SMS Text News reader Daniel emailed me asking for the help of the ultra techie audience here on the site. Do you know much about certificates and Java for mobile? Perhaps you might be able to help. Here’s his enquiry:

Please help me with this enquiry. I’ve got a Java mobile application that i’m trying to distribute over the internet but whenever the users are trying to install the application and use it, a message keeps on appearing saying the application hasnt got a certificate.

Let me explain the process in downloading the application from the site. The users visit the site, completes the online registration form and by clicking on the download button, a txt file will be generated which will contain the user details, the JAR file which contains the application stored on the server gets extracted and recompiled again with the new txt file.

So whenever users try to activate the application on their phone, the information saved on txt file will be retrieved to authenticate them. Basically, the help i need now is identifiying which company i need to use to integrate the application with the security certificate as the way the application is download makes it a little bit complicated.

It’s definitely a complicated model that Daniel’s implemented. Any thoughts?

I was sent this enquiry this morning —

I’m looking for a content editor with mobile telco experience. 6 month contract to perm. Only need a couple of years experience of working in a similar role. Would you know anyone?

Thanks for your help.

If you know anyone who might be interested, ask’em to speak to me and I’ll connect them.

Hi there I’m hunting for someone to create me a blog editing application that will work on the Nokia E61i.

I need to be able to edit/add blogs on the go easily. Right now I arse about with the Wordpress web interface on the Nokia’s browser and it’s rather annoying.

I need to: –

1.) Add new blog posts (title, body, category)
2.) Edit and update existing blog posts (editing title, body, category)
3.) Be able to define the XMLRPL file location (it might not always be located at www.smstextnews.com)

I’m totally prepared to pay. If you’re interested or know someone who is, shoot me an email and tell me what cost you reckon you’d be able to do it for?

Sonus PR have a big opportunity for you if you’ve got a mobile application that appeals to UK females.

A while ago I was lamenting what a total arse it is for mobile application developers who make a piece-of-genius service and who can’t easily get it out to consumers. The prospect of hiring a PR firm and paying them megabucks for months to establish you, before you see any results, is not good. Especially if you’re on a limited budget.

I lamented this rather strongly to Patrick Smith of Sonus PR who looked at me funny. That’s because they’ve been planning on doing something about this issue for some time.

They’ve created a mobile roadshow for mobile applications and service providers. They’re looking for about 10 or so companies that they can take round all the UK women’s magazines.

The concept is this: Package your offering nicely, together with the other 9 or so related offerings — and present it in easily consumable form to the magazine editors (who, by the way, are very receptive to this concept). Now they’ve got content for a nice two/three page spread on ‘your guide to your mobile life’ or similar.

Now, if you fancy being one of the companies included, have a read of this post from last week (Patrick from Sonus gives loads more details). Then drop Patrick a mail quickly (patrick.smith at sonuspr.com). The slots are filling up!

One of the biggest arses for companies operating in the mobile sector is actually getting normobs — normal mobile users — to read and hear about the vast array of super applications and services available to them.

You can of course spunk huge chunks of money on an above-the-line advertising campaign to reach out to your target audiences. That’s one way. The other, potentially much more valuable method is PR. It’s all about getting in front of people via trusted media sources. But that’s typically a dream if you’re a mobile start-up. The amount of companies I come across who just need a push… a small push into the consumer marketplace… and they’ll go ballastic… ahh. It is frustrating to behold. Which is why I’m pretty excited to present this opportunity.

The folks at Sonus PR have come up with a wicked idea to get your applications showcased. Over to Patrick from Sonus with more gossip:

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Patrick writes:

If you’re targeting a female audience with a funky mobile application, we may be able to help. We’ve hit upon a great idea to take the mobile industry out to the mass market: a showcase of the very best mobile applications on the market for the leading consumer magazines, to show them what they’ve been missing! We will be targeting the likes of Woman’s Own or Bella. We are also going to offer this to companies that may not have the budget for a full blown campaign, but that would be interested in looking at a one-off project that will get them the results that they need?

We are going to bring together ten mobile applications, aimed at the female 35 – 60 age group, to create a showcase for a tour of National Magazine Company, IPC and Bauer publishing houses (they account for c. 90% of the women’s magazines published in the UK). Any app involved in this unique showcase is likely to get in front of around 30 of the UK’s most widely read women’s magazines.

We would like to invite companies that think they have a cool product to publicise to contact us and bid for inclusion in the tour. Because you will be part of a showcase of a number of applications, and this is a one off project, there are none of the huge cost implications of carrying out a tour of this kind on your own. Participation in this project would cost £2,500 where an equivalent project carried out alone would incur costs of around £15,000.

So, if you are looking to get in front of some of the most important women’s magazines in the UK, alongside some of the best new mobile applications, but don’t want to pay through the nose for a costly PR campaign; we invite you to contact us

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Thanks Patrick. If this floats your boat — or even if you’ve already got PR representation, I think it could be worth getting involved. The kind of consumer awareness that Sonus are looking to generate with this tour could be instrumental for many companies in all kinds of ways. Investors, for example, like nothing more than reading about potential deals in popular media. If you’re possibly up for it, drop a note over to Patrick — his email is patrick.smith at sonuspr.com or talk to his colleague Caronline on caroline.tarbett at sonuspr.com.

I reckon we’ll do a feature on each of the 10 companies too.