Look at that list there. That tells you something about the ecosystem that Qualcomm has created in recent years.

Uplinq is Qualcomm’s annual developer conference in San Diego and if my experience there last year was anything to go by, this year’s event (June 1st-2nd) is going to be fantastic.

The keynote speakers themselves are simply astonishing. First up you’ve got Qualcomm’s very own superstar, Dr Paul Jacobs. Youthful, engaged, highly watchable — the guy is brilliant. He’s going to be joined by:

- Jon Rubinstein, SVP & GM of Hewlett-Packard’s Palm Business Unit
- Peter Chou, Chief Executive of HTC
- Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia

When I read this, I did have to take a second glance. HP, HTC, Nokia and Qualcomm all playing together? Oh yes. It’s a brave new world. And what a coup for Qualcomm — the company has made a serious of brilliant moves placing its Snapdragon chipsets in the heart of the next generation of mobile technology. Almost any Android, WebOS and Windows Phone is sporting some kind of Qualcomm hardware.

Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what each of these chaps has to say about the mobile marketplace.

There’s still time to register for the event and you can browse the full schedule here. If you’re into the business of mobile development, I recommend being there. Tickets are a pretty reasonable $375.

Now then here’s another event that I’d like to draw your attention to, especially if you’re into social media as I know a lot of the people reading are. BlogWorld & New Media Expo is taking place on the 24th-26th of May  in New York. This year they’re adding a mobile stream to the conference schedule — and all things being equal, I’m going to try and be there!

I asked Rick Calvert, the top man at BlogWorld to answer some questions about the event (particularly in the context of mobile). Here we go — my questions are in bold:

- – - – -

1. Could you introduce yourself — who are you and what’s your background?

I am the CEO & Co-founder or BlogWorld & New Media Expo. I have been reading blogs since 2000 and started my own political blog “The Real Ugly American” in 2005. Before launching BlogWorld I worked on several large tradeshows here in the US including The SEMA Show (everything you don’t need to make your car go faster or look cooler which brings 100,000 attendees and more than 2,000 exhibitors), ComiCon (everything you ever wanted to know about Comic Books 100,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors) and AWFS (Association of WoodWorking & Furnishings Suppliers)

2. Describe BlogWorldExpo — what’s the event concept? It’s not just for people who write blogs?

BlogWorld was built primarily to provide an industry wide gathering and help digital content creators succeed. In order to accomplish that we identified four main goals with our event.

#1 Help content creators learn how to create, distribute and monetize content.
#2 Expose the different communities within the blogosphere to each other.
#3 Educate companies large and small how to use these new media and social networking tools and teach them how to build relationships with content creators.
#4 Foster the convergence between new media and traditional media.

We also have a very diverse community. This includes four main groups:

• Digital content creators who are currently earning some income or a full time living via their blog, podcast, internet radio, internet TV or other form of digital content.
• Other folks that we consider a core part of our community include people who are insanely passionate about their content and want to improve what they are doing but might not be making any money at it or may never even have the aspiration to do so.
• The next group are the corporate bloggers, community managers, social media managers, and evangelists.
• Lastly, come the suits. The PR flacks and “Corporate Communicators”, the CMO’s VP’s and Directors of Marketing, the Ad Agency pitchmen and small business owners who want to engage with our core community and learn how to use new media tools to sell more stuff, provide better customer service and improve their internal corporate communication, etc.

3. I’ve always associated BlogWorldExpo with the West Coast — tell us about the addition of the New York show?

We have wanted to do a show in the east coast for a long time now. People are constantly asking us to produce an event on the east coast. This year we finally had the right opportunity to do that in partnership with our friends at Reed and Book Expo America. This is going to allow people within our community who have always wanted to attend but haven’t been able to travel out west to be a part of the BlogWorld experience.

4. What kind of organisations exhibit and present?

Like the rest of the blogosphere it is a pretty diverse group. Blogging platforms like WordPress and Posterous, to analytics and social media monitoring services like Radian6 and Raven Tools, content syndication services like Newstex, Advertising and Affiliate networks, domain hosting and registration companies, blog networks, audio and video hardware like Kodak and Sony, to corporate sponsors like Ford and Southwest Airlines.

5. Who should attend BlogWorldExpo?

Anyone who wants to create, distribute or monetize content on the web. Any company that wants to learn how to use social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn or how to blog and podcast.

6. The event seems to have a phenomenal reach — tell us about that?

Well last year we had 3,200 attendees at the show. In turn those 3,200 people had a combined monthly audience of over 250 million people. That is just counting their self reported blog audience. That doesn’t include their reach on Twitter, Facebook etc. I think the fact that we hold the Guinness World Record for “most social media messages sent in a 24 hour period with a single hashtag” #beatcancer is evidence of that reach and influence.

