Valentine’s Day party at MWC 2011. Bring your good mood, networking skills and friends with you.

This event is sponsored by Mobile Europe Magazine, SPB Software and Camerjam, who make sure there will be enough food and drinks for all.

Tuesday, February 15th

BlackBerry Developer Day at Mobile World Congress
When: Tue, February 15, 1pm – 2pm
Where: Mobile World Congress – App Planet in Hall 7
Description: http://uk.blackberry.com/campaign/appplanet/

MWC 2011: Celebrate with Redknee!

• About: “Redknee would like you to join us for drinks to toast to a successful Mobile World Congress 2011 and year ahead.  Come and join Redknee executives, our global operator customers, media and analysts for an informal meet and greet.“
• Time: 15 February, 2011: 3:30pm
• Location: Redknee Stand in Hall 1, Stand 1E37
• RSVP: For more information and to RSVP please contact Amy Wong at amy.wong@redknee.com.
• Cost: Free

The Global Mobile Awards Ceremony
WHEN: Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 3:45 – 5:15
WHERE: Conference center, Hall 5, Auditorium 1
WEBSITE: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/awards/global_mobile_awards.htm

The Awards presentation will take place in a special ceremony during Mobile World Congress, followed by the official Congress Party & Awards Celebration event. The afternoon Global Mobile Awards Ceremony is included in Gold and Platinum Passes. The evening Congress Party & Awards Celebration is included in the Platinum Pass only, but may be added on to Gold, Silver and Exhibition Visitor Passes for an additional fee.

Cocktail Reception – Swedish Trade Council Pavilion

• About: “Since 2002, the Swedish Trade Council has managed the Pavilion at Mobile World Congress. In addition to the featured companies, the Pavilion will host a cocktail reception on Tuesday, February 15 at 4 p.m. The featured guest will be Dr. Marianne Treschow, the former Director General and member of the Board of the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) and current Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Associate for Scandinavia. There will also be opportunities to talk with some of Sweden’s leading mobile and telecommunications leaders regarding their plans for Mobile 3.0.“
• Time: 15 February, 2011: 4:00 pm
• Location: Swedish Trade Council Pavilion, Hall 2 F1, Fira
• RSVP: RSVP to mwc@swedishtrade.se
• Cost: Free

Enterprise Ireland

• About: “You are invited to attend the Mobile World Congress “Get Connected Reception” hosted by the Ireland Pavilion.“
• Time: 15 February, 2011: 4:30-6pm
• Location: Hall 1, Stand no. 1F17, FIRA Barcelona Spain
• RSVP: Not required.
• Cost: Free

EVENT: Sybase 365 Cocktail Reception RSVP Required
TIME: 17:00 to 19:00
LOCATION: Sybase booth, Hall 2, Stand 2A15, Fira de Barcelona

Women in Mobile Data: Cava and Canapes

• About: “Women in Mobile Data are excited to announce that Amdocs are kindly sponsoring their MWC2011 ‘Cava and Canapes’ networking event.“
• Time: 15 February, 2011: 5-7pm
• Location: Amdocs stand: B101 in Hall 8
• RSVP: Not required.
• Cost: Free, sponsored by Amdocs

EVENT: Ericsson Social Event Open to All
TIME: 18:30 to 20:30
LOCATION: Ericsson booth, Hall 6, Fira de Barcelona

GoMo News Blender
WHEN: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 6:30-11:00pm
WHERE: Incognito BAR, Calle Fusina 6, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
WEBSITE: http://plancast.com/p/39xy

The GoMo News Blender now in its fourth year has become a symbolic, yet legitimate path of the institution that is the Mobile World Congress. Last year at the Blender, they drank the bar dry; twice! In 2010, readership on GoMo more than doubled and are hitting over 300K page views a month. Sponsors this year, for the second year running are Smaato and Diffusion PR who have doubled the investment, so there will be more food and drink for all.

Congress Party & Global Mobile Awards Celebration
WHEN: Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 7:45 – Midnight
WHERE: National Palace in Montjuïc
WEBSITE: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/awards/awards_celebration.htm

This evening event provides attendees with fantastic high-level networking opportunities – while enjoying world-class entertainment. This year we’re pleased to feature Grammy and Brit award-winning singer/songwriter Duffy. Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Rockferry in 2009, and she was nominated for two other Grammy awards. The evening Congress Party & Awards Celebration is included in the Platinum Pass only, but may be added on to Gold, Silver and Exhibition Visitor Passes for an additional fee. See the website.

