LeWeb08-Google's Mayer tips Local Search as key opportunity for 2009

PARIS-Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Product & User Experience at Google, gave an insightful view on various challenges facing both Google and its competitors in terms of Search.

Marissa pointed out that there is still some way to go to improve search (harking back to a previous interview she had given where she had stated that 90% of the work on search has been completed but that the last 10% was the tricky part).

One area where Google is looking to improve its game is in personalised search, with the recent launch of the Google Search Wiki seeking to test the waters in this area.

Another area, is search through devices other than the PC, notably through a mobile phone and, linked to this,voice-activated search.

Loic le Meur asked Marissa whether she thought any improvements in video search were in the pipeline. She answered that improvements are imminent in detecting voice within video and searching on this. However, graphic recognition (e.g.of a face in a video) is still a few years away partly due to YouTube's success and the proliferation of video content on the web.

Finally, and critically for companies in the LBS space, Marissa stated that "local search is one of the big opportunities in 2009".

LeWeb 08 Paris-Prologue and Photos

PARIS-LeWeb08 managed to pull off a great event in a time of economic uncertainty, and despite the heavy atmosphere associated with the global financial system, it offered rays of hope as well as advice on how to weather the storm.

Many industry heavy hitters, from Marissa Mayer at Google to Marc Simoncini of Meetic, Maurice Levy of Publicis and Martin Varsavsky, serial entrepreneur, gave their take on future plans and opportunities in the market.

Marc Simoncini gave a very entertaining talk on different dating habits he had to consider when launching his service in different countries in Europe.
For example, in Italy, women were not overt in their dating habits as they normally 'had to ask permission from their brother to date' while in Sweden, the Meetic offer of free membership for women was met with a 'why should it be free for us' reaction.

New Nokia N97..but not for Christmas

Nokia used the opportunity of the Nokia World Event in Barcelona on Tuesday 2nd December to announce the release of the much anticipated N97 -the second touchscreen phone by the manufacturer, but this time, unlike the XpressMusic, it comes with an inbuilt QWERTY keyboard. It also has sufficient new features to pack a punch and looks set to carve out its own cult following.

The N97 features integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, which the vendor says will make it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their status and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos. The device supports up to 48GB of storage, including 32GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16GB microSD card.

Sadly for Nokia-philes, the N97 is only expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 (at an estimated retail price of €550 before taxes) at which point demand is anticipated to have built up dramatically.

ESA -Technology Transfer Programme and LBSs

BARCELONA -Framed by the spendid view from the 20th floor of the Mapfre Tower, Bruno Naulais, European Space Incubators Network Manager at ESA, explained some of the current initiatives of the ESA with potential for tech start-ups.

The new Galileo satellite will offer better resolution than GPS, precise timing via an atomic clock and a guaranteed signal (a boon indeed for LBS companies given occasional unreliability of GPS signals on mobile devices).

Bruno also covered other alternatives to GPS.Consisting of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations, EGNOS achieves its aim by transmitting a signal containing information on the reliability and accuracy of the positioning signals sent out by the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). It allows users in Europe and beyond to determine their position to within 2 metres, compared with about 20 metres for GPS and GLONASS alone.

In addition, new boosters are being developed as part of the ESA Technology Transfer Programme that will allow indoor usage of GPS, thus providing realtime navigation guidance at large scale indoor events (trade fairs).

A new centre for Innovation in Geospatial and Location Based Services is also being set up by ESA together with Oracle and TeleAtlas.

The ESA VC Fund Initiative is providing finance of up to €1.3m for innovative start-ups and they are seeing the key dealflow in the area of Location based products and services.

More info can be found at www.esa.int/ttp

KoreaComm 2008-PhotoBlog

ESA Living Labs-Mobile Lessons from Space

When it comes to exploring the frontiers, both geographical and cognitive, space agencies are difficult to beat. Many inventions originally conceived for space missions (one example amongst many, lithium ion batteries) have found their way into the consumer mainstream.

It therefore makes perfect sense to attempt to harness the know-how capability of space science for the benefit of the world of communications and related technologies.

Living Labs Global, together with the European Space Incubators Network of the European Space Agency, ESA, run by Bruno Naulais, and Barcelona's 22@ Initiative have organised a half-day event on the 19th November in Barcelona to explore how best to leverage space innovation within the start-up environment.

The event is limited to 50 participants so getting a seat may be a challenge. If you are keen to attend though, you can give it a try by following the title link. Otherwise, I will be reporting back on the event on this blog and provide highlights on the key points.

