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After lengthy review by the panel of independent judges (including myself - see below), Marek just announced the short-lists for 2008 MEX Mobile User Experience Awards. The winners will be officially announced at a special evening reception in London on 27th May, the opening night of the 4th annual MEX conference.

Commercial category

- Taptu

- Zeemote

- Mobyko

- Vuzix

Freelance category

- Flat Music Player

- Cloudaware

- BSR Blind Phone

Professional category

- My Link Wireless Accessory

- Couple IT

- MoDist

Student category

- Context aware

- Pixie TV

- MyView

MEX Mobile User Experience Innovator of the Year

- Taptu

- BSR Blind Phone

- MyView

The judges:

Ken Blakeslee, Chairman, WebMobility Ventures

Steven Dotsch, Managing Director, WirelessMatch

Mike Grenville, Director, 160characters.org

Stuart O’Brien, Editor, Mobile Entertainment

Marek Pawlowski , Editorial Director, PMN

and myself.

The Mobile 2.0 Conference is spreading its wings to Europe and will land on July 4 in Barcelona, Spain. This one-day event focusing on the Mobile Web and Disruptive Mobile Innovation, is brought to you by dotopen and the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee: Daniel Appelquist, Gregory Gorman, Mike Rowehl, Peter Vesterbacka and myself in partnership with ESADE.

The MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists.

The MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference is an opportunity for companies to connect to industry leadership and startup innovation and broaden your C-level relationships.

The event will be held at the Espacio ESADE FORUM, Barcelona and will run from 9:00am to 6:00pm with a reception at the Espacio ESADE FORUM afterward.

So, what can you expect? Two industry keynotes, four panels and three series of innovative startups presenting live-demos.

Panel speakers as of today include:

• Tony Fish, AMF Ventures
• Dr. Maximilian Niederhofer, Associate, Atlas Venture
• Inma Martinez, Director and Principal Advisor, Stradbroke Advisor
• Anil Hansjee, Head of Corporate Development - EMEA, Google Inc.
• Mike Butcher, editor TechCrunch UK & Ireland
• Chris Liu, Managing Director, Fjord
• Leif Fågelstedt, COO, Blyk
• Ilja Laurs, Founder & CEO of GetJar
• Antonio Vince Staybl, CEO GoFresh
• Raimo van der Klein, Co-founder SPRXmobile
• Martin Duval, CEO bluenove / Director of the Orange Start-Up Program
• Carlos Domingo, General Director of Telefonica R+D labs
• Unai Iturburu, Head of Vodafone Spain R&D

Check the full speaker list here.

The Mobile 2.0 Europe presenting start-ups will be selected in 3 Categories (Seed Capital Stage, Pre Series A and Post Series A). Any start-up company with a mobile application can participate. To apply and present your company and your application, you need to fill in the online application form. Deadline for submission is June 6, 2008 at midnight CET.

Seed Capital Stage and Pre Series A Start-ups will be selected by dotopen and the Mobile 2.0 organizing committee. Post Series A Start-ups will be selected in collaboration with the VC Panel. During the event, all panel participants and organizers will vote their best Start-up in each category; the winner in each category receives an invitation to present at the Mobile 2.0 Event in San Francisco on November 3, 2008.

Early Bird registration for this event is only € 99,- till May 31, after that date, tickets will cost €199,-Stay tuned! More goodies to be announced soon.

The next Mobile Monday Barcelona on May 5, 2008 in collaboration with Forum Nokia covers Mobile Development and will explore the mobile developer’s ecosystem. The session will include speakers from Forum Nokia, the Yahoo! Mobile Developer Platform, and will include presentations from Mobile Distillery (France) and IDEAN from Finland. If you’re interested in the next tips & tricks in mobile development, don’t miss this one!

Nokia’s global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.

Speakers:

Jarkko Tolvi, Business Development Manager, Forum Nokia EMEA (Finland)

Ricardo Varela, Yahoo! Mobile Developer Platform (UK)

Vincent Berge, Co-Founder and General Manager, Mobile Distillery (France)
A specialist in mobile technologies, especially Java™ Micro Edition and BREW, Mobile Distillery was founded in 2005 to solve the platform and handset fragmentation issue that developers face when developing Mobile content & services. Its software solutions reduce porting cycles by up to 80%, generate cost savings, and accelerate time-to-market of Java mobile applications while ensuring their easy updates to new devices in European, North-American and Asian markets.

Mikko-Pekka Hanski, Director, Business Development, IDEAN (Finland)
Mikko-Pekka will talk about Mobile Platforms and User Interfaces. Each platform from S60 to Android has its own philosophy regarding user experience and how user interface is built. Mikko-Pekka Hanski from Idean will present how platforms help developers to create beautiful and ease-to-use user interfaces.

(NOTE: Faraz Syed from Device Anywhere had to cancel his participation this time)

Networking:
As usual, a networking party will follow the conference where participants will enjoy a glass of cava while sharing experiences about life and work. Attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaybarcelona.com/subscribe/ to reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

All details at Mobile Monday Barcelona website.

One of my favorite conferences last year, the MEX Mobile User Experience Conference, has published its agenda for this years’ conference on May 27-28 in London. Check the agenda and speaker list for full details.

A special discount is offered to mTrends readers (check details at the bottom of this post).

The conference helps executives to gain a deeper understand of customer behaviour and translate that knowledge into better mobile products. The key objective is raising awareness of user experience issues as a strategic priority for everyone in the value chain, encouraging the mobile business to put consumer needs at the heart of the industry.

