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On November 12, 2008, join me at the Under the Radar: Mobility conference in Mountain View, CA — for a showcase of cutting-edge mobile startups from around the globe including My6Sense (Israel), Bambuser (Norway), Soocial (Holland), Apisphere (USA) and more.

In a time of economic shakiness, it’s exciting and important to attend events like this (Under the Radar) and Mobile 2.0 to network with veteran industry thought leaders from leading operators, handset manufacturers, VCs and more. Join in on the conversation. I hope to see you on November 12!

Register now: $100 off for m-Trends readers!

Here’s your chance to nab 2 free tickets to Under the Radar: Mobility on November 12th at Microsoft in Mountain View, Ca….

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Alltel are all judges at the event. So many carriers have been forced to “open up” in the last year and their approaches to working with startups are drastically shifting.

That said, Under The Radar wants to know what YOU want to hear them talk about. What matters most to you? What answers do you want from carriers? What are the pain points you’ve never heard talked about before? What topics would blow your mind?

You can reply to this post with your answers by leaving a comment before Thursday, October 23 at midnight PST . Best answer gets a free ticket to the event, $695 value.

Below the list of the 1st round of presenting companies. Check the complete program, updates, list of judges - more startups to be announced this week - here.

	Apisphere LBS platform for mobile apps (SaaS)
	Avot Media Mobile video transcoding and streaming platform
	Bambuser Live broadcasting from mobile phones and webcams
	Billing Revolution All-in-one solution to mobile commerce, from processing to CRM
	BrightKite Location-based social network
	DialPlus The ultimate smartphone: view relevant, context-sensitive info during and after a call
	Goojet Widgetized browsing: personalized content delivery
	Instinctiv Changing the way consumers experience their entertainment
	Mob4Hire A developer’s dream: crowdsourced mobile app testing
	Mojiva The mobile ad toolkit: create and deliver location-based hyper-targeted mobile ads
	My6Sense Lifestreaming with intelligence: bringing you the content and contacts that matter most to you
	MyBooo Solves the problem of digital data spreading for people who work on several devices like laptop, office PC, mini-PC or smartphone
	Palringo Rich messaging across all IM services
	PixelPipe Get your content out to your favorite social network, photo/video and blog service
	PhoneTopp Hyper-charged platform for mobilizing business apps
	Skout Location-based social network
	Smule Develops interactive sonic media applications for the iPhone
	Soocial Works behind the scenes: sync your contacts
	Torch Mobile, Inc Innovative software applications and services for mobile and embedded devices.
	Toro Near field communication applications
	Vuclip Mobile video search and delivery

The Mobile 2.0 Conference’s Business and Builder Track agenda’s are now completed. The conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists - you can read my wrapup from last years’ event here.

The Business Track opens with a keynote of David Wood, Executive VP, Symbian on the topic of “Open Source: Catalyst for Mobile Innovation 2.0″ and follows with 3 panels on the following topics:

“Mobile Browsers: How Is Web Different On Mobile Devices?”

• Taksuki Tomita, SVP, Opera Software
• Larry Berkin, VP, Ecosystem & Business Development, Access Systems
• Raj Singh, VP, Business Development, Skyfire
• Jay Sullivan, VP Mobile, Mozilla

“Platforms, Monetization & Third Party Applications” - Moderator, Jason Devitt, Skydeck

• John Faith, GM & VP, Mobile, MySpace
• Henri Moissinac, Director, Facebook Mobile
• Sumit Agarwal, Mobile Product Management Lead, North America, Google
• Ilja Laurs, Founder, GetJar
• Michael Bayle, Senior Director, Global Mobile Advertising, Yahoo!

“Carrier Initiatives: For Developers & Third Party Applications”

• Michael Palermo, VP, Service Innovation & Integration, Telecom Italia
• Maurice Thompson, Director, Open Development, Verizon Wireless
• Venetia Espinoza, Director, Mobile Apps & Partner Programs, T-Mobile USA
• Laura Fay, Director of Strategy, Sprint

In the afternoon, there are demo’s of promising & innovative startups in two Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad sessions . Any start-up with a mobile service or application can apply to present, all you need to do is fill-in the startup registration form to apply for consideration. Registration deadline for submission is October 17, 2008 at midnight PST.