Location Mobile Trends for 2009 LBSs

The Location Based Service (LBS) sector of Value Added Services (VAS) on mobile is evolving.

I see 3 key trends and a similiar number of challenges for the year ahead for companies within the expanding LBS ecosystem:

TRENDS:

1. COMPETITION

There is little doubt that this sector is heating up, with both the iPhone and the Android platforms spawning a plethora of applications. And the global start-up map for LBS indicates that new ventures are emerging outside of traditional hotbeds like the US and Western Europe. This means that differentiation is becoming key. Start-ups with the big budgets can choose to differentiate via advertising (though this is becoming unviable-see point 3 of Challenges below) while smaller companies need to think smart and go for whatever niche they think offers the best returns.

2. PREMIUM CHARGING

It is apparent that consumers are ready to pay a premium for some LBS services, though this is on a more pay-per-use model than a subscription model. Quick and easy services that everyone can understand and that add immediate value (place me on a map now and show me Points of Interest around me) can be charged successfully and it is looking increasingly likely that pedestrian navigation-type services will also meet with success.

3. CONVERGENCE

Convergence spans a wide spectrum of meaning. In terms of LBSs, it means that traditional LBS services are moving into the Portable Navigation Device (PND) space, and that the reverse is also happening. It also means that connected devices like the Playstation Portable (PSP) are also moving into the LBS space with the likelihood of new devices entering the market (including the rumoured launch of the National Geographic Explorer Device).The LBS landscape is liable to some tectonic shifts in the coming year.


The LBS sector has consistently offered some of the greatest opportunities but also some of the greatest challenges in mobile, some that I would highlight today are as follows:

CHALLENGES

1. OPERATOR RESTRICTIONS

Fortunately for the mobile ecosystem, walled gardens are crumbling and we are seeing what I have previously defined as 'Open Playgrounds' being created. This doesn't stop Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) from imposing limitations on accessing their location platforms. No MNO currently offers anything other than 'pull' mechanisms for location detection (the user has to request to be located) while it is the 'push' mechanisms (tell me automatically where I am and push relevant info to me) that would yield the greatest benefits to the user.

2. SEAMLESS LOCATION DETECTION

Locator technologies are in themselves converging as the need to deliver a seamless location detection service to the mobile user becomes more of an imperative. 2009 will see an acceleration of this trend and successful apps will be able to switch automatically from a GPS to a Wi-Fi to a CellID environment according to the criteria that deliver the best experience to the user (this could be related to location, so delivering Wi-Fi location indoors or battery life, switching to CellID to reduce battery exhaustion).

3. MONETISATION

The monetisation model for LBSs has not been proven.But it will. And even if it takes time, let's not forget how long it has taken YouTube to adopt a clear monetisation mechanism (it announced today that it will offer sponsored video search, 3 years after launch). However, there is a tiresome task pending for LBSs to continue educating brands and advertisers of the potential effectiveness of LBS advertising (particularly that which links place with context). However, we live in a period of retrenchment-MNOS are retreating in their shells and curtailing infrastructure spend. Some, but not all, advertisers are cutting back on mobile and retreating to less effective media like TV.

Now is the time for LBS start-ups to redraw the lines of their monetisation models-to squeeze out revenues where they can be squeezed and cut costs in other areas. Highly funded start-ups with high burn rates will need to adapt more to the new low cost environment. The opportunities for small start-ups with smart monetisation ideas will peak next year-but their emphasis will have to be on easily addressing the true needs of the mobile user, requiring an understanding of the likely behaviour of this user in the new economic environment.

AT&T Acquires Wayport to add to Wi-Fi capabilities

AT&T Inc. announced yesterday that it had agreed, through one of its subsidiaries, to acquire privately-held Wayport, Inc., a leading provider of managed Wi-Fi services in the United States, for approximately $275 million in cash. The deal adds Wayport's focused capabilities and enterprise customer portfolio with AT&T's leading Internet Protocol (IP) and 3G networks, and broad consumer and business customer bases, to deliver enhanced broadband connectivity at home, in the office, on the road, and virtually anywhere in between.

The acquisition expands the AT&T Wi-Fi^SM footprint to nearly 20,000 domestic hotspots, takes the company's global Wi-Fi presence to more than 80,000 locations^*, and creates thousands of new ways for customers worldwide to stay in touch. Millions of AT&T customers — plus millions of other consumers needing to connect on the go — will benefit from access to new hotspot locations served by Wayport.

AT&T's global brand, marketing leadership and extensive enterprise sales force will complement Wayport's expertise in enabling and managing applications over an integrated network. Wayport will also extend AT&T's reach in the hospitality, health care, education and retail sectors.