It is a very different style of conference. Each event is researched and developed by a team with a passion for mobile and unique insight drawn from years of industry experience. Corporate pitches are outlawed, everyone plays a role in setting the agenda and we go to extraordinary lengths to provide the highest standards of service.

This years’ conference programme is based around a 10 point Manifesto (download pdf here) for enhancing the mobile user experience. Each of the 10 Manifesto statements is addressed through a diverse range of presentations, panel discussions and collaborative breakout groups.

Topics include…

1. Content itself will be the interface of the future
2. Handsets are no longer just for the hand
3. Fragmentation is the enemy of innovation
4. Fashion is a stronger motivator than functionality
5. The developing world is the new frontier for mobile user experience
6. Search requires a radically different approach in the mobile environment
7. Intelligent contact lists are the future centres of the user interface
8. Mobile payments herald the next generational shift
9. Users as individuals: uniquely complex and contradictory
10. The potential of smart voice

Some of the speakers include:

On the opening night there is also a reception to announce the Winners of the 2008 MEX Design Competition. Check it out, some really great stuff out there! If you design interfaces and have a compelling idea or product to delight customers and enhance the mobile user experience, you can still participate, the deadline for entries is 23:00 GMT, Friday, 2nd May 2008.

MEX is now less than 5 weeks away and, as with all previous MEX events, the organizers target to sell out well in advance on the conference date. If you’ve not yet reserved your place at the event, now is the time to do so - passes are selling out fast.

mTrends readers can get a 10% discount on a conference attendance pass (priced at GBP 1499). Go to the registration form and enter ‘MM24′ in the ‘partner code’ box on the registration form.

Hope to see you there!

This weekend and early next week I’m off to Sevilla for an exploratory workshop on Mobile 2.0, organised by the European Commission Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), for its project on mobile content evolution and its socio-economic impact.

The project is looking at user adoption and acceptance issues, the promotion of innovation in this domain, the new emerging mobile 2.0 applications, and the possible existence of bottlenecks with the aims to explore techno-economic models and their viability, to assess the position of Europe in this field and to identify EU possible policy options. The workshop will also serve to identify key areas for future EU research and innovation policies. Most European operators and handset manufacturers will participate, together with some application providers and experts. Looking forward to catch up again with Ajit Jaokar.

If you have any question or input related to the topic I can bring to the attention, leave me a comment or contact me on Twitter.

Monday April 28th is also the launch of the first Mobile Monday Andalucía and will take place in Sevilla and covers Mobile Innovative Services. The event will focus on new technologies such as digital signature or Near Field Communication (NFC). Mobile Monday Andalucia is organised by the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise.

I will moderate a panel including Alejandro Romero from Yahoo, Antonio Navas from Kimia, Angel Romero from AT4 wireless and Rafael Selma from TB-Solutions. I’m really excited to discover some more about the field work on new technologies trialed here in Spain recently on digital identity and Near Field Communication (NFC). Note the recent trial launch of Orange Spain to bring NFC mobile ticketing to public buses in Málaga.

Anyone who’ll be in the neighborhood and who’d like to get in touch with me, don’t hesitate to ping me.

The next Mobile Monday Madrid on April 21, 2008 will dive into the wonders of Mobile Messaging 2.0. This time invited speakers are Jan-Joost Kraal, VP of Mobile of eBuddy (12 million unique users! see recent TechCrunch coverage), Tim von Toerne, founder and VP Product of Hamburg-based Cellity and Enrico Noseda, Skype’s Director of Business Development Telecoms.

“The mobile messaging market, like many others, is in a perpetual state of change, with phenomenal growth that has taken directions few could have predicted. What started a few years ago as the emergence of groundbreaking market shifts is now coalescing into a new vision for using and enabling mobile messaging technology –– Mobile Messaging 2.0. (…) It also incorporates an emerging set of principles that will guide operators in the development of next generation mobile messaging networks. At its heart, it is a fundamental shift away from ‘network defined messaging’ to ‘user defined messaging’ that has the potential to benefit everyone.” (from the Mobile Messaging 2.0 White Paper from Airwide Solutions)

About:

eBuddy is a free web based messenger that enables you to chat with your MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, MySpace and AIM buddies. When you’re on the road, outdoors or traveling you can use the mobile version of eBuddy to chat with your buddies. Every mobile device that supports xHTML or WAP can be used; this includes Cell Phones, PDA’s, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS! Check out the Mobile page for more info.

In order to enable mobile phone users to connect to the world, Cellity introduces its new mobile email feature. At Mobile Monday Madrid, Cellity will showcase the latest addition to cellity Communicator, a mobile application for powerful mobile communication. The feature-rich Java software bundles very useful functions like free text messaging with up to 2048 characters, traditional SMS for just 9 ct., international calls at up to a 90% savings, easy conference calls and a free backup service over the air. The software is completely free of charge.

Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. Skype created a little piece of software that makes communicating with people around the world easy and fun. With Skype you can say hello or share a laugh with anyone, anywhere. And if both of you are on Skype, it’s free.

A networking party will follow the conference. Attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaymadrid.com/subscribe/ and reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

All details at Mobile Monday Madrid website.

Here are my Mobile 2.0 slides of the keynote I did last Friday in London at the Over The Air event, a great initiative by Daniel Appelquist and Ian Forrester. Over the Air was organised by Mobile Monday London, hosted by Imperial College and supported by the BBC.

Kudos to the whole team who made this happen, this was more than just a developers’ conference, more than just a workshop or a barcamp… It was a 48 hours of mobile and wireless development experiment bringing together some +400 developers and mobile industry experts with great sessions on various industry related topics… Lots of great people and ideas gathered during these 2 days. Check the Over The Air website to view the presentations from other keynotes and sessions.