mobileclicks.jpg

Last Friday I was in Amsterdam for the final part of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks awards - a 100.000 euro competition initiated by Vodafone Netherlands, SPRX Mobile and MobileMonday Amsterdam. Six finalists were selected out of +50 entries after four busy months and 3 jury intensive jury rounds.

Finalists were: TipSpot, Nulaz, MapTheGap, MobyPicture, Exphera and Mi-i.

Nulaz (www.nulaz.com) was the big winner with 60.000 euros, followed by TipSpot (www.tipspot.com) with 30.000 euros and MapTheGap (www.mapthegap.nl) with 10.000 euros. Nulaz is an advanced LBS social networking application with reviews and ratings. TipSpot is a mobile social city guide for events in your neighbourhood. MapTheGap is a highly innovative mobile application for location-based idea management and sharing.

It was a very interesting couple of days in Amsterdam during summer to go through the evaluation of the startups, lots of great quality presentations, freshness of ideas and professionality of the work in general. Though this was a ‘national’ competition, I believe some of the startups have a true chance to develop to an international market. Be bold and go for it, I would say… Congratulations to all winners! A job well done also to all other participants. We’ll hear more of these startups in the near future, for sure.

It was also a chance to meet some great people, the very professional Vodafone Internet team led by Patrick Leenheers, the whole SPRX Mobile team, and last but not least Vincent Everts (Trendwatcher and Gadget expert). Vodafone announced already the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009. Hope to see you all there again!

Here’s my Flickr set of the jury sessions and the event last Friday at PICNIC.

Below also my keynote slides on Mobile Startup Case Studies I did for the opening of the event.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss some of the topics in detail or leave a comment.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile 2.0 ConferenceThe 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.

In addition to our All Day Business Track, we will offer an Afternoon Builder Track which will focus on tutorials and demonstrations needed by developers, designers and entrepreneurs seeking in depth information about how to build a mobile application/service.

Speakers for 2008 will include:

  • Russ McGuire, VP, Strategy, Sprint
  • Ozzie Diaz, Chief Technologist, Wireless, HP
  • Tatsuki Tomita, SVP, Opera Software
  • Larry Berkin, VP, Ecosystem & Business Development, Access Systems
  • Marc Davis, Chief Scientist of Yahoo! Connected Life and Director of ESP
  • Rich Wong, Partner, Accel Partners
  • Tim Chang, Partner, NorWest Ventures
  • Greg Franklin, Principal, IntellectPartners
  • Martin Frid-Nielsen, Founder, CPO, Soonr
  • TBA, Forum Nokia Americas
  • Judy Gibbons, CEO, Mippin
  • Ilja Laurs, Founder, GetJar
  • Omar Hamoui, CEO, AdMob
  • Tony Fish, Director, AMF Ventures
  • Charles Wiles, Product Manager, Gears Mobile, Google
  • John Faith, GM & VP Mobile, MySpace
  • Henri Moissinac, Director, Facebook Mobile
  • Michel Palermo, VP, Service Innovation & Integration, Telecom Italia
  • Maurice Thompson, Director, Open Development, Verizon Wireless
  • Thomas Fellger, iconmobile
  • Kelly Goto, Principal, gotomedia
  • David Wood, Executive Vice President, Symbian
  • Peter Barry, Vodafone Ventures
  • Brian Cowley, President and CEO, adinfuse
  • Christian Lindholm, Fjord
  • Brian Fling, Fling Media
  • Raj Singh, VP of Business Development, Skyfire
  • Jay Sullivan, VP Mobile, Mozilla
  • Venetia Espinoza, Director, Mobile Apps & Partner Programs, T-Mobile
  • Michael Bayle, Senior Director, Global Mobile Advertising, Yahoo!
  • Rick Segal, Partner, JLA Ventures & Blackberry Partners Fund
  • Tom Lee, Director SMB Solutions,Research In Motion
  • Sumit Agarwal, Google, Mobile Product Management Lead, North America

Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad for Startups

The Mobile 2.0 conference provides a platform for pre-A round and A round start-ups focusing on mobile applications & services looking for funding and trade press, tech blogger and early-adopter attention.

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. The selected startups will get to present at the Mobile 2.0 launchpad and will also be invited to participate in the -invitation only- investor breakfast.

Deadline for submission is October 3, 2008 at midnight PST.