Silverstreet & Tranglo GSMA MWC 2011 Party
WHEN: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 9 PM
WHERE: Hyde Club, Pasaje Domingo 3, 08008 Barcelona
WEBSITE: http://www.tranglo.com/events/tranglo-networking-party-gsma-mwc-201…

*RSVP by February 9, 2011 to: Barcelona@silverstreet.com/ barcelona@tranglo.com

Wednesday, February 16th

WIP Jam Party @ MWC “Carnival of Nations Party”
WHEN: Thursday, 16 February, 2011, 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM
WHERE: Marmalade, Riera Alta 4-6, 08001, Barcelona
WEBSITE: http://www.wipconnector.com/wipjam/mwc2011party

This is “THE” Developer Party at MWC so make sure you come and connect with all the members of the mobile ecosystem. This won’t be just any boring old party. By popular demand, we are bringing back “Jameoke” for the third time – bigger and better than ever! Best practice up for the fun!

EVENT: Intel AppUp Application Lab: MeeGo Series RSVP here
TIME: 09:00 to 12:30
LOCATION: Barcelona Activa, Llacuna, 162 – 164, Barcelona

EVENT: Intel AppUp Application Lab: MeeGo Series RSVP here
TIME: 13:00 to 16:30
LOCATION: Barcelona Activa, Llacuna, 162 – 164, Barcelona

EVENT: Teleca AB Cocktails and Snacks No RSVP required
TIME: 17:00 to 18:00
LOCATION: Teleca AB booth in Hall 8, Stand 8B79, Fira de Barcelona

EVENT: openET Alliance Launch Party RSVP here
TIME: 17:00 to 19:00
LOCATION: Hall 1, Stand 1E56, Fira de Barcelona

MobileMonday Networking Cocktail with Marseille-Provence
Robert Maury, CEO of Provence Promotion and Jari Tammisto, CEO of MobileMonday are happy to invite you to the Mobile Monday networking cocktail event by Marseille-Provence on Wednesday 16th February 2011 at 17.00 at Mobile World Congress, Hall 2, French Pavilion at Aisle 2F49.  RSVP Here.

Swedish Beers
WHEN: Wednesday, February 16, 2011, TIME TBC
WHERE: TBD
WEBSITE: Check Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2456995682

Swedish Beers is an ad hoc (roughly quarterly) networking event for folks with an interest in mobile technology, mobile marketing and mobile media. You don’t have to be a geek to attend, and they actively encourage people to join us from all industries – media, creative, marketing, mobile, telecoms etc.

MWC Beach Lounge with UK technology journalists and PRs

• About: “To end Mobile World Congress 2011 in style, UKTJPR (UK Tech Journalists & PRs) is having its biggest event to date. Thanks to Qualcomm and Huawei, we are hosting an Ibiza style party at the trendy Bestial Beach Lounge restaurant.  The party will kick off at 20:00 – beer, wine and buffet food being served between 20:30 to 22:30. At 22:30 the fully free open bar starts, and the party gets into full swing. We have a DJ to provide the tunes, a large outdoor heated and covered terrace and relaxing indoor chill-out areas.  Qualcomm will be providing shuttle buses to bring people to and from the venue. Numbers are limited so if you are able to attend, send us your hotel details and we will arrange for the buses to pick up from convenient locations.  There will be a special Huawei-sponsored giveaways at the party with details to be revealed soon… The doors will close at 02:00, but for those still standing the venue is next to club Opium with easy access to taxis.“
• Time: 16 February, 2011: 8pm-1:30am
• Location: Bestial Beach Lounge Villa Olympica C/ Ramon Trias Fargas
• RSVP: Required. More information here.
• Cost: Free sponsored by Qualcomm and Huawei

Thursday, February 17th

Barcelona MLOVE Party

• About: “In celebration of MWC, you are invited to take part in our first Barcelona MLOVE Party on the 17th of February – the final after work party!  To dance and talk the night away, please check-in to reserve your space in the prestigious and secret party location.