More sessions in the business track starting with a fireside chat on “Mobility: How Can We Capitalize On It” - Moderator, Tony Fish, AMF Ventures

• Ozzie Diaz, CTO, Wireless, HP
• Tom Libretto, Vice President, Forum Nokia
• Pankaj Kedia, Director, Ultra Mobility Group, Intel

And panels on “Consumer vs. Business: The Market Opportunities” - Moderator, Michel Wendell, Nexit Ventures

• Martin Frid-Nielsen, Founder, Chief Product Officer, Soonr
• Judy Gibbons, CEO, Mippin
• Tom Lee, Director, SMB Solutions, Research In Motion
• Omar Green, Director, Strategic Mobile Initiatives, Intuit

“Where Are VC Investing & Why?” - Moderator, Rich Wong, Accel Partners

• Rick Segal, Partner, JLA Ventures & Blackberry Partners Fund
• Peter Barry, Head of Venture Capital & Startups, Vodafone Group
• Tim Chang, Partner, NorWest Venture Partners
• Greg Franklin, Principal, IntellectPartners

“Mobile Advertising vs Online Advertising Models” - Moderator, Whitey Bluestein, Bluestein & Associates

• Brian Cowley,  President & CEO, AdInfuse
• Colm Grealy, Managing Director, SalesOnline
• Blair Swedeen, VP, Market Development, PlaceCast
• Jason Spero, Vice President, Marketing, AdMob
• Ragnar Kruse, CEO & Founder , Smaato

If you want to learn more about developing mobile applications and services, you can go to the afternoon Builder Track starting with a keynote by Caroline Lewko (WIP) followed by panels and tutorial sessions on

Mobile Web vs. Applications vs. Widgets with C. Enrique Ortiz (tentative) - Chair: Nick Allot (OMTP); Phong Vu (Nokia); Charles Wiles (Google); Fabrizio Capobianco (Funambol); Jeff Sonstein (RIT)

(Mobile Web) User Experience and Design Case Studies with Kelly Goto - Chair: Barbara Balard (Little Spring Design), Brian Fling (Fling Media), Christian Lindholm (Fjord), Thomas Fellger (Iconmobile)

and tutorials on Building, dynamic, compelling, ad-funded, off-deck mobile web content by Stefan Butlin (Taptu)

iPhone WebApps by Brian Fling (Fling Media)

Mobile Design Case Study by Kelly Goto (Gotomedia)

Yahoo! Blueprint by Markus Spiering (Yahoo!)

Nokia Web Runtime by Phong Vu (Nokia)

Gears Mobile by Charles Wiles (Google)

A program to be dizzy by the end of the day, followed by the usual networking cocktail of course. All this for $249 only! You can browse the Mobile 2.0 event website to know everything about this years’ event on November 3rd, 2008 in San Francisco. I recommend not to wait last minute to book your seat, the conference has been selling out quickly the previous 2 editions.

I’m going to be in San Francisco from November 1 till 14, anyone who’d like to catch up, feel free to contact me (email in sidebar).

As mentioned in my previous post, last week I spent a couple of days in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, for the Digital Leaders Forum at CHEIL Worldwide HQ (view the presentation I did on Mobile Digital Storytelling).

It is well-known that South Korea - together with Japan - has one of the most advanced mobile cultures in the world, it was thus a privilige to have a closer look on anything mobile there.

One of the first real mobile beahviour differences I noticed was that most people waiting for the bus in Seoul watch their mobile phone screens, opposed to having the device to their ears while in a phone conversation. People are totally immersed consuming digital media whenever possible on their mobile phones in Seoul.

Some statistics on South Korea’s mobile internet applications & services consumption usage. For more detailed statistics and insights, I recommend the Digital Korea book, authored by Tomi Ahonen & Jim O’Reilly.

- The country has 44.5 million mobile subscribers in total, or a 90.7% penetration rate (May 2008). MNO’s are SK Telecom (22.5 million subscribers), KTF (14 million subscribers) and LG Telecom (8 million subscribers).