There’s also a mailinglist to stay updated on latest news. For this edition the ticket price is set to $249.00, you can register with online payment here. I recommend not to wait last minute, seats are limited and this conference has been selling out every year quickly.

The event will be held at the Grand Hyatt, San Francisco and will run from 8:30am to 6:00pm with a reception at the hotel afterward.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

Browse through the slides below while watching the video.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss some of the topics in detail or leave a comment.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I spend some time in Amsterdam for the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition for Dutch mobile startups, combined with a presentation I gave at MobileMonday Amsterdam. I have been nicely surprised by the quality of the local startups  presenting in the competition, I can’t say much about them yet… the winners will be announced shortly and will present at the coming MOMO event at the PICNIC conference.

MobileMonday Amsterdam MobileMonday Amsterdam #7 on Value was a GREAT event. The MOMO team has been building reputation since their kickoff event in June 2007 with Jyri Engestrom, putting together quality events ever since. I have been around seeing many MobileMondays a bit everywhere but MoMo Amsterdam is definately one of the best events in Europe focusing on mobile specific topics. What makes this a good event is the original venue and the TEAM working in perfect symbiosis with clear objectives to produce exciting events and not afraid to take risks trying out new concepts.

This time Raimo, Yuri, Claire, Maarten, Marc and Sam created a circle in the theatre for the first part of the event to stimulate audience participation. The discussions were in Dutch, the statements challenging and a bit controversial (user value vs. shareholder value) - why not? I particulary liked the discussion on the bankrupcy of a promising Dutch mobile startup, called Skoeps, as a learning experience towards the community. Wrong timing (flat fees not yet in place), contrary shareholder interest and not enough user base to create a user-driven news content site I believe were amongst the reasons the company didn’t make it.

The 2nd part included keynote presenations by myself, buddie Ajit Jaokar and Yme Bosma from the biggest social network in The Netherlands Hyves (5 million active users!). Ajit gave another interesting talk on what he expects to become a new boom on - non-voice - devices.

Yme presented (in Dutch) the coming rollout of the Hyves mobile platform, including rich adressbook (presence, status, profile, content, etc), communication options such as voice, sms, notes, www, blog, chat, video, photo, email, money, etc), location-based (cellid & GPS), bluetooth for physical identification in public area’s and multiplatform (J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile & iPhone). Yme and his team are very ambitious about the mobile platform, expecting mobile interfaces to be the dominant acces method on their platform in a couple of years. Note that Hyves was originally intented as a mobile social media platform years ago before its actual internet succes.

You can view the presentations of Ajit and Yme on Slideshare. The complete Flickr set of the event can be seen here. I’ll post my presentation in another following post.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Under The Radar - MobilityAre you one of those startups that make a difference and you would like to showcase your technology to the ones like Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast, Sprint, iFund, Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola, and more? Then you need to apply to present at Under The Radar: Mobility event on November 12 in Mountain View, CA. Submissions are still being accepted, so apply today!

is a one-day conference uncovering 32 vetted, test-driven startups that have launched within the year in categories such as iPhone apps, location-based services, gaming, social networking, enabling technologies, and marketing/advertising.

is one of my favorite startup events to track innovation in mobile, read my reviews of previous editions here.

I will be there again this year as a judge amongst other mobile industry players, including:

Jesse Money, Executive Director of Product Convergence and Innovation, Verizon Wireless
Stephan Noll, Managing Director,
T-Mobile Venture Fund
Chi-Hua Chien, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (iFund)
Scott Ford, General Manager,
Sprint Business Development & Sprint Nextel Ventures
Harshul Sanghi, Managing Director, Motorola Ventures
Dan Schiappa, GM - Mobile & Gaming Advertising Experiences Platform,
Microsoft
Dave Williams, Senior Vice President of Wireless and Technology,
Comcast
Tim Chang, Principal,
Norwest Ventures
Jonathan Ebinger, General Partner,
BlueRun Ventures
Ken Gullicksen, General Partner,
Morgenthaler
Eric Ver Ploeg, Managing Director,
VantagePoint Venture Partners

The event will be moderated by:

Rafe Needleman, Editor, CNET/Webware
Ellen McGirt, Senior Writer, Fast Company
Natali Del Conte, Host, CNET TV & Technology Correspondent, CBS Early Show
Jeremy Toeman, Marketing Consultant, Stage Two Consulting

I’ll be in San Francisco and the valley the first half of November, please do get in touch if you’d like to catch up with me.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Jam Session San FranciscoAfter successful Mobile Jam Sessions at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and CTIA in Las Vegas, Caroline Lewko of the Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) is organising the 3rd Mobile Jam Session for CTIA’s Wireless and IT Show on Friday, September 12, 2008 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

Mobile Jam Session is a day to connect developers to industry leaders with an open agenda that inspires new ideas and innovates solutions within the mobile ecosystem. Check the pictures from the previous sessions in Barcelona and Las Vegas.