With a focus on small format conferences, local meet-ups and “camps” – MLOVE brings together mobile passionistas in an atmosphere of inspiration, communication, learning and understanding. MLOVE participants debate about the future of mobile and how little things can make the world a better place. The second MLOVE ConFestival 2011, www.mlove.com will take place June 29th to July 1st in an ancient castle in Europe.”

• Time: 17 February, 2011: 7-10pm
• Location: During MWC, the location details will be announced
• RSVP: On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130601037001088#!/event.php?eid=177300312303628
• Cost: First drinks free. “Many thanks to friendticker and MxO for sponsoring the MLOVE party.”

WipJam @MWC App Planet: See my earlier blog post on this here

Goodbye LBS, Hello Location-Awareness: The Groupon Example

I have been having several conversations, interviews and online debates around LBS, the opportunities for LBS services and the degree of hype of LBS (for example, compared to Augmented Reality).


This has made me come to two conclusions:
1. There is confusion over the difference between LBS and Location-Awareness
2. There is a lack of awareness (excuse the pun) that LBS no longer exists


I have to thank Tomi Ahonen for helping me crystallize my thoughts on the subject.

There is still a great deal of misunderstanding in the use of the term 'location based services'. This term is now outdated-services that simply provide location and nothing else are a thing of the the last decade.

We now should refer to these as 'Location-Aware applications' or location-aware services..Why? Because location is a feature not a service in its own right. As such, location is being embedded everywhere, because it is phenomenally useful on mobile devices. 

Take Groupon, for example. Billed the fastest growing company in the US in 2010, with over $500m in revenues for that year, Groupon has built a global success story based on offering localized offers and discounts via e-coupons. Last but not least, it became profitable after six months.

Given that Groupon is a location-based service with a full suite of location-aware applications, we could argue that it is a LBS (and a very successful one at that). But location is not the service it offers, it is merely a feature of its service (location awareness allows nearby offers to be delivered more easily).

This is not simply a question of semantics. The point is that location has allowed Groupon to unlock a great deal of value for its service by being embedded within it. In a similiar fashion, location awareness is allowing and will allow a great deal of businesses to create value within their mobile service.

Are location-aware services over-hyped today? I don't think so. On the contrary, I think most companies are only just beginning to realize the huge potential of embedding location (and accurate location, at that) within their mobile offer or service. 

We can safely close the door on the world of LBS (it was a hell of a ride) and say hello to the world of 'location-everywhere' with location-awareness increasingly embedded as a feature on the majority of newly launched mobile services.

Calling all developers -WIPJAM comes to Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2011

In a refreshing departure from tradition, I am not providing any predictions for 2011 (or any other future year) as a final/first post of the year.

Instead, I wanted to share some information about the upcoming WIPJam taking place at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on the 17th of February 2011 starting at 10am in the App Planet @ Hall 7 of the exhibition. The WIPJAM is organised by the great WIP Connector team.and with over 200 attendees (already a sell-out), promises to be even bigger and better than last year's. Don't panic if you didn't make it in time to register, you can still put your name on a Waiting List..

As if this wasn't enough, WIP is also organising the WIPJAM Carnival of Nations Party on the 16th February at 19.30 @Marmalade. This is "THE" Developer Party at MWC so you don’t want to miss it!  Come and connect with all the members of the mobile ecosystem.  This won't be just any boring old party.  Back by popular demand, they will have WIP "Jameoke" for the third time - bigger and better than ever!  Practice your singing skills to join the fun!  

You can find more info and registration by clicking here:

Location Trends 2011 & Why Contextual Search is one step closer

I was due to present at Mobile Monday Oslo last week, when a Spanish air traffic controllers strike prevented me from catching my flight. I was going to present ideas from my book on Location Aware Apps (with co-author Murat Aktihanoglu, published by Manning-USA) as well as take a look at the current and future trends for location on mobile.

While my talk may have been postponed, I've decided to share the presentation deck I prepared here so that those who were looking forward to hearing it can at least get a flavour for it (see below).