"We're seeing exponential growth of Wi-Fi-enabled devices — such as smartphones — combined with a continued dependency on 24/7, anytime, anywhere Internet access across business and consumer market segments," said John Stankey, president and CEO, AT&T Operations. "Now is the right time for AT&T to affirm our commitment to Wi-Fi leadership. By acquiring Wayport, we're giving consumers more ways to stay in touch and building a more robust network management solution for businesses. We're bringing ready access to the nation's leading Wi-Fi, wireless and IP networks — on a global scale."

Le Web 08 Conference, Paris-Exclusive Reader Discount

PARIS-Once again, Le Web 3.0 (now re-branded Le Web '08) is upon us, and over 1800 participants are expected to converge on Paris for the 2 day event on the 9th and 10th of December.

Paulo Coelho, now popular amongst digital media events, will bless the conference with his insights along with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, Mark Simoncino of Meetic , Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and many more..This year's theme for the event is 'Love' and, going along with this theme, as I love my blog readers, each and everyone of you can claim a 20% discount.

Just link through from the title of this post to the Event Website and you can get your ticket for €1196 instead of €1495 if you book by November 20th.

Don't miss out!

Mobile Services in Korea-an eyewitness report

SEOUL-As you would expect, things are a little different in Korea compared to, say, Europe...Research reports are all fine and well, but they fail to give that 'finger-on-the-pulse' feel for what is happening on the street.

So, having spent a week in Korea (and considering that this is one of the most advanced countries in terms of mobile communications) I thought I would share some brief impressions of mobile usage in the region.

Firstly, I'd like to dispel the myth that everyone uses the sort of high end LG or Samsung models widely publicised in Europe...while Koreans have a very high penetration of 3G handsets, many of the ones I saw were Anycall handsets, a Samsung local brand or Cyon (the LG local brand) .

Another thing you notice travelling on the Seoul subway, is how everyone has a mobile device of some sort, be it an MP3 player, PSP or mobile phone. And the most widely used feature on a mobile phone that I witnessed was..yes, you guessed it, TV...and not Mobile TV, but good old Terrestrial/Digital TV, whose signal is captured via a not-so-modern retractable antenna.

All of this should not make us forget that Mobile Social Networking is also huge in Korea, with the Cyworld service launched by SK Telecom boasts over 20m users and has built a profitable business model based on sale of creative digital content.

Finally, it was also noticeable how every car (and I really mean all of them, taxi or otherwise) had a GPS PND device-Seoul is a big city, so GPS offers an invaluable service to local drivers.

One bit of trivia...Samsung is actually a word in Korean and it means 3 stars.

Mobile Web 2.0-KoreaComm 2008 Presentation

Evolution Of Mobile Web Ric Ferraro

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: playground open)

KoreaComm 2008-IPTV, Converged Services & More

SEOUL- Steve Murphy from AOL kicked off the event yesterday with a keynote speech where he highlighted the following based on his experience at AOL and of AOL customers:

-Mobile is about immediacy more than anything else...as people can get to their mails quicker on mobile than on a PC this explains the migration from PC to Mobile Web (personal note:hearing subsequent talks on future converged devices about to be launched that go for a widget based Web approach, immediacy could come to the traditional PC world soon)

-Mapquest is one the most downloaded AOL apps in the US

-About open models, the question is not so much whether this is important or not (everyone has it a priority)..the issue is whose version of 'open' will prevail

-Steve also made a point about niche plays on mobile which is convenient for me as I make a point on this in my presentation later today


Young Lyoul Lee from KT gave a remarkable presentation on IPTV in Korea (it is simply huge here, with KT planning to invest $1bn in this area over 5 years)...over 450,000 subscribers have signed up since launch in early 2008...the KTH network (a subsidiary of KT) now has over 35,000 videoclips available, the biggest collection of any operator in the world.

KT is now about to launch an IPTV-Shopping combo service this month, where you can watch actors in a videoclip and interact to find out what they are wearing and make a purchase online...

Young Min Kim from CELRUN gave a presentation on converged services, explaining how Telephone, Internet, Broadcast and Content are set to converge business models soon..interestingly I was reading the local paper today and they mentioned how the Korean government had just approved portability of household numbers so that users switching to IP telephony could retain their old number...

Young Min made a good point about the need for Service providers to merge to be able to increase the scope of their offerings..a trend we are starting to see already.

KoreaComm 2008 Kicks off

SEOUL -Things are about to kick off here at the Seoul Sheraton and the expected 2000 strong crowd is making its way in...huge auditorium here with a largely Korean crowd, though the first couple of seat rows are reserved for foreign dignitaries including various diplomats from Latin America, Central Asia and other areas.