7. Mobile, blogging and social media are beginning to tightly integrate — and to this end you’ve introduced a mobile stream — tell us about that?

The mobile revolution is going to dwarf the internet revolution. As smart phones get smarter and easier to use and with the increased adoption of tablets like the iPad. Billions of people are all going to be consuming the content that bloggers, podcasters etc create on those mobile devices. They are also going to be making buying decisions and direct purchases from their mobile phones. Any content creator that isn’t formatting their content to be consumed on mobile devices is going to be left behind very quickly.

8. What’s your message to companies in the mobile industry thinking about coming along?

They need content creators as much as we need them. The sooner the mobile experience becomes friendly and easy to use and consumers can access content easily the faster mobile devices will be adopted.

9. Talk us through some highlights — what are you particularly excited about?

Well as I am writing this reply, we just confirmed WordPress.com as are newest exhibitor. We are pretty excited about that. It is the first time they have officially been on the show floor 8). But the co-location with Book Expo America is definitely the highlight of the NYC event. This is the first time an entire segment of the traditional media space is going to be exposed to the new media universe at large. We always attract a few publishers, radio, TV and film industry folks to our event and they attend other social media conferences but never have the two met face to face head on. I think both communities are going to blown away by what they learn from each other. A lot of misconceptions on both sides are going to be confronted and that is going to bring about some great conversations.

10. Where do we find out more information?

That’s easy www.blogworldexpo.com or give us a tweet or a call. Thanks Ewan!

- – - – -

Thank you Rick — thanks for taking the time and I look forward to physically meeting at BlogWorld soon.

One of the best conferences in mobile applications is taking place toward the end of this month. I’m pretty disappointed to not be able to make it.

It’s obviously taking place in San Francisco — where else, but the centre of the mobile applications world?

Last year, the inaugural APPNATION was thoroughly well received and this year, it looks like the organisers have made it even better. The speaking roster is a regular Who’s Who in mobile apps. Jeff Scott of 148Apps. Mike Rowehl, Carlo Longino, Tim Chang — those are just some of the names who pop out immediately for me (i.e. I know they’re good).

Vijay Chattah of VSC Consulting is leading one track on App Marketing Do’s and Donts. Then Noah Kravitz of Technobuffalo is talking app stores — I’d go to APPNATION just to see each of these chaps speak.

The discussion is set to be fascinating. It’s painful reading the agenda because I can see just what I will be missing. Jonathan from Nielsen will set the scene with his keynote. Then Trip Hawkins of Digital Chocolate will deliver the opening address, then it’s on to discussion about the app economy, then the App Rockstars take to the stage… yup. If you’re in the Valley or if you can get to the Valley, I recommend taking some time out to go along.

Now then, if you’re quick, you can still qualify for a massive 30% discount on entry if you use the code AMIR30 at checkout. But do be quick. Here’s the registration link.

The event is taking place on the 27th-28th April.

I used my Apple Air and did the recording from the office here in Paris. Then I took a few questions from the audience.

Here we go:

I’ll aim to do a few more of these kind of live videos — if you’d like notification of when they’re going to occur, pleasedo follow me on Twitter: @ew4n

Here are my slides from this Monday’s presentation at The Big M mobile event in Bath:

Update: The slides made the ‘spotlight’ section of Slideshare — thanks to the editors there!

Congratulations to Mike and Chris, the chaps behind The Big M conference held this week in Bath. They did a phenomenal job pulling together what surely has to be the city’s largest ever tech event (there were over 200 tickets sold).

I’d never been to Bath before — what a lovely, pleasant place it was. Just an hour-and-a-bit from London Paddington, surrounded by rolling hills and blessed with some phenomenal architecture, I’m looking forward to going back soon.

There’s a thriving creative and technical hub around the city and it was most definitely in evidence during the event. I met some magnificent people working on some very interesting concepts — from Gelato to mobile event networking to uber-sexy RFID projects.

The event was held over two days (a conference on the Monday and a workshop on the Tuesday). I unfortunately missed the second day as I had to rush off to Paris.

Touchnote’s Raam Thakrar delivered a very straight forward message to developers: If you class yourself as a decent mobile developer and you’re not earning at least £65,000 a year, change, modify, stop. I think that statement will resonate highly with a lot of people in the mobile development space.

Aral Balkan had everyone laughing with disbelief at some ridiculous user interface experiences. That’s Aral’s bag — he’s a designer, developer — but his focus appears to be heavily based around helping humans interact with technology. He made some phenomenal points about simplicity — unfortunately, most of them completely (and I do mean, completely) ignored by the vast majority of the mobile marketplace. With the exception of Apple obviously.