My key conclusion: location today is everwhere. We can now archive the term Location Based Services (LBS) and think more of location-aware apps. I was listening to Marissa Mayer speak at the LeWeb conference in Paris a couple of days ago (via Ustream) and she made a point of stating that Google is working hard to make contextual awareness (or contextual search in Google-speak) a reality. 

This is great news, as I have been stating for the last couple of years that contextual awareness is the holy grail for mobile apps. I also mention this at the start of my book and explain why this is so. We are now a (big) step closer to achieving it...

"Location Everywhere" -Mobile Location Trends 2011

View more presentations from Ric Ferraro.

Augmented Reality ads on Mobile World Congress to feature in TIME magazine

It may seem early for some, but the Mobile World Congress 2011 edition is round the corner. As preparations build up, you can expect attention-grabbing initiatives to pop up around the place. 

First off the block seems to have been SF-based Augmented Reality (AR) developer Junaio, who recently announced that they have developed an AR ad for the GSMA to help them promote the Mobile World Congress.

To advertise App Planet and the Mobile World Congress, the GSMA will place AR enhanced ads in key publications like TIME Magazine, Fortune, WSJ, The International Herald Tribune, Telecom2.0, Vanilla Plus, Wireless Week and others. When viewed through the junaio AR app the ad will trigger a 3D App Planet circled by satellites, which can be clicked to display further information about the conference`s scope and themes.

The ads are worth checking out and also represent a signal of AR becoming increasingly popular as a catchy, mass-market advertisement tool.

Monetizing Mobile Apps- A Value-based approach

Apart from deciding whether to charge on a one-off or a subscription basis, mobile app developers need also to consider whether their application has mass market appeal as well as perceived value. This can help determine which strategy to follow when deciding how to price the application (free or not). It can also help to determine whether to include advertising or not.

In my book, Building Location Aware Apps (2010 Manning Publications, R Ferraro and M Aktihanoglu-AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON.COM) I present a model of how the perceived value of the app and target market can be combined to decide on the charging strategy for the app itself:

'Freebie' applications are shown in the lower left-hand quadrant of the matrix. When it comes to monetizing an application, there is clearly no interest in giving it away for free, especially if it is not supported by ads. However, in the case of low value/low market potential applications this is often the only choice available.

'Long Tail Kings' are those applications that address a small, but definable niche within the market with a high-value proposition. They can charge for their application a premium price, and don’t need to include advertising as a result.Long Tail Kings can try over time to extend their appeal to other market segments.

'Killer Apps' rule over the mobile landscape. By offering great value to the consumer within a mass market, they can use their dominant position to not only charge for their application but also generate regular advertising revenue. Other applications continually aspire to become killer apps, though most never make it.

'Boot Campers' are those applications that hold great promise, because they have a large market potential, but that do not hold a great deal of perceived value in the eyes of the consumer. Boot Campers have to work extremely hard (hence the name) to work their way out of their quadrant by convincing consumers of the value they can offer.    

There is a lot more on this and other approaches to determine how best to monetize your mobile app (including a full range of mobile advertising options) in my book. I also explore the freemium model in more detail, as it remains one of the key ways of successfully commercialising digital products.

Short Guide to Mobile Commerce-from Mobile Money to M-banking

I frequently get asked about mobile commerce, mobile money, mobile payments and mobile banking and often find there is some confusion over this new development in mobile.

I first posted an entry on this blog on mobile money in January 2008, when things were beginning to take shape, at least on paper. Now, with smartphone penetration approaching 30% in mature markets, interest in mobile money is picking up.

First, let's clarify some terminology.

Mobile Commerce, also known as M-commerce, means carrying out a wide range of commercial transactions on mobile, whether it is purchasing digital goods or physical goods (like train tickets) or carrying out mobile banking.

Mobile money refers to either transfers of cash through mobile payments systems, like Mobile Money Transfer service M-PESA (a popular money transfer method in countries with limited banking infrastructure like in certain countries in Africa) or to actual Mobile Payments to purchase items. This means using the mobile device as a kind of mobile wallet.Some operators, under the umbrella of the GSMA, refer to this as Pay-Buy-Mobile.

Pay-Buy-Mobile is now being trialled by 52 mobile operators worldwide and works by effectively using the mobile device's SIM card as a 'credit card within the phone'. It combines the secure encryption of the SIM card with an embedded NFC chip in the device to act as a touchless payment system. In reality, each payment has to be authorised by inserting a PIN code (though this may change in future). 