Was provided with a thoughtful gift of a 4-CD boxset of traditional Korean music, which I will duly check out on the all-singing and dancing Bose stereo at the W Hotel.

More at lunchtime (Korean time)...

The Evolution Of Mobile Web

I'm going to Seoul for the KoreaComm 2008 hosted by the Korean Communication Commission with over 2000 professionals expected to attend over the two day event on 30-31st October.

I'll be giving a talk on the evolution of mobile web broaching such subjects as 'are we at Mobile 2.0 yet' and picking out a few key trends I've noticed over the last year.

I'll be dedicating some time to discussing the evolution of Location Based Services and the convergence between Mobile Social Networks and LBS's. Not only are services based around location quintessential to what makes up Mobile 2.0, but the whole area of LBS is going mainstream as it navigates its way through the famous hype curve..witness Loopt's sponsoring of The Middle Show in the US.

I'll post more from the event over the next few days as well as share my presentation online.

"Mobile Crunch" -New rules for Mobile Start-ups in today's economy

Extremely well-timed Mobile Monday Barcelona session last night focussed on Mobile Start-ups in Times of Crisis and how to manage through a financial and/or economic downturn.

Panelists Oscar Farres from Debaeque Capital, Sergio Perez from Caixa Capital Risc and Marcel Rafart, from Nauta Capital, gave their take on the current situation and offered guidance to young mobile start-ups.

Their main points:

• The rules of engagement have changed -risk profiles have shot up and banks are retreating to safe investments, those that generate revenue or profit already (but preferably both). Fundamentally, for young start-ups the message was 'forget the banks'.
• Start-ups should outsource or plan to outsource whatever activity can be externalised, as these leverages the company's cost base and reduces risk from an investor point of view.
• Focus on burn rates-cut out any expenditure that is not strictly essential
• These are tough times, but also times of opportunity for those companies able to stick it out throughout the crisis.

As Rudy de Waele put it eloquently, 5 years ago there was no Facebook or Twitter or myspace...times of crisis allow for a natural selection of only the very best concepts and businesses. Start-ups should really ask themselves what unique benefit do they offer that no-one else offers?

I asked the VC guys what % ROI they expected to still consider making an investment and the rule of thumb was 25-30% y-o-y.

Interestingly, Oscar Farres highlighted what he considered to be the big growth opportunities in the market (independently of recessionary pressures) and Location based services was up there amongst the chose few sectors.

Opera Mobile for your Windows Mobile Device

It has now been 3 months since the Norwegian browser Opera released the beta of their Opera Mobile 9.5 for the Windows Mobile platform. Despite some initial bugs, including an OOM (Out of Memory) problem on some devices as a result of caching activity and a Notifications bug (that turned off notification sounds), overall feedback has been positive from the Opera fan base.

Browser wars are hotting up, though, with Mozilla announcing a mobile version of their browser later in the year, Skyfire consolidating its mainstream appeal and the i-Phone Safari browser receiving accolades for its user experience.

Meanwhile, Opera's Java-based browser, Opera Mini, has built up a substantial following of its own and provides an excellent solution for mid-range phones to access the web and avoid connectivity glitches that arise by accessing the web through the operator portal.

Currently, Opera Mobile 9.5 only works on touchscreen devices with non-touchscreen compatibility expected to be added in the future. However, things have gone dead quiet on the community forum over at Opera and no announcements have been made of future releases..maybe they are busy gearing up for the Mozilla launch, which is now rumoured to take place in 'a few weeks'.

Why now is a good time to invest in mobile start-ups

Global financial meltdown...credit crunch...government bailout...fiscal tightening...all these words will be very familiar to everyone following the unfolding of financial events on both sides of the atlantic. The picture for stock holders and bond holders, from private investors to pension plan owners, is not pretty.

That small proportion of wealthy individuals around the world are faced with some stark choices for making the most of their capital...look to preserve it by adopting a risk-averse approach (and buy gold bullion) or sit on their cash and ride out the storm, wary of potential bank collapses.

Neither of these two options offer the true capitalist a decent return. But, as always, there is money to be made in times of crises and parts of the economy that will fare better than others. The mobile sector is by no means immune to the downturn, and while operator revenues are likely to stay flat (guarded by inelastic demand), other parts will grow.

Mobile web is at an inflection point in terms of its global growth, moving from niche to mainstream, from Mobile 1.0 to Mobile 2.0, and there will be a number of competent start-ups that, though small today, will be huge tomorrow.