I didn’t manage to catch Bruce Lawson’s presentation as I was back at the hotel working away on my presentation. I talked to some of the other delegates who very much appreciated a fundamental reminder of the capabilities of HTML5 and mobile. It’s not all about the walled garden.

I popped back into the Komedia venue just as the panel session held by Vodafone’s Dan Appelquist was coming to an end. Immediate feedback from the chaps I sat down next to was: More, more, more — I can understand why. Dan had assembled a panel of excellent speakers. I know both Sanyu Kiruluta (of RIM) and Terence Eden (of WAC) and highly rate them — so alongside the other panelists, I’m sure it was most definitely thought-provoking.

I then did my presentation.

Then Paul Golding got up to talk Future Innovations. (I am particularly impressed that he has insisted his children, aged 11 & 13 if memory serves, never, ever get a ‘job’. Good policy that, I think, for the next generation.) Paul’s presentation was utterly critical for any mobile startups thinking about how they develop their business. Paul works with o2 and briefly mentioned their Twilio-like service that I really must take a look at.

I’ll be uploading my slides in just a few moments. In my presentation I was pretty critical about mobile operators in general — however one thing I should have said is well done — well down to the sponsors of The Big M, namely:

- Vodafone (Developers)
- BlueVia
- Nokia

I’m delighted they took the time to come down to Bath to talk to the attendees — and that had the foresight to support the event in the first place. Good work!

My message to the train operators attending TrainComms2011 is JFDI. In case translation is required: Just frakking* do it.

This June, BWCS will host its sixth annual WiFi on Trains Conference Train Communications Systems 2011, with train operators from all over the world due to speak and attend.

The conference will be dominated by real case studies presented by train operators who have launched WiFi on-board services. Book now, to hear how these go-ahead companies have overcome technical, marketing and operational issues to offer passenger WiFi and help win the battle to fill empty train seats and cut operating costs.

Join the throng of national train companies, new competitors, rail authorities and would-be new operators at this year’s Train Communications Systems Conference on the 8th and 9th of June at St Pancras International Railway Station in central London to discuss the latest trends and services in this fast-moving market.

It’s simply ridiculous that the Eurostar doesn’t yet support WiFi on-board. They will. It’s coming. But they need to blow a few hundred million on some new trains first. And there’s a good few years to go until they’ll hit service.

Likewise with almost every other train operator I can think of. There’s no excuse. Invest please. Get on with it. Make it chargeable if you must. IF YOU MUST. But if you’re going to charge for it, you better make sure the service level is good enough. Otherwise, seriously consider just making it part of the service.

I think free WiFi on board a lot of the packed commuter trains heading in and out of London would at least alleviate some of the boredom and frustration of the commuters who are forced to stand all the way.

It’s good to see somebody is doing something about it — in the context of running an event to address the issues. This event takes place on the 8th-9th of June. I’ll see if I can get along. It’ll be fascinating no doubt. And I tell you know, I bet all the case studies presented show that people actually appreciate the facility.

Both days of the conference will set you back £999. Not £1,000, by the way, that’s a rather strategically priced £999.

Full details at: http://www.traincomms2011.com/

*Frakking = a nod to the Battlestar Galactica fans reading.

Here’s the original release about the event.

Family Fortunes? Mastermind? University Challenge? Blankety-Blank?

That’s right, the Mobile Gameshow is coming to London next week featuring a host of your favourite London mobile geniuses.

With a twist.

The organisers, Cammerjam, have sprinkled some mobile love across the much loved gameshow formats converting them to:

- Family Mobility Fortunes
- MasterMobilemind
- UniMobiversity Challenge
- Blankety-BlankAppety-App

Heh. Utter brilliance!

Mobile Gameshow features a veritable who’s who of the UK mobile industry. Just have a look at the Mobiversity Challenge game starting at 3:50pm, for example. Stephen Upstone, VP Sales/Biz Dev for Velti is hosting whilst the two teams comprise The Geeks and The Suits.

The geeks?

Terence Eden, Mobile Product Manager, IPC Media
Mauricio Reyes, Software Test Engineer, Flirtomatic
Maureen Scott, Director, Ether Books Mobile Publishing

And the suits?

Sarah Evans, Head of Mobile Internet & Portals, Telefonica O2
Ben Smith, Consultant & Mobile Tech Blogger
Tim Green, Editor, Mobile Entertainment

Oooooh that’s going to be a close one, I’m sure. I wouldn’t want to be up against the encyclopaedic knowledge of Mr Tim Green of Mobile Entertainment, nor the calm confidence of Ben Smith. (I haven’t actually met Sarah Evans from o2/Telefonica) but I have confidence in the event organiser to pick smart participants. I think the geeks in the form of Terence, Mauricio and Maureen could dominate depending on the questions.