- 63 percent of South Koreans make payments using their cell phones.

- Over 30 percent of South Korean students send over 100 text messages a day (source: Korea Times, February 9, 2006).

- Average amount of daily consumption of DMB digital TV on cell phones in South Korea was 129 minutes per day (source: MIC January 2007)

- Nearly 100% of South Koreans buy ringtones.

- Almost 80 percent of South Korea’s households have broadband access, fostering active online interactions.

- In 2006, 57 percent of South Korea’s music sales were digital

- 37 percent of South Koreans download cell phone games

- Naver is the most popular search portal in South Korea (also on the mobile phone). According to comScore, Naver received 2 billion queries in August 2007, accounting for over 70% of all search queries in Korea, and making it the fifth most used search engine in the world (!), following Google search, Yahoo!, Baidu, and MSN. Note that Google Inc. has recently snapped up South Korean blogging software company Tatter and Company (TNC) in a bid to expand the Internet search leader’s reach in Asia.

(image courtesy of LG Telecom)

Some of the apps/services that most surprised me are the Polygraph which is a mobile lie detector allowing South Korean girls to test if their boyfriends are telling them the truth about their where-abouts etc. Seems stupid but South Korean teenagers just love the service, wether you want to play with it or just take it serious…

Another interesting mobile service is the Navi Call Taxi Service. Calling a cab to specific number, and it knows where you are As to make the taxi experience more safe for young women, the service sends a text message to the parents and/or friends with the name and number of the taxi and its location. Ain’t that cool? Wondering when we get such a service over here in Europe and US.

You can view both services demonstrated and explained here below in a video produced by Andrew Berglund (Global Interactive Executive Creative Director at Cheil Worldwide) called “A Day in The Life of a Mobile Phone in Seoul” - An Interactive Exploration of Marketing Technology among the YMCs (Young-Minded Consumer) in South Korea.The video was originally shown in a workshop at Cannes Lions 2008.

The video gives a great overview and insight on mobile phone usage and behaviour of YMCs living in the modern digital metropolis of Seoul. How today’s youth consumer is making the mobile device an extension of his/her existence - utilising a wide spectrum of mobile services from video calls, SMS, MMS, vlogging/blogging, internet, mobile TV broadcast, digital multi-media broadcast, m (mobile)-commerce, m-banking, m-mags, m-movies and other dynamic multi-sensory social content.

You can view Part 1 soon here on YouTube’s  iCheil’s Channel.

The big question to me is how countries like South Korea and Japan, in let’s say 5 years from now, will be able to sustain their closed ecosystem model in a growing global mobile market heading towards an open ecosystem ecomomy with new industry players applying different business models to connect the physical world with the internet using the mobile phone.

They have the choice to become an isolated island in such an economy or open up and - why not - become an industry leader on a global scale using the knowledge and experience they have acquired from the sucessful mobile applications and services models they have applied in their home countries.

Here’s my Flickr set of my trip to Seoul.

For my Korean readers, there’s an interview with me in the Maeil Business Newspaper.

The Mobile 2.0 Conference - a one-day event focusing on new Mobile Applications and Services, the Mobile Web and Disruptive Mobile Innovation is happening this year on November 3rd, 2008 in San Francisco. The 3rd edition of this event is once again presented by the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee in partnership with AMF Ventures.

The Mobile 2.0 conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists - you can read my wrapup from last years’ event here.

Here below the video and slides of my “15 Tips To Create Value For Mobile” presentation I did at MobileMonday Amsterdam #7 on Value, including a short overview on the evolving mobile ecosytem. Note that each of those tips could be a topic itself for a specific detailed presentation - maybe I should start a series in the future

About this video (from MobileMonday Amsterdam)

In this insightful 23 minute keynote Rudy de Waele gives 15 tips to create value for mobile. He shares his view on the various drivers in the mobile value chain. Each tip is accompanied with an real world example. The tips range from “The power of openness” to “utilizing the address book”. It’s a must see if you want to get an quick and clear overview of the value drivers in mobile.