The great news is that the relative risk of investing in these start-ups has decreased compared to a year ago, given the drastically reduced equity returns from quoted companies. In addition, many of these quoted companies have either cut or withdrawn their dividend, and so look and feel more like growth stocks.

Fancy a flutter on an equity investment? My advice is, look at the opportunities out there to fund a mobile web start-up: it will be not much riskier than a blue-chip investment, will certainly be more fun to follow and, you never know, could be your next mobile equivalent of Facebook.

Enablers for Mobile Social Networks (MSN's)

LONDON-As one of the key themes that was discussed at the Mobile Web Europe Conference last week in London was Mobile Social Networks (MSN's), User Generated Content (UGC) vs branded content and Location enablers, I feel prompted to delve into this subject area to share some current thoughts.

Firstly, when we think about MSNs we often witness the attempt by some operator or another to launch their own network (whether based around music or some other catalyst)...these attempts have met with mixed success, though it is probably to early to draw a line below them. Nontheless, in research presented by Priya Prakash of Flirtomatic, over 70% of social network users would refuse to join a(nother) social network created by an operator. On the other hand, off-portal attempts by start-ups (notably itsmy.com) have met with success.

In general, the feel I get is that operators are losing traction at a faster pace than anticipated and off-portal startups have proved that it is possible to build a sustainable and profitable business without the operator.

Social objects (or the reason two people are talking to each other) can be either UGC or branded/syndicated from mainstream sources...with the saturation in the MSN playing field, it seems that at the very least a mix of the two is required to ensure that community members remain stimulated (and check in daily or hourly on the MSN).

An interesting play on this is by Buongiorno's blinko MSN (currently in closed beta) which has VIP channels that allow users to follow their favourite celebrity (be it Paris Hilton or Beyonce' Knowles).What is interesting is also the breadth of VIP channels available, which relates to a point made by Adrian Velthuis of Milennial Media. He stated that advertisers and community hosts alike should develop niche audiences to allow a differentiation in their offering compared to the plethora of competing MSNs or other mobile content.

As far as location is concerned, my belief is that this will be one of the key enablers of MSNs in the future -and that while technological limitations mean that it is still not mainstream, developments are expected in leaps and bounds. Sam Critchley from Gypsii talked about 'ambient awareness' as being the background awareness of what one's social network is doing...definitely something that reinforces location as a key enabler (where am I?) to achieve that contextual holy grail (what am I and my friends doing?).

Mobile Web Europe Conference- Key Takeaways

LONDON -It will take me a while to assimiliate 3-days worth of information on where we are headed with Mobile Web today but some of the key questions that were addressed were:

-Should we head towards a 'one-web' concept (same for PC and mobile as per the Convergence theorists) or more towards two distinct webs (as advocated in part by .mobi), one optimised for PC and the other optimised for Mobile (and the maligned 'small screen')?

-With much talk of Mobile Social Networks, shouldn't companies in this space realise that they need to focus on hosting the network instead of managing it? This was a great point mentioned by Priya Prakash of Flirtomatic, who also went on to state that a great host should facilitate conversations and act more as a matchmaker so that new contacts can be made

-Alfie Dennen from moblog:tech was of the opinion that the iphone has taken the industry a step back (due to its closed environment), something overlooked amongst the mass hysteria surrounding it

-Kashif Hassan, from ooober, made an excellent point about content, suggesting that given the sameness of many Mobile Social Networks, it is the presence of branded content that will make the difference...witness HBO's Entourage feature on the whrrl site

...to be continued///

GeoMe quoted in El Pais Newspaper as Leading LBS Innovator

MADRID -El Pais, Spain's leading newspaper, published an article yesterday on Location Based Services and Mobile Social Networks, describing the overall environment and prospects.

'In Spain, there are a handful of innovative start-ups vying to lead the market.From the location-based service of GeoMe...the mobile phone is 'dressing up' with a web outfit in order to hit the town..' says Manuel Angel-Mendez, from El Pais.

I was interviewed for this article and duly get a quote later on where I state my view that most users don't want to be tracked wherever they are and prefer to leave messages on a map so that only their friends can see them if and when they are in the same area as the message.

Rummble, one of the companies presenting at the Mobile 2.0 Europe event in July in Barcelona (see previous quote) gets a well-deserved mention-they have a recommendation-based search function that allows community members to receive notifications according to your preferences.

'The barrier for mobile social networks is achieving a community of 100,000 users' continues Angel-Mendez, 'Once a service hits this magic number, anything is possible'.

For Spanish-speakers, the El Pais article can be referenced through the title link of this post.