I urge you to take a look at the line-up and decide how sweet it will be to ensure you are there live, watching these luminaries crush their competitors … or fail spectacularly. The hashtag will be smoking.

Kudos to sponsors BlackBerry, Velti, OpenMarket, Smaato and MobileSquared for stumping up to help the event go live.

All things being equal I will be hosting the Appety-App game which starts at 4.30pm. I just can’t wait.

Expect 150+ mobile geniuses in the room. I think it’s going to be brilliant.

And after all the shenanigns, there will be a Christmas Party.

But how much does it cost?

It’s free. You will need to register to attend — so be quick: http://www.camerjam.com/events/mobilegameshow/.

See you on Monday afternoon!

The sun is shining brightly in Miami already and it’s just gone 7am. The temperature is set to hit 28 degrees and the venue, the city’s uber-funky Fontainbleu Hotel has got the aircon and the internet connectivity turned up to the max.

And helpfully, especially given yesterday’s diatribe (and diatribe #2) against Vodafone, the entire Hotel area is blanketed with super-fast WiFi.

Today is the Day One of the MEF Americas 2010 Mobile Content & Commerce event. Last night there was a reception for the hundreds of delegates who’ve flown in — and as usual with MEF, I was wading knee deep amongst C-Level and SVP-Level geniuses. I’m always astonished by the seniority of the people I meet.

I’m here for a few reasons. First, I’ve been long developing a key interest in the developing markets that I’ve finally decided I can no longer watch from the sidelines. There’s a heavy contingent of mobile experts from the Latin American areas here and I’ve been thoroughly fascinated by what they’ve had to say so far — and the event’s not started yet. Second, I’m filming — thanks to Nokia (who’re the video sponsor for the event). Third, I’m moderating a panel later today (“Best Bets from the Application Experts”).

The event’s agenda is right here.

I’m going to be getting a ton of interesting people on the camera — one of the highlights I’ve already put in the diary for today is Marco Argenti, later on today. Marco is VP of Media at Nokia. He is responsible for the company’s media services including the Ovi Store. So standby for a good series of mini episodes. I’ve got 30 minutes with him so I’ll turn on the camera and start firing questions and split the footage into a few smaller pieces.

Follow me on Twitter (@ew4n) for updates across the day. I’ll do some more posts here shortly.

I asked Dominic Travers, one of the organisers of this week’s Droidcon android conference, to give us a preview of one of the event’s keynotes. If you haven’t got your ticket yet, there are still a few left so be quick. I’m looking forward to it!

Over to Dominic:

- – - – -

Traditionally there was a big gap between Original Equipment Manufacturers and independent mobile software developers. The last couple of years have seen a rapid change in this dynamic. What is it like for a company to take a brand new operating system that has only been in the wild for 2 years, design hardware, code and deliver a range of devices? We think this must be quite a challenge, particularly as consumers now are very quick to spread news of anything they don’t like across social networks. Manufacturers usually deliver their phones to the network operators and quietly move on to the next set. I have never seen a handset manufacturer talk about these challenges, even behind closed doors with their major MNO customers, let alone to a public audience, until now.

On Friday afternoon, Karl-Johan Dahlström and Erik Hellman of Sony Ericsson will provide an unique insight in to what it is really like working with Android. Developing the hardware and software integration, and providing a compelling user experience. Factor in the integration with Sony’s consumer products and experience design, you can see how this enhances the range, and requires skill and talent to deliver. The Android behind the scenes keynote is at 2pm.

They’re not going to stop there. Erik Hellman will then expand on the technical side of their Android design and development in the Design Track with Implementing Android: a manufacturers perspective. This in depth look at managing requirements and dealing with implementing a very open OS, will be truly fascinating. The current furore around Steve Jobs saying that Android isn’t really open, is a moot point. It is massively more open than anything the mobile industry has ever seen before. Now the nature of openness is inspiring unprecedented collaboration through APIs and honest presentations like this. We applaud our friends at Sony Ericsson for recognising how valuable this is to the ecosystem, and leading the way ahead.

- – - – -

Thanks for that Dominic. See you there!

And for those who would like a quick reminder of the origins of the quote used in the title, I bring you this clip:

Hi Ewan.

Have just seen breaking news on the Register that Symbian workers in London and Cambridge have been told to go home this morning.

I would like to invite the all to attend droidcon for half price. Any chance you could pop a note on MIR to this effect.

Best thing would be to say that they can email me at domininc@droidcon.co.uk to get the discount.

Dominic

Nice one Dominic. See you there next week!

One of the best looking Android conferences I’ve seen in a while. I will aim to be there. If you’ve anything whatsoever to do with Android or you want to reach developers, you should be there too.

I’ll be posting more on this shortly.

Meanwhile, visit the site and buy a ticket: http://www.droidcon.co.uk/

Well then, it’s BlackBerry time again! The last time I was in America, I was at RIM’s magnificent WES2010 event in Orlando. That was huge — and although WES is definitely the key event for any RIM observer, the company’s DevCon conferences are all about mobile developers.

The company is doing excellent work in the apps space, especially in what they refer to as ‘the superapp’ category (applications that are tightly, tightly integrated into the BlackBerry operating system — think Facebook, LinkedIn and more recently, Twitter).

I’m here in San Francisco this week to observe, to meet, to interview and I think it’s going to be very, very good.

There’s a big press conference tomorrow morning (early evening London UK time) and I’m looking forward to some exciting announcements from the company.

I’m going to take a tour around the conference, I’ll be sitting in on some presentations and I’ll let you know what I think. I’ve also signed up to experiment creating a MIR widget for BlackBerry and also a MIR theme. Standby for a work of unmitigated genius.

I’ll also be hanging out with the world’s #1 BlackBerry news and review team from Crackberry (who broke the news of the all new BlackBerry Style flip phone recently).

So bring it on RIM. Let’s see what you’ve got!

I’m going to be at world leading IT infrastructure event, 360 IT, this coming Wednesday. It’s being held at Earls Court 1 in London on 22nd and 23rd (this Wednesday and Thursday).

I’m taking the camera and a crew down to the event to see what’s moving with enterprise mobile.

Registration for the event is entirely free so if you’d like to get on camera, come on down to the event. My schedule is light at the moment but it’ll fill up I think so please do drop me a note as soon as you can if you’re keen.

I’m particularly interested in the field of enterprise mobile development, mobile applications, mobile billing/transactions, mobile in enterprise and the like. But, I’m flexible and keen to discover new products and services with some kind of mobile element.

I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.

If you’re a mobile developer, you should be at the upcoming Appnation Conference in San Francisco, happening on the 13th and 14th of September.

I’ve got one exhibition Pod to give away.  The Pod is brilliant — it gives you the ability to show off your wares to the thronging masses.

And for all the British and Europeans reading, don’t underestimate the power and potential of the American entrepreneurial spirit. That spirit is absolutely thriving in Silicon Valley right now thanks to the innovation (and money) flowing around the area.

So if you need to kick-start your app’s growth or if you’re looking for companies and organisations to adopt your technologies, this is the place to be. And it’s all 100% mobile application focused.

By all means go — but if you’d like a little Pod, I’ve got *one* to give away to a lucky mobile developer.  You will need to get yourself to San Francisco but I’ve managed to get the Pod, a load of passes and a ticket to the uber-cool evening reception.

If you’d like to participate, all the details you need are here.

I’ll be selecting a random winner this evening at 10pm London Time. Good luck!

I had a note in from the 360°IT Event team to tell me that they’re giving away an iPad to a lucky delegate who takes the time to register to attend. The competition closes tomorrow at midday, so do get stuck in quickly.

To register, use this link.

Registration for the event is free and takes about 20 seconds.

They’re going to announce the winner tomorrow afternoon.

If you haven’t come across the event before, here’s an overview:

360°IT is the new, ground-breaking event that demonstrates how IT infrastructure solutions can help to achieve key business objectives such as improving service, reducing cost, managing risk and gaining competitive advantage and growth.

I can’t stand going to events and conferences and finding the WiFi services are either faulty, slow or non-existent.  It’s a big problem for event organisers — and one that can no longer be sidestepped as being the venue’s fault.

Complain to the event organiser that, “The WiFi is rubbish,” or, “I can’t seem to get a connection?” and you’ll invariably get a response like this:

“Oh, yes, sorry,” the event manager will say, “I’ll have a word with the Hotel Manger.”

And that’s when you’re trying to PAY the service provider a stupid rate per hour for the privilege of using their connection.

The Hotels & Venues Don’t Get It

Unfortunately, all the Hotel Manager can do is place a call to their disinterested WiFi provider who won’t lift a finger for at least 24 hours.  Enough time to ensure every delegate is well and truly cheesed off by 10am.  That’s because the hotel contract is usually for rooms.  Their service provider is specialist at extracting $6.95 per hour or $14.95 for 24-hours from any paying guest half interested in decent internet.  And this arrangement works fine when 3 out of 500 guests decide to use it.  The rubbish DSL connection feels very fast when only 3 people are using it.

And at some point, the hotel room WiFi fleecing service was co-opted to the ‘public areas’.

False Advertising

And all of a sudden, hotels started putting statements like ‘guest WiFi available in all areas’ on their websites and brochures.  In many places I’ve been to they’ve obviously installed no extra equipment.  It’s often just the reception ‘public area’ WiFi leaking into the ballroom.

Event organisers will, I’m sure, routinely phone up and quiz the ‘meetings team’ hotel/venue people who all nod like chickens when asked if there’s WiFi.

The Ebola Virus

Unfortunately, WiFi in hotels and conference venues is generally the equivalent of the ebola virus.  Forgotten.  Not quite understood.  Irrelevant for most.  Until 500 delegates who’ve all paid $1,200 for a one-day event arrive with laptops, iPhones, iPads and other implements that all need WiFi connectivity.

Then you’ve got a problem.  Everyone’s got a very big problem.  And what’s worse, it can’t be fixed pronto.

You can’t use one NetGear router on a 10mb home broadband BT connection to serve 500 delegates. Especially when the average device WiFi requirement per 500 delegates in the mobile industry is around 2.4 connected devices per person. But goodness me, I’ve experienced at least 3 events offering this kind of service level this year.

I’m sick and tired of experiencing this kind of shoddy service.

Who’s Problem Is It?

I know it’s not the event manager’s problem per se.  The technology just isn’t understood that well.  Even the hotel or conference ‘meetings’ teams don’t seem to understand what kind of infrastructure is needed.  Worse, a lot of the conference venue folk I’ve met simply don’t think it’s a problem.

And to be fair, it’s definitely not a problem when the venue policy is to proudly declare that their entire complex is WiFi-enabled — and then make it clear that there is no possible, conceivable way you will be given their Access Key.  No. Way.

Because their system only works for 200 odd people.

And they’ve only got a 1 megabit internet connection that they’re sharing with their own office PCs.

At so many venues I’ve been to, the WiFi systems appear to be held together with string and powered by really tired hamsters.

The New Series

Here, then, is a Mobile Industry Review series aimed at tackling this issue.

If you’re an event organiser or if you work in the ‘meetings industry’, this series is specifically for you.  And if you’re a long suffering delegate, I present this series for your bookmarks — to forward to the chap or lady who will, no doubt, shortly try and explain why the WiFi isn’t working at [insert conference name].  Send them this link and a request for a refund of your ticket fee.

The MIR Event WiFi Charter

First, I present to you: The MIR Event WiFi Charter…

1. Delegates should be given free WiFi, especially if they’re paying to attend the event
2. Delegates should be able to download files at an average of 50k/sec throughput and Google should appear and deliver results in 2 seconds
3. Delegates should be allowed to activate up to 3 WiFi devices
4. There should be no registration required — this is always implemented as though it’s been conceived and programmed by an utter arse.  No forwarding weird rubbish.  No stupid proxy rubbish that doesn’t work on a mobile browser.  You should just be connected to the open internet.

WiFi Industry Experts Galore!

So, how do you go about delivering perfect WiFi for 10,000 delegates?  Well I don’t know.  I only know the rough concepts behind the technology.  Which is why I’ve asked a series of industry experts — some of the best ‘go-to’ companies around — to give me answers to the following questions.  I will be publishing each expert’s answers across this week.

Here are the questions I posed to them:

1. What’s the best way of guaranteeing brilliant, seamless WiFi service at a PR launch for 100 users?
2. Now, factor that up to 10,000 or 20,000 people at a huge exhibition? What kind of technology is needed to support that?
3. What kind of technical considerations are required when you’re dealing with multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court or big, big hotels that might need connectivity on multiple floors?
4. Once you’ve managed to assign and log a user on to a WiFi network, what’s the best way to assure brilliant internet connectivity? Is it just a matter of a big, big data pipe? The bigger the better?
5. Is there a functional limit for the amount of people that you can get connected to a single WiFi network?
6. Do you have any suggestions for a rule of thumb in terms of data consumption? e.g. 1 user consumes 200mb WiFi internet data in a day, therefore 100 users would need 20gb bandwidth in total. And what kind of backhaul pipe is needed for a decent service? Does ‘fast broadband’ from the likes of BT cut it in this arena? Or should we be talking super-fast dedicated connectivity?
7. In reality, is it just too expensive to do this properly to serve, say, 5,000 or 10,000 delegates?
8. What are the main ‘gotchas’ that result in event organisers being harassed by frustrated users?
9. Do you have any brief case studies or examples you could share where the technology has really worked?
10. What would your equipment/service shopping list look like to deliver WiFi to 500 or 10,000 delegates?
11. Take a gaze into the future: What should we be looking for in the future to deliver this kind of connectivity?

Standby for the responses — they’re good.  And if you’re looking to solve the WiFi for one of your upcoming events, I think the participants will be able to help.

Here are the expert contributions:

1. Scott Reeves of Ruckus Wireless
2. Ben Wilson of Xirrus

Are you going to Senior Mobile Market this year? The agenda is packed and I think it’s looking like a brilliant event for anyone interested in the largely overlooked senior mobile market.

There’s still time to register — the event is on July 6th in London. Here are the details from one of the organisers, Dominic Travers. (My policy is to always aim to attend anything that Dominic is involved with).

The Senior Market Mobile conference 2010. Following it’s successful launch in 2009, this conference examines both the business and design values required for great senior market products & services. Curated again by Simon Rockman, who is very passionate about this sector. Highlights of a full and diverse programme include…

- How Japan has sold 16m Raku Raku phones into the Senior market.
- How better audio makes phones suitable for seniors and better for everyone.
- What to add. What to take away: Less isn’t always more, how to do an exclusion audit on mobile phones.
- Operator experiences: How European operators are benefitting from the senior market.
- Inclusive design ethos: Lessons learned from the motor industry.

The event takes place at RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London on 6th July.
For more information and booking details please see the web site…

http://seniormarket.mobi/

Now tickets are £349 each — and if you’re uber-quick, you qualify for 20% discount on the basis of being a MIR reader. Use the code ‘MIRsubs’ when you book online. But be quick. The deadline is fast approaching.

It’s a busy week this week. This evening is the MEFFYs award ceremony and tomorrow, MEM2010 starts. MEM stands for Mobile Entertainment Market and I always thoroughly enjoy the event. Last year I moderated a panel and this year, I’m delighted to be moderating another one.

Here’s the subject:

The Apps Explosion: What Does the Proliferation of Apps and App Stores Mean for the Traditional Content and Media Industry and How Must Their Strategies Adapt?

No pressure, eh?

And here are some of the questions I’ll be posing to the panel:

- With fragmentation amongst handsets and now app stores continuing plague the industry, what are the key decisions rights owners need to make when planning their content distribution strategy?
- Will the Wholesale Applications Community create a new, open ecosystem which will reduce friction in the route to market?
- Changing consumer demands: How must your business plan evolve to cater for new content consumption habits and expectations?
- Can in-app advertising/ad-funded apps help increase the delivery of mobile media?

The panel comprises:

- Oded Ran, Head of Consumer Marketing, Windows Phone UK, Microsoft
- Mark Linder, Global Client Leader, WPP
- Philip Blair, Product Director, HTC
- Tim Raby, Managing Director, OMTP

Now I haven’t met any of these chaps — but I’ve interviewed Tim Haysom of OMTP quite a few times so I’m reasonably familiar with them. It’ll be nice to meet Oded Ran. Having spent the best part of 4 years publicly trashing the simply bollocks Windows Mobile platform here on Mobile Industry Review, I am hugely excited at the possibility of Microsoft delivering a super new service in the form of ‘Windows Phone’. I saw it at MWC and it does look very, very encouraging.

I can’t say too much about HTC on the basis of not really knowing them too well. I couldn’t tell you who their PR is. Nice devices though.

And WPP, well it’ll be fascinating to see what Mark has to say on the subject of apps.

The panel is from 1120am until midday tomorrow. I’m not sure on the ticket situation but I’m sure if you give them a call, they’ll be able to sort you out.

Check out the conference Agenda. I hope to see you there!

If you’re into mobile apps, you should be aware of Appnation. And you should also be attending. The conference, founded by the former Chairman of ad:tech, Drew Ianni, is taking place on the 13th-14th of September at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. It’s going to be huge. Absolutely huge.

Keynotes confirmed include: Ilja Laurs, CEO of GetJar; Smule Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Dr. Ge Wang; and Executives From Time Inc, Marvel Entertainment, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, Mediabrands and Initiative Media (Interpublic), Nielsen Telecom, The North Face, The Wall Street Journal, and Zynga.

Nice.

This is perfect, perfect timing. The app economy is growing in leaps and bounds and the market is in real need of a dedicated conference and exposition. I’m very much looking forward to see what Drew and his team come up with.

You can get involved too. Although they’ve got a good list of keynotes, they’re most definitely looking for contributions, so if you’re into apps and you’ve got something to say, talk to Drew and get involved. If you’d like an introduction, just send me an email.