The day includes:

  • An unpanel discussion
  • Improv sessions led by developers and industry leaders alike, where everyone gets a chance to be heard and have their questions answered
  • Developers pitching their applications
  • And a Wrap party!

Topics we will likely cover includes:

  • Specific topics such as mobile payments and messaging
  • Developer resources such as certification, porting and developer programs
  • Tips on penetrating the big guys and getting to market.

Attendees must be registered for CTIA, with a minimum of an Exhibitors Pass.  You can register on the CTIA site and get one, you can get an exhibitor to offer you one, or you can contact WIP for a special exhibitor rate for developers and emerging companies.  For $1600 you receive a 5X10 square foot booth that is complete for you to move in. Find out details of this offering here:  http://www.wipconnector.com/pavillion.php

More details and updated info can be found at the event website, be sure to ‘Request an Invitiation‘ to be able to attend, it’s free!

Jam on!

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The first Mobile 2.0 Europe belongs yet to the past. We had a great event with lots of interesting sessions and speakers from different area’s in the mobile ecosystem. Seventeen promising startups came from all corners in Europe to present their new ideas in mobile.

Below are some links with reviews and ongoing conversations:

IN ENGLISH

Some notes from the Mobile 2.0 conference (Nokia Conversations)

Europe’s Mobile startups come together (TechCrunch)

(The Next Web)
Mobile 2.0 Europe: exploring the future of mobile
Mobile 2.0 Europe: best-of-class startups

Mobile 2.0: Rummble, Zipiko and Dial2Do shine, but venture capitalists express caution (VentureBeat)

Mobile Europe 2.0: Recreational Mobile Search, Intention Broadcasting & Much More; The Future Is Here, But Will MVNOs Like Blyk Drive It? (mSearchGroove)

Mobile 2.0 Europa - It Takes Two To Tango (Inma Martinez - Shift6)

mobile 2.0 - VC panel summary (Tony Fish)

Mobile 2.0 - The Conversation in the Wireless Industry Becomes A Shouting Match (Max Niederhofer)

(Dan’s Blog)
Open Business Models at Mobile 2.0 Europe
Early Stage Startups at Mobile 2.0 Europe
Mobile 2.0 Europe Kicks Off

Rummble at Mobile 2.0 Barcelona (Rummble Blog)

Mobile 2.0 Europe is over.. (SPRX mobile)

Mobile 2.0: following up on the operator perspective (blog cpinto)

Zipipop wins at Mobile 2.0 Europe (Arctic Startup)

The Electric Knife Syndrome (Charlie Schick)

Shout’Em after Mobile 2.0 Europe (Five Minutes)

Recap: Mobile 2.0 Europe (Cultureslurp)

Rummble: A Unique Play On A Location-Based Mobile Search Engine (GPS Obsessed)

[tce] mobile 2.0 europe takedown (Vitor Domingos)

Live from Mobile 2.0 in Barcelona (Federic Dummeny)

There is no such thing as mobile internet - Mobile 2.0 Europe (Local Search)

Mobile 2.0 Europe -Wrap-up (Ric Ferraro)

IN SPANISH

Mobile 2.0, la evolución del acceso a la red y sus contenidos (BRM)

Mobile 2.0: las operadores se defienden (CanalPDA)

Mobile 2.0 Conference en Barcelona (digitalismo)

Final del Mobile 2.0 (Unkasoft)

Resumen del Mobile 2.0 (Carlos Mantero)

Resumen del Mobile 2.0 (Carlos Blanco)

(OJOmóviles)
Congreso Mobile 2.0 en ESADE Barcelona
Mobile Social Media
Sesión Statups
La perspectiva de los inversores de capital riesgo
Startups Pre Series A
La perspectiva de los operadores
Startups Post Series A
Modelos de negocio abiertos