The advantage is that the mobile device can hold several credit and debit cards at the same time.

While this is all relatively new, acceptance of the technology is pretty high. Studies by the GSMA show that over 70% of interviewees would use the mobile to pay for their weekly supermarket shop. In countries like Japan, NFC-enabled mobile payments are already a standard way for travellers to purchase train tickets amongst other things.

To be continued...

MoMo Malta -Video of the session on Location Awareness in Mobile

I had the real pleasure of being invited by Rene' at MomoMalta to give a presentation on Location Awareness Apps and share the ideas from my recently published book on the subject (see link on right side bar).

Malta is set to see growth in its mobile sector, with increasing competition amongst operators set to drive data tariffs down and greater demand for smartphones. Location based services are relatively new (apparently I was the first to present on the subject in Malta in its history!) but the use cases are growing. One of the examples of location apps which was experiencing phenomenal growth was the Groupon app (I will share the entire presentation shortly).

They made an excellent video of the event, which I am sharing here. Enjoy!

RIP Dot Mobi -and why four letter domain names don't work

I first wrote about the battle between the dot mobi (mTLD) standard and the m.dot standard back in January 2008, suggesting that:

"dot.mobi is struggling to communicate its added value, namely that it has defined (and offers as a framework) a set of development standards to improve the user experience of web on mobile"

Well, today I think we can safely conclude that dot.mobi has failed in its mission to create value from its proposition as most of the mobile sector brushes aside any notion it may have had about creating a dot.mobi site and opts for the safe m.dot option (such as m.facebook.com).

Numbers coming through from the dot mobi consortium, suggest they made of loss of €3.5m in the last full financial year (2010) and the situation is likely to get worse.

As The Register reported in June this year:

The problem is that not many companies bother (with dot mobi) these days: even Google, which helped create the domain, now redirects “www.google.mobi” to a page telling users to go to “m.google.com” instead. That lack of interest leaves dotMobi with a lot of virtual real estate to shift. 

So, farewell dot mobi-may you rest in peace. To those who invested in the four letter dot mobi domain name, you had good intentions, but when you buy on the hype, be prepared for a sharp fall. And as URL shortening companies like bit.ly have shown, every character counts. Frankly, a four character domain seeemed like an overkill from the start. The 'm' has won.


BLOG POST UPDATE


Vance Hedderel, from dotmobi, sent me a response to the blog post that I publish below:


"As a side note to dotMobi's recently recently report of mobile Web trends, which you can find at http://dotmobi.mobi/node/1857, we found that leading brands have taken dotMobi’s advice to use multiple entry points to label mobile-friendly content. That means leading brands currently use .mobi as well as m.brandname.com and brandname.com/mobile simultaneously. 

While .mobi remains the only ICANN-approved naming convention to identify mobile content as well as to offer unique search-engine optimization benefits, dotMobi is also aware that the most important aspect of the mobile Web is to offer end users a good experience, no matter how they get to that content.

That said, the dotMobi company is closing in on one million .mobi domains registered with that number continuing to grow. We’re now at our highest-ever number in the name base and we’re poised to be only the sixth gTLD to reach one million domains under management. Further, many brands are promoting their use of the .mobi domain, including AT&T, Blackberry, Five Guys restaurants, JCPenney, Simon and Schuster, even the city of London with its special mylomo.mobi initiative.


Vance P. Hedderel
Director, PR and Communications
dotMobi" 

Le Web'10 Paris-Last call for discounted tickets

LeWeb is the #1 European Internet event, where 2500 entrepreneurs, leaders, investors, bloggers, journalists gather together for 2 days in Paris.

LeWeb brings together the most influential audience in the Internet ecosystem. Top industry entrepreneurs, executives, investors, senior press & bloggers gather for 2 days in Paris to focus on the key issues and opportunities in the web marketplace.

Over the years, the LeWeb program has featured such industry luminaries as Jack Dorsey and Niklas Zennstrom, some of this year’s speakers include: Carlos Ghosn, Marissa Mayer, Sebastien de Halleux and Michael Arrington  to name a few.

