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I’m off to Brussels this weekend, then Paris for the much awaited LeWeb3 conference. I’m particulary interested in the Start-Up Competition and the Workshop track including a session on Mobile and Web convergence, though the whole conference has so much quality to offer, I have to figure out still what I don’t want to miss during the event.

Kudos to Geraldine and Loïc and the whole Web3 organizing team for putting this together, it’s a truly unique event in Europe!

Not sure how connected I’ll be but my favourite channels will be on Twitter and Jaiku, I added this Grazr widget in my sidebar for live LeWeb3 blog updates from participants.

See you in Paris!

Here’s some thoughts and a short wrapup of the Mobile 2.0 event I helped to organize in San Francisco. It was the second time this event took place, organised last year by Mike, Daniel, Gregory and Peter. For this years’ event, they asked me to join the team and I’m really glad I took the decision to participate, I truly believe this is only the start of more interestig things to come produced by this quintet

The event was really great! Being part of the organizers committee and having a good view of events happening around the globe, this is a really exceptional event, connecting the transitioning and convergent worlds of web and mobile; exceptional because some of the best heads in mobile are spending a day together discussing and exploring the opportunities and threats of what we call the next generation mobile services. Unique since it brings together both a local (Silicon Valley) and a European crowd, something essential in todays’ global economy. Innovation is happening everywhere, the world is flat.

Understanding the potential of the mobile device as a connector of objects and people in the near future is a must and I think this event is the best I have seen in this area, covering essential topics such as Social Media, User Experience, Usability and Design, Disruption, Emerging Technologies, New Business Models brought by thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists.

I was not alone with my thoughts since Tomi T. Ahonen send us this text note during the event: “Wow, this room really holds probably more of the true influencers of the actual future of mobile than any other event I have ever attended. Impressive!”

And what about these notes from Oliver Starr, who was live blogging for Blognation during the conference:

There’s one last disruption I’d like to mention and it might be the most sublime disruption of them all. The power that will be realized by the 250 plus individuals that took that time and invested the money to spend a day deep in discussion about the next generation of mobile. The cumulative increase in knowledge realized by the attendees at this event will spread out into the world in waves. Perhaps some will be small ripples, a few rolling whitecaps, but combined, we are looking at a tidal wave of new knowledge, shared ideas, and new alliances that have the power to change the world we live in profound ways.

Knowledge is not power. Knowledge wielded effectively is power. As I look around the room as we reach the waning moments of the 2007 Mobile 2.0 Conference, I can’t help but wonder if the people in this room realize the incredible, explosive potential that each of them now has should they apply in any measure the intelligence they’ve gained in the ten hours spent here today.

I specifically like the size of the event, crowded with some 250 attendees, speakers and press yet small enough to have a chat and connect with nearly everybody present.

Here’s a set of resources from the event I could find of as of now. You can track the ongoing discussions using Google Blog Search tagged “Mobile 2.0“.
Richard MacManus has been LIVE blogging the event (incredible how fast he writes!):

• Mobile 2.0 - The 7th Mass Media & Business Opportunities
• Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 1
• Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 2
• Taptu Launches New Type of Mobile Search

Oliver Starr’s live posts here on blognation.

Mike Rowehl’s Mobile 2.0 wrapup.

Dennis from WAP Review has an amazing writeup covering absolutely everything top to bottom.

Russ McGuire’s review on Mobile 2.0: Mobile Internet vs. Mobility

Barbara Ballard posted about how many in the audience were using laptops.

Tony Fish pointed out the Mobile Web 2.0 list of resources setup in netvibes.

Enrique C. Ortiz quick review.

Kelly Goto has a detailed post from the fireside chat.

Carlos Domingo posted his draft panel notes here.

Atakan Cetinsoy from MyStrands blogged his impressions here.

Marc Davis Flickr pictures ZoneTagged Mobile 2.0

On top of the reviews, some interesting discussions are heating up, starting with Rob Tiffany’s complaints why Windows Mobile was not used or not even mentioned during the event… Read Enrique C. Ortiz on spot reply to that question.

You can view my introduction to Mobile 2.0 on Slideshare; check also the Google’s move into mobile slide exchange project we just launched, together with Raimo van der Klein.

I created a Flickr group here, open to anyone. Anyone who has pictures of the event and a Flickr account, please subscribe to the group and forward them to the group from within your Flickr account.
I wanted to thank again our sponsors of the event: Nokia, Shozu, Vodafone Betavine, Taptu, Jamba, Mippin, Webwag, Rulespace and Swisscomm for the excellent wi-fi connections. Without them making this happen would not have been possible. Hope to see you all next year again!

I’ll be back with an update on conversations and posts around the event next Monday in the Carnival of the Mobilists # 96 which I’m hosting again here at mTrends.