IN CATALAN

Mobile 2.0 Europe (alCim)

IN DUTCH

Mobile 2.0 Europe – Een terugblik op de toekomst (onetomarket)

PICTURES

TechCrunch Euro Tour - Mobile 2.0 Europe (Mike Butcher’s set on Flickr)

Mobile 2.0 Europe (Rudy De Waele’s set on Flickr)

VIDEO

Mobile 2.0 Europe on Blip.tv

Mobile 2.0 Europe #m2eu (QIK videos by Mark a.m. Kramer)

Revolt at Mobile 2.0 Europe (Mike Butcher)

NOTE: links to discussions are added daily so check this post at Mobile 2.0 Europe website for updated links.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A couple of days before the event, some 150 companies registered to attend MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE event, including startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, mobile application and service providers, bloggers, press and web technologists. If you want to attend the event to connect to industry leadership and broaden your C-level relationships, you can still buy tickets here.

NOTE there’s also a Mobile 2.0 Europe TechCrunch Party at the Shôko Lounge Club in front of the beach, all details about this after event meetup here.

Here’s the list of the companies attending the MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference in alphabetical order:

24 Access Solutions
7 Syntax
Acquamedia Technologies
AdMob
Ajuntament de Barcelona
aka-aki networks GmbH
Alcatel-Lucent
AlpinaSearch
Altaide Valley
Alumnus Software
AMF ventures
antrak capital
Atlas Venture
Atos Origin
Avui
AZ Interactive
Balderton Capital
Bango
Barcelona Digital
Barcelona Media
Beabloo
BeepMarketing
Between Brackets
bluenove
Blyk
Bullnet Gestion
CanalPDA
cellity AG
Centro Español de Servicios Telematicos
Channer Medianet
cirici new media
Clicmobile
CommonSensus
Comunicano
Coreobjects Ltd
DD&H
Debaeque Venture Capital
Dial2Do
dotopen
Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
eBuddy
Economic Promotion - Barcelona City Council
Eden Ventures
El Paìs
Ericsson
Esade
European Commission - Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)
Facoria de Canales
Five minutes
Fjord
France Telecom
Futurlink
GeoMe Communications
Getjar
GoodmintonPartners
Google
GSM Association
Halmstad University
Hewlett-Packard
Hiwave GmbH
Ideal Interfaces
Interactive McCann
IT University of Copenhagen
Itinerarium
itsmy.com (Gofresh)
Jaeson Associates
Jupidi GmbH
Kalerion Computing
Kimia
kooaba AG
La Vanguardia
Longreach Mobile
Lorem Ipsum
M:Metrics
Materna GmbH
mikamai
Mobiclip SL
Mobifriends
Mobile Distillery
Mobile Economy GmbH
MobileContact Software
MobileMonday PL
MobileMonday Ltd.
MobiLuck
Motorola
Motricity
mSearchGroove
my247.mobi
MyFrame Inc.
MyVocal
Nauta Tech Invest II SCR
NextWell
Nimbuzz
Nokia
Nova Ventus Consulting
Onetomarket
Orange
Oxynade
Ozmota
Palringo
PBS MediaShift
Peperoni Software GmbH
Plugg
Qelp
Qualcomm
Quodis
Refresh Mobile
Route Forward Ltd
Rummble
Safiratec
Samtel Consultores
Service Innovation and Interaction Design
SFR
Simba Technologies
SMS Text News
Some Bazaar
Spinverse Ltd
SPRXmobile
Stanford HCI Group
Stradbroke Advisors
Sun Microsystems
Sydes nv / Arkafund nv
Ta with you
Taptu
TAT AB
TechCrunch
Telecom Italia
Telefonica I+D
Telefonica Moviles
Telgraph Hill Group
Tertius Advisory Services
T-Mobile International AG
Tooio Mobile
Treasuremytext
Trutap
Trutap Ltd
Uniteddogs and Cats OY
Universal McCann
University of Salzburg
University of VIC
Unkasoft
Valoris
ViaMobility
ViiF Mobile Video GmbH
Vodafone
Webwag
Worldwide Rights Management Ltd
Yahoo!
Yiibu
YouLynx
Zipipop
ZYB

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

… Germany, Spain and Belgium to go live in 2009 …

BlykBlyk, the new mobile network for 16-24 year olds funded by advertising, announces its next wave of European expansion into Germany, Spain and Belgium in 2009, following its announcement to enter the Dutch market earlier this year. Blyk’s rapid expansion is subsequent to its UK success where members embraced the Blyk concept so quickly that its annual member targets of 100,000 were reached six months ahead of schedule, establishing it as a powerful new media for connecting advertisers with young people.