I have attended the last two editions (last year as Official Blogger) and can honestly say that in terms of European tech events, LeWeb tops the charts in getting the 'creme de la creme'  together under one roof.

So, to ensure you get a place at this stellar event (and benefit from final early-bird prices) click on the title of this post or on the banner to the right.See you there! 

Location, Mobile App Monetization and Mobile Entrepreneurship

I recently gave a video-interview to Rene' of Mobile Monday Malta ahead of my talk there in early October on the ideas from my book on Location Aware Applications.

The vidcast covers the areas of Location, monetization of the mobile channel, entrepreneurship and the specific opportunities and challenges in Malta.

You can take a look at the interview here:

The Contextual Holy Grail of Location -WHERE Inc moves us one step closer

I have been presenting my ideas on Location-Aware services for some time now, and a key idea I originally presented is that of a 'Contextual Holy Grail'. This is the idea that location on its own is useful but that 'location+context' is the future for these services. If I am travelling to a ski resort and check my weather forecast app, I would like it to recognise where I am heading to automatically and (again automatically) provide latest snow condition reports.

Yesterday, WHERE Inc, one of the early location pioneers based in the US, obtained a patent that could take us one step closer to fulfilling at least part of this contextual requirement. Their Auto-Snap technology allows location relevancy and intent to be detected. While this patent is, admittedly, designed for delivering more targeted ads, it also opens up the possibility of other targeted services to be delivered.

You can read the full press release below:

WHERE AWARDED AUTO-SNAP™ PATENT

Patent Improves the Relevancy of Place Recommendation to a User on a Mobile Phone

BOSTON, MA – October 12th, 2010 – Where, Inc., North America’s largest location-based media company, today announced that the Company has received approval from the U.S. Patent Trademark Office for their Auto-Snap™ patent. Where’s Auto-Snap technology creates an association between a person and a place, which enhances the ability to derive intent resulting in improved relevance of place recommendations. 

Auto-Snap uses distance tolerances, landmark patterns, temporal patterns, knowledge of business attributes, knowledge of event occurrences, season or weather knowledge, common place names, user saved places and other types of factors and techniques. 

“With Auto-Snap we are able to determine location relevancy and intent of a consumer,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of Where, Inc. “With this technology, we can better understand the context of a person’s location and improve the match rate for content and ads delivered on our network. Auto-Snap lets us know if a user is at home, in the office or at a favorite restaurant giving us the unique ability to improve the overall WHERE consumer experience and better align the relevance of the WHERE Ads we deliver.” 

Auto-Snap is also being used in WHERE Ads to improve the relevance of display advertisements and search results, including offers and discounts, creating a better experience for the consumer and optimized yield for publishers.  

“Enhancing the relevancy of advertisements is one of the top priorities in the mobile ecosystem. WHERE has proven their ability to deliver great results for a strong pool of advertisers, and we count them among the best ad networks in the space. We look forward to learning more about Auto-Snap—an exciting new technical innovation,” said Marc Theermann, Vice President Mobile, AdMeld.

MHealth-Mobile Health, Body Area Networks (BANs)-How to SMS from your vital organs

MHealth, or Mobile Health, is not a new area of mobile development but, since it first gained prominence five years ago, is making some significant strides in being adopted to improve health monitoring around the world.

Today, the New Scientist, reported how Dutch research company IMEC demonstrated a new type of Body Area Network (BAN) that allows a heart monitor to send ECG information wirelessly to a patients' mobile device (so that they can then be forwarded to doctors).

You can see a model of a BAN below (courtesy of Md.Asdaque Hussain and Kyung Sup Kwak):

The interesting development is that the software for the BAN runs on an Android operating system, proof of greater integration between medical sensors and machines and mobile devices.  Also interesting is the fact that IMEC ditched Bluetooth for a different communications standard (my personal view on Bluetooth remains that it can be great for tethering devices but not very useful for pretty much anything else).

As developments such as this move MHealth forward, there are great opportunities remaining for mobile developers to provide apps that can deliver medical data in a secure and standardised format to medical professionals. Key challenges to address will be power usage (to extend the time range of medical data transmissions) and convicing patients to adopt their mobile device as an everyday  tool for monitoring their health.