Gregory just pinged me that the Mobile 2.0 Event, scheduled for October 15 in San Francisco is nearly sold.out - only a few seats left. Don’t be left out and register now. Full program details and speakers list on the event website. There are still sponsor opportunities open. If you’re interested, you can contact me directly.

On October 15th, in San Francisco, Mobile Monday’s Barcelona, London, and Silicon Valley together with the Open Group and SomeBazaar will present the 2nd Mobile 2.0 conference. This will be a one-day event, held at the Grand Hyatt in Union Square, covering the latest in mobile innovation and disruption.

Next to Tomi Ahonen’s keynote on Social Networking and Communities, there are four panels with topics on User Experience, Usability, and Design, Disruptive or New Business Models, Emerging Technologies and a look on Mobile 2.0 from the VC Perspective. Two series of great new Mobile 2.0 startups will be presented in the Mobile Launch Pad.

The conference is bringing together some real mobile industry thought leaders from around the world, such as:

• Tomi Ahonen, 3G Author & Mobile Blogger
• Brian Fling, Blue Flavor
• Kelly Goto, gotomedia
• Risto Lahdesmaki, Idean Enterprises
• Carlos Domingo, Telefonica
• Christian Lindholm
• Tony Fish, AMF Ventures
• Ozzie Diaz, HP
• Jean Marc Frangos, BT Group
• Patrick McVeigh, Warburg Pincus & SoonR
• Stephan Noll, T-Venture
• Voytek Siewierski, Mitsui & Co, Venture Partners
• Olaf Groth, Qualcomm
• Rich Wong, Accel Partners
• Russell Beattie, Mowser
• Marc Davis, Yahoo!
• Ron Mandel, Adobe
• C. Enrique Ortiz, eZee inc.
• Kaj “HeGe” Haggman, Nokia
• James Pearce, dotMobi
• Peter Stark, Sony Ericsson
• Daniel Graf, Kyte.TV

Daniel, Gregory, Mike and Peter asked me after the Global Peer Awards to join the organizing committee, something I didn’t had to think twice on. I like the spirit of the team and the global reach of this event. There has been a lot of reflexion and discussion on what to cover and who to invite, to me it’s a rather unusual but original event that tries to capture what’s going on in mobile and focuses on the Mobile Web and Disruptive Mobile Innovation… I can’t wait until October 15

Check out the agenda on full details of speakers, timings, topics, etc. Last years’ (first ever!) Mobile 2.0 conference was sold out in 1 week, so don’t wait too long to register, seats are limited. Registrations are now open at the Mobile 2.0 Conference website. Early Bird Special $145 if you registered before October 1, 2007. Regular Price $185.

Stay tuned for more news on the conference here at mTrends!

Is the Mobile Web slowly leaving its’ infancy? Or is this really a start of something big coming our way? Googling the “mobile web” gives us 1.920.000 results, that’s pretty convincing something is happening. Using terms such as ‘mobile web‘ to ‘Mobile Web 2.0‘ and ‘Mobile 2.0‘ has raised many discussions amongst colleague bloggers; with the introduction of the iPhone, Steve Jobs introduced the ‘real internet’ on a portable device, so it’s really still an ongoing discussion… One thing we all do agree on is that’s it’s all about the world wide web becoming accessible on mobile devices, initiating a new wave of ‘next generation mobile services’.

Informa Telecoms and Media had the bright idea to gather some of the best thinkers and doers in this field and organize a real summit called the Mobile Web 2.0 Conference on 18-19 September 2007 in London.

Do check the agenda of the 2-day conference, the speakers line-up is really impressive: participations include web companies such as Yahoo, Skype, Amazon (Jeff Barr!); speakers from MNO’s including 3, O2, T-Mobile International, BT Global Services, Telia Sonera, Orange, Vodafone; by now well-known startups such as Shozu, AdMob, MyStrands, Eyeka, Widsets, Tariq Krim of Netvibes, in a unique mix including a lot of blog pals who explored the Mobile Web possibilities since it’s inception, like Daniel Appelquist, Ajit Jaokar, Tomi T Ahonen, Tom Hume and Russell Buckley, definately a unseen line-up so far of industry experts dedicated exclusively around the Mobile Web 2.0 topic in Europe.

Lots of essential topics will be covered, such as:

• Examine the impact of Mobile Web 2.0 on traditional mobile and web business models: Interaction of web, mobile, media, broadcast and telecom spheres
• Discover what services will bring Mobile Web 2.0 to life for the mass market
• Discuss how user interface strategies and widgets facilitate discoverability
• Determine market demand for mobile communities across global markets and demographic segments and understand how to capture target audiences
• Pool experiences of existing challenges to user experience and drive browser and device solutions
• Mobilise the Long-Tail to enable the move of Web 2.0 applications to mobile
• Determine who will own the user’s digital footprint

I have been invited to do a talk on the Mobile Web 2.0 Start-up Ecosystem, one of the topics I have been researching on an ongoing basis since I started this blog. Here’s what I will focus on for my talk at the conference:

• Integrating mobility: what mobility features are start-ups concentrating on?
• Where do we see new start-ups : Who is investing in what?
• How do Mobile Web 2.0 propositions differentiate?
• Evaluating new propositions: showcase of launches in recent months

So, to any start-up who recently launched and who is active in the Mobile Web 2.0 space, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me (click my name in top of my sidebar) to share your experiences, who knows you might become a showcase in my presentation

Note there’s also a pre-conference workshop on ‘Understanding Mobile Web 2.0′ the day before the event. To create discussion and to give delegates an idea of what to expect at the event, the organizers also launched a conference blog. Ajit Jaokar - who recently came to explain his views on the topic at MobileMonday Barcelona will be interviewing conference speakers and will post more thoughts on this blog.

I’m really looking forward to this one!

“Understanding Consumers and delivering exceptional customer service is just as important a part of the mobile experience as the latest technology and the size of the marketing budget, it can be a key differentiator for a business”… was a perfect kick-off quote in the presentation of Cliff Crosbie (see image left) at the MEX: the Mobile User Experience conference some weeks ago in London.

The report and all presentations of this unique and excellent conference are now available here (buy on-line for GBP 795). The report harnesses the combined knowledge of some 100 leading mobile executives who attended the MEX conference in May 2007. Delegates participated in a series of keynote presentations, panel discussions and breakout groups to define a response to the MEX manifesto. From this rich pool of creativity and exclusive research notes, Marek Pawlowski and his team have produced a detailed analysis of the industry’s approach to mobile user experience, a must have for anyone working in the mobile industry or for any internet, content or media company who has plans going mobile in the near future - if you haven’t, start asking yourself some questions

The report includes detailed info on each of the 10 topics covered:

• MEX Maps: graphical brainstorm of the conference’s response to the manifesto.
• Speaker’s response: written summary of the keynote presentation.
• Presentation slides: copy of the keynote slides.
• Discussion summary: written summary of the panel discussions and responses from the breakout groups.
• Research notes: thought-provoking articles and detailed research from PMN’s analysts.
• Stat Spot: selection of metrics relating to the manifesto topic.

For me personally, the conference was a really good experience, not only because of the zen environment the conference was held at (Wallaspace) but above all Marek and his team have done a great job in preparing this conference with a unique feel for detail and attention to create a good athmosphere, ideal to foster collaboration amongst the delegates - an exceptional mix of mobile telecoms industry people, design and other industry experts, startups, etc. A lot of interesting people with different ideas to share and open-minded to think about the challenges this industry is facing: to cope with a rapid and huge shift from ‘voice & text’ devices (mobile 1.0) to truly multimedia devices, soon always connected to the internet (mobile 2.0), to shift from walled gardens business models to open connectivity and services acces.

I’m not going to write down all my notes here from the conference, I enjoyed the interesting and thought provoking presentations from Cliff Crosbie (Nokia), Christian Lindholm, Antti Öhrling, Co-founder of Blyk, Mark Rolston (Frog Design) and the insiders view from Paul Nerger (Argogroup) and Al Russell (Vodafone).

The size of the conference also left enough room to meet and discuss with the other delegates, I met a lot of great new people! The idea of bringing all delegates together in smaller groups to discuss the manifesto and presented topics was a good idea too, this brought extra dynamics and conversations to the overall conference, an idea to continue exploring further in the future.

The 10 MEX Manifesto topics covered and the keynote speaker who inspired the discussions and research:

Download a sample of the MEX 2007 Report

This extract from the MEX 2007 report covers 1 of the 10 issues discussed in the full version: “Understanding the extent of the user experience, from retail environment to customer service.”

For more details and purchase, please contact Marek Pawlowski (marekpawlowski@pmn.co.uk or +44 7767 622957)
Here you can view my Flickr Set of the conference.

Next Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be attending the MEX: The PMN Mobile User Experience conference. MEX is a two day strategy forum for the leading minds in mobile telecoms. At the heart of the conference is the 10 point manifesto for enhancing the mobile user experience. This is a blueprint for delivering better mobile products through a deeper understanding of customer requirements. I’m looking forward to meet and discuss with some great minds in this often overlooked area of the mobile industry, thanks to Marek Pawlowski for setting up this event. Here’s some more info on the event:

“We’ve invited 10 of the industry’s most inspiring speakers to deliver 10 keynote presentations and provoke a series of breakout groups and panel discussions. They’ll address topics ranging from graphical interfaces and industrial design to mobile advertising and customer satisfaction.

Delegates work side-by-side with industry leaders in the unique Wallacespace environment to respond to the manifesto and set the user experience agenda for the mobile telecoms business. All the ideas shared at the conference will be summarised in the MEX 2007 report, a copy of which will be delivered to each delegate after the event.”

Some of the speakers include:

Cliff Crosbie, Global Director of Retail Marketing, Nokia

Al Russell, Head of Mobile Internet & Content Services, Vodafone

Christian Lindholm, User Experience Expert

Matthew Menz, Head of Interaction Design, Motorola

Antti Öhrling, Co-founder, Blyk

Bill Schwebel, Senior Vice President, AOL Wireless & President, Tegic Communications

Paul Nerger, Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Argogroup

Markus Grupp, Director, Handset User Experience Design, TELUS

Hampus Jakobsson, Vice President of Marketing, TAT

Dr Nick Allott, CTO, OMTP

Herbert Vanhove, Vice President and General Manager, Qualcomm Internet Services & MediaFLO Technologies”

And a lot of other interesting people, do check the speaker’s list. I’m really looking forward to this one! Anyone who’d like to catch up with me while I’m in London, drop me a line. I will be sharing thoughts and impressions on the conference as ‘lively’ as I can

For anyone kicking of 2007 working in content, digital distribution and digital rights management, do take an hour to watch this conference of Lawrence Lessig on “The Differences between Culture and Code” from the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin last week. Absolutely recommendable if you want to understand what current technology evolution does with content and culture and how to find solutions to manage these changes in a fair way.

Via Enrique Dans, via Joi Ito.

Every year Nokia gets the mobility industry together to share thoughts and ideas on where the industry and technology is headed. This year Nokia decided to set up a group blog dedicated to this event - called Nokia World - as a way to give Nokia employees a chance to share their views and to open up the discussion to a much wider audience teaming up with some reputated bloggers such as Anina, Benoit Darcy, Carlo Longino, Christophe Romei and Rodrigo Sepúlveda Schulz

The Nokia World conference takes place in Amsterdam 29 & 30 November. It brings together more than 2, 000 people from the mobility and internet industry to talk about what’s on the horizon, what’s changing, and share our plans and ideas.

I’m looking forward to read what new stuff Nokia will come up with we don’t know yet and read the different viewpoints of the bloggers choosen, interesting mix!

On November 16, 2006, IBDNetwork will host its sixth one-day Under the Radar event, which will feature 32 emerging startups in the mobile sector. Under the Radar will take place at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, CA.

You’ll see a collection of companies in areas such as mobile content/video; sms and messaging; location/presence; voice services; marketing and advertising services; and a host of enabling technologies. It’s always a steller line-up of stealth companies and certainly a gathering of leading industry insiders and top-tier press/bloggers, a great chance to learn about the future of mobility- it’s challenges and opportunities from consumer adoption to monetization of services. Other participants include CNET-Fox Interactive-Google-Microsoft-Motorola-MTV-Qualcomm-Orange-Yahoo! and more.

I’m going to the conference, together with Ignacio Mondine, who will present his company Daem Interactive at the conference. It’s going to be very interesting to see and meet all those startups innovating wthin the mobility area; I’m especially interested in the real innovative companies and how they deploy their market strategy in function from different markets such as US and Europe.

Companies currently confirmed are:

4info | Admob | BubbleMotion | CascadaMobile | ComVu | Daem Interactive | EQO | Flurry | GreyStripe | Juice Wireless | Loopt | MobiFusion | Mobileplay | Mobo | MotionDSP | Nexage | Ontela | PayWi | Pinger | Pixpulse | Pixsense | Plusmo | Rocketalk | Renzoo | ScanR | Sharpcast | TinyPictures | Veeker | Voxlib | Winksite

I haven’t seen such a bunch of startups working in mobile together for a while… How about you?

Now here come the goodies for my blog readers:

m-trends.org readers can submit the best “under the radar” mobility company not already on the currently confirmed company list (see above); in other words you can digg one of your favourite mobile startups into the conference! – the winner will get a ticket to the conference ($495 value) and will get mentioned on the “under the radar” blog, as well as a “profile” post on the winning company as well.

Debbie Landa, CEO and Founder of IBDNetwork (the organizers of the conference) will judge herself the best submission done here at m-trends.org. All you need to do is send me an email (click my name in the sidebar) with subject “Under The Radar” and mention the startup you think should be present at the conference. Deadline for contest entries is Wednesday November 8 at midnight (CET) - which will give the winner a week of lead time to make travel arrangements.

And for those who don’t win or participate to the contest, m-trends.org readers receive the discounted price of $425 (save $70) by registering here (just mention m-trends.org).

Oh btw: anyone who would like to meet me while in SF or Bay Area between November 15-21, drop me a line too