I’m going to make sure I’m there.

Do you have any suggestions I can pass the reader?

He’s looking for a UK company — but if you’ve got any international suggestions that would supply a UK dial-in number, that would still work.

Email me or post below? I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.

Update: Scott Curzon from Bridge Talk got in touch to say that his company holds the Guinness World Record for the largest conference call ever (10,424 participants) and that they have dial-in numbers in 67 countries around the world. Probably a good company to talk to, if you’re in the market for these kind of services!

The press conference was an unusual one for us which threw us a bit, as there were no presentations, no speeches, no agenda, all very very unusual. It came off much like a round table debate than anything else, as for one we were all just sitting around on chairs in a hotel suite.

The two key people were introduced, Chang Ma the vice president of marketing strategy at LG’s mobile communications division and Matteo Sessa Vitali, the licensing director at Prada. Both of which represented their respective companies and could speak knowledgeably on their behalf.

We all expected for them to talk about the phone, its features, its abilities, what it can do, how it differs from the last handset, etc. Instead they just dove straight into the Q&A. All very strange and we weren’t sure what to do, apart from just go with the flow.

There are two ways to approach and act in a Q&A; either to ask all your questions or keep them until the end and get some face time or a briefing with the people there. There’s always a worry if you blurt out your questions, others can make note of the answers and you’ll lose your exclusivity over the points you raised.

Some of the more respectful titles out there will credit you if they use your question and answers. Therefore still giving you somewhat of a thanks which can also be found on the article is properly SEO’d. Most won’t though and therefore you hold your questions until later, when you can ask them in the privacy of a closed session. There were no one to one meetings, or scheduled private briefings after the Q&A.

As this hack has been burnt so many times, I just sat back and let the enjoyment begin on what will be the most unusual press briefing attended in a long long while.

Questions were answered and asked from the likes of CNET, TrustedReviews and Pocket-Lint with responses from the guys at LG and Prada. Often discussions opened up between journalists, which all seemed to bemuse the hosts as to why these were going on.

Points were made, journalists counter them amongst themselves, the hosts weren’t always sure whether to chip in or not. All in all it was confusing, bemusing and a tad unorthodox.

Not a great deal of information was passed along at the event, nothing really on the handset just all about the deal between them both and that’s that. Anything we really wanted to ask but were too afraid to was all left to us and our own deft investigations for later.

But we’re happy to have these little odd meetings, as it just makes life a lot more interesting.

If you’re interested in billing then you might want to attend Next Generation Billing 2008 in Budapest.

I’ll be taking part in a discussion on developing a customer-centric approach to billing.

Next Generation Billing 2008
24 – 26 November 2008,
Corinthia Grand Royal Hotel, Budapest

You can find out more details here.

In previous days I used to carry a big bag filled with laptops, chargers and the like. Now I have it nailed and I’m conferencing-light. It’s the only way to do it.

Posted by email from MIR Live (posterous)

This week we’re bringing you an absolute WHOPPER of a show. A veritable whopper.

1. We’re committed to bringing you our show from different, unusual and picturesque locations around London. I think we’ve beaten everything so far by filming from the Tower of London. Special thanks to Tim at the Historic Royal Palaces publicity department. As you might imagine, with almost 1,000 years of history to play with, Ben had a field day with his facts segment. ( 00:47 )

2. We take a look at the 3 Skypephone S2. ( 02:19 )

3. We’ve got lots of news and commentary on last week’s happenings. ( 05:15 )

Lastminute Labs, Google Gears ( 05:16 ), Orange hiring iPhone-fans ( 08:40 ), Nokia Maps

( 09:16 )/Lonely Planet ( 09:37 ), Blackberry Bold’s browser issues ( 10:26 ), IKEA MVNO ( 11:51 ).

4. James Body of Truphone makes an appearance. ( 07:03 )

5. Review of Etymotics Headphones. ( 13:47 )

6. Mobile Industry Review website news… including quick overviews of our upcoming jobs section. Plus: We’ll be at the Future of Mobile conference coming up soon. ( 17:20 )

7. Future of Mobile Conference.  ( 18:58 )

8. Special Sony Ericsson News.  Very special stuff. ( 19:18 )

9. The first EVER Whatley Goes Wild segment.  Including a special N95 8GB-protective-strap.           ( 19:40 )

10. We announce the winners of our competitions.  ( 22:48 )

11. Dan get’s his present. There’s almost a tear shed…( 24:37 )

12. James talks about the Nokia N78.  ( 25:36 )

Video Feeds:

- 3GP mobile video feed
- Downloadable video feed (roughly 190mb)