Blyk’s CEO and Co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said, “There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication. Our success in the UK, illustrated by robust member adoption, has proven that Blyk is a youth media that works and we hope to replicate this success as we enter new countries. We are also working to attract local talent who share our enthusiasm and can help build Blyk into a significant youth media in other countries.”

The press release mentions Blyk has run over 900 campaigns in the UK for brands such as Coca Cola, STA Travel, Penguin, Buena Vista, L’Oreal and music artists The Kooks and Alphabeat with an average response rate of 29 percent, an extremely high level for any media platform. For example, Penguin’s campaign to promote Nick Hornby’s new novel, saw 7 out of 10 members engage with the publisher in a dialogue.

Blyk will make further announcements related to activities in each of these countries in the near future.

I asked the company about the choice of operator network they’ll partner with in the next expansion series of countries but Blyk replied it hasn’t taken a decison yet… I can only think about this perfect strategy having the operators to fight to get the popular brand on their network… Ahead of the curve as we say… To follow!

I didn’t expect Blyk was going to grow that fast on other European markets. I’m looking forward the brand launches in Spain, I’ll have the advantage my daughters will have 16 by the time Blyk launches here, so it will be fun to discover the added-value services with them and get their direct feedback :)

FYI Leif Fågelstedt, COO of Blyk is participating to the Mobile 2.0 Europe conference next week in Barcelona as part of the Open Business Models panel moderated by Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile 2.0 EuropeThe Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee announced the selection of the presenting start-ups at Mobile 2.0 Europe on July 4 in Barcelona. Some 70 mobile start-up companies applied to present at Mobile 2.0 Europe conference. The committee was delightfully surprised with the quality of the ideas and technology of the start-ups coming from many different corners of Europe and the world.

Here are the selected start-up companies.

PRE SERIES A companies

kooaba (Switzerland) - Mobile Image Search
Mobiluck (France) - Mobile Location-based IM, Chat and Social Networking
Secufone (Netherlands) - Mobility and Safety
Unkasoft (Spain) - Mobile Advergaming
ViiF (Germany) - Mobile Entertainment Community

POST SERIES A companies

Futurlink (Spain) - Proximity Marketing
Nimbuzz (Netherlands) - Mobile IM and Text Message Service
Mippin (UK) - Mobilizing the Web
Palringo (UK) - Vocal Instant Messaging
Taptu (UK) - Mobile Social Search

Early-Stage companies

The presenters in this category will be announced the day of the event as to maintain the suspense.

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.

Pekka Pohjakallio, Vice President, Suites Management and Marketing, Services and Software at Nokia will introduce the conference with a keynote.

Participants will enjoy C-Level speaker and panelist participations from other mobile industry players, such as AdMob, AMF Ventures, Atlas Venture, Bango, Blyk, Debaeque Capital, Fjord, Getjar, Google, itsmy.com (Gofresh), Nokia, M:Metrics, Orange, Stradbroke Advisors, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Trutap, Vodafone, Yahoo!, and ZYB. The sessions will be moderated by some of Europe’s finest bloggers including Mike Butcher (TechCrunch UK), Peggy Anne Saltz (MSearchGroove) and Raimo van der Klein (SPRX Mobile).

Check the full speaker list and program agenda here.

There is a lot of interest from the industry to attend this event. Early-Bird tickets at €99 and Standard tickets at €149 are already sold out. Currently, there are some 20 tickets left at €199 (breakfast, lunch, coffee and networking cocktail included), after which tickets will be on sale at €299 (prices all excl. VAT). Attendants can purchase their ticket online at Amiando Mobile 2.0 Europe.

We are also organising a meetup with our media partner TechCrunch, the evening after the event; please contact Mike Butcher or info@dotopen.eu for more information on this event.

Our Partners
Our thanks to our partners Nokia, Palringo, Taptu, Telefónica Movistar, Vodafone, Yahoo!, Bango, eBuddy and Mippin for their invaluable support.

Technorati , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,



About

You are currently browsing the mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends - m-trends.org weblog archives for startups.

Contact: