Tag Archive for 'access'

Developer Survival Guide to MWC09 - Update

Update as of: Wed. February 11:
View the Mobile Version here:
http://m.wipjam.com/2009/02/developer-survivor-guide-to-mwc09-update/ ; thanks to our friends at Mobify

And download the pdf version here - one double sided page is all you need to carry around to get you thru the week!

Booth Add: Intertek (NSTL) - 2.1D70
Events: Swedish Beers change to Wed.

Heading to a big show can be very overwhelming and very tiring. But if planned can turn out to be extrememly rewarding if connecting to the right people, finding out intelligence and even making some killer sales and partnerships.

WIP has put together a Developer Survival Guide to Mobile World Congress, in order to help make the best use if your time and resources. Included are suggested exhibits to visit, special activities, and some TIPs. This is our first cut, if you want to add something please let us know asap. Our intent is to have a pdf and mobile version for you prior to the show. And we will print some hard copies to share while we are there. it’s all you will need!

THE EXHIBITS
The first step is to review the booths/exhibitions stands. There are over 1300 booths at MWC09 in 8 different buildings, and several outdoor temporary structures such as in the Courtyard. We’ve narrowed it down to 44 for you. We’ve identified these specifically for developers, as these companies have developer programs or tools for mobile development.

Recommend Booths to visit:
(Have Developer Programs or tools for development)

ACCESS Co Ltd - CY10(3-0 Courtyard)

Acision-8A86(8), 8A93(8)
AdMob-7C70(7), 7HS09(7)

Adobe Systems Incorporated - 1E05(1-0)

Bharti Telesoft AV70(Avenue)
Device Anywhere 2A17(2-0)

Canadian Pavilion 2.158

Ericsson - 8A170(8), AV07(Avenue)
Fox Mobile/Jamster 7A86(7-0)
Garmin EUROPE - 7C37(7)
Handmark 2H13(2-0 )
HTC - 1B22(1-0)
Intel Corporation - 8B109(8)
Intertek (NSTL) - 2.1D70
LG 8B192(8) 8B197(8)
LiMO Foundation - 8A125(8-0), 8B135(8-0)

Microsoft - 1D19(1-0) & Avenue

Mobile Distillery 2F49(2-0)

Mob4Hire IZ4(7-0)
Motorola - 8A159(8), 8A152(8)
Navteq 1G45(1-0)
Netbiscuits 7A49(7)
Nokia 8C167(8), 8B177(8). 8B169(8)
NTT DoCoMo 8B117(8)

O2 Litmus (Telefonica) 8B178(8)


Opera 2B77(2)
Openwave Systems - AV97(Avenue)

Oracle - AV44(Avenue)

Orange - CY03(3-0 Courtyard)
Paca Mobile Centre 2F49(2-0)
Palm, Inc. - CY09(3-0 Courtyard)
Qualcomm Incorporated - 8B53(8), 8C44(8)
Research In Motion Limited - CY04(3-0 Courtyard), 8B91(8)
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd - CY01(3-0 Courtyard),
Sierra Wireless, Inc. - AV99(Avenue)
Smaato 7A38(7)

Sony Ericsson - 8A80(8), 8B56(8)

Sun Microsystems, Inc - 2C12(2-0)
Sybase 365 - 2A15(2-0)

Symbian Foundation - 8A77(8), AV91(Avenue)

Tele Atlas - 8C118(8)
Telefonica (O2 Litmus) 8B178(8)
8B185(8)
Toshiba 8A111(8), AV68(Avenue)
Yahoo! - 7B26(7)
ZED CY11(Courtyard)

Tip#1 Try and book your meetings before you arrive at the show. Most of these booth have staff on hand specifically to meet developers and ISVs. Don’t forget to bring tons of business cards.

Note: The Little Jamm’r indicates part of the Scavenger Hunt for Jam attendees.

http://www.showplans.co.uk/mwc09/

REGISTRATION
Tip#2 Pick up your badge Saturday or Sunday. Avoid long line ups on Monday morning. Bring your Bar code, it will save you time - like hours.

MWC 2009 Registration Times:
Saturday, February 14th 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Sunday, February 15th 9:00AM - 8:00PM
Monday, February 16th 7:00AM - 8:00PM
Tuesday, February 17th 7:30AM - 7:00PM
Wednesday, February 18th 7:30AM - 7:00PM
Thursday, February 19th 7:30AM - 5:00PM

DEVELOPER EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

SUNDAY (FEB 15)

Mobile Sunday Barcelona hosted by Dotopen (CLUB MIX)
7:00-Midnite: The fourth annual MobileSunday - an unofficial, informal and generally cool and funky gathering of mobile bloggers and their chums - will be taking place in Barcelona on the eve of this year’s Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM) on Sunday, February 15, 2009. Want to be part of it? All you need to do is register. It’s FREE!  http://www.amiando.com/mobilesunday.html

MONDAY (FEB 16)
TIP#3 The ‘Suits’ rule at this event. So ditch the jeans and t-shirts except for the parties, and don the suit and tie to impress. Oh yeah – there is lots of walking, so wear comfy shoes or bring an extra pair.

The GSMA Mobile Innovation Market: (Hall 5, Auditorium 2)
09:00 – 5:30 pm: Unique blend of elevator pitches, speed dating, thought-leading keynotes and provocative panel discussions. See developers compete for the accolade of best vertical and best consumer applications as they face the Dragon’s Den-style expert panel live on stage.

The Mobile Application Developer Garage (Hall 5, Auditorium 3)
9:30am Keynote – Jim Balsillie, RIM
1000-1045: Cross Platform Panel
11:45 to 12:30pm: Future of the App Environment
2:15 to 3:00pm Operator Developer Partnerships
4:30-5:15pm Taking Apps to Market
New event for 2009, includes a demo breakout area and reception. Requires a conference pass in order to attend. I am chairing the afternoon session.

Mobile Monday Mobile Peer Awards: (PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA)
4:00-8:00pm: The MobileMonday Mobile Peer Awards Barcelona are among the most influential events in the mobile industry and, with 1000 attendants, the point of reference in startup innovation during the MWC. . Registration required at http://www.amiando.com/mobilepeerawards .

TUESDAY (FEB 17)
Watch for some very cool developer announcements from ADOBE.

“Connect with Canada” (Hall 2, Room C)
9:00 – 10:30: Sparkling-wine Breakfast to meet cutting edge Canadian, government officials and representatives from key mobile firms from around the world
11:30- 13:30: Canada-Africa Forum the rapid growth of the mobile sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
Register http://www.canadawireless.org/MWC2009
I’m speaking at both of these events, and the Canadian government also helped us secure a room at the FIRA for JAM - so thanks!

OneAPI Seminar: (GSMA Seminar Theatre, GSMA Pavilion. Hall 7, Stand 7P01)
09:30–12:30: Find out the progress of the GSMA’s OneAPI project allowing developers to access multiple operators using a common set of APIs. The seminar is a FREE additional option with MWC registration. Acceptance will be confirmed by email.

The Mobile Innovation Market: (Hall 5,)
09:00am–5:30pm: See Monday.

Mobile Distillery - Hall 2, Stand 2F49
11:30am - Worldwide Preview Event

Forum Nokia & NAVTEQ : (Poble Espanyol)(Courtesy shuttle buses to/from Mobile World Congress will be provided)
3:30-4:00pm: Nokia Calling All Innovators awards
4:00-4:30pm: NAVTEQ LBS Challenge award
4:30-6:30pm: Reception
More info and register here: http://mktools.forum.nokia.com/invitation/callingallinnovators .

ACCESS Reception (ACCESS Hospitality Suite #CY10, Courtyard)
4:00 – 7:00pm Cocktails and Reception
RSVP www.access-company.com/news/events/mwc_2009/

TIP#4 It’s ok to nap between parties and dinner and parties. Most restaurants don’t open up til 10pm. A bit of rest is necessary to maximize networking! For the biggest listing of MWC parties go to: www.mobileslate.com

WEDNESDAY (FEB 18)
Yahoo! wil be demonstrating Blueprint, their new mobile development platform for building mobile sites, applications and widgets.

GoMo News Blender (Bella Chica Vilaruel)
18:00-22:00: GoMo News blenders are informal and!
Sign up on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=57398618712

WIP’s Pre-Jam Connecting Party (Bel Chica)
9:30pm – immediately following the GoMo Blender
Always known as the place to have fun and make good connections! Join us.

Swedish Beers
8pm to late
http://swedishbeers.blogspot.com

THURSDAY (FEB 19)
WIP Jam Session – (Hall 2, Room D)
10:15 – 16:30:
Join WIP for our popular Day for Developers at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The best mobile developers meet key leaders of the mobile ecosystem in interactive sessions where we are serious about no panels, no ppt and no ties!  The swag is looking really good.  Just a few spots left. 

Tip #5 Go Green if you can —bring your own refillable water bottle; use the subway, collect written collateral only if you are going to use it rather than it ending up in your hotel garbage.

TIP #6 Cut costs – bring an unlocked phone get a local sim card; ask the person in front of you if they are going to the same place; buy snacks at the grocery store and bring to MWC. We have booked a 5 bedroom apartment that gives us lots more room and also save us some money!

We hope you find this helpful! Again, let us know if you have any updates or comments. Follow us on Twitter for late minute updates, www.twitter.com/mobilejam
The WIP team of Caroline, Teresa, Arv and Ed looking forward to seeing you next week. If there is something we can help you with - make a connection or point you in the right direction - don’t hesitate to ask.

Announcing Speakers and Agenda for Mobile Jam in Barcelona

The Agenda is set, the speaker area ready!  Twenty six (26) speakers, 2 Unpanels and 8 Discussion Topics.  A few spots left for the WIP Mobile Jam session in Barcelona, so sign up now at: http://wipjam.com/subscribe/

We are really stoked to announce the speakers and topics.

We’ll get started with our UnPanel on Survival Strategies for Developers and talk about investment, revenue models, how to make good management decisions, and where to find the wins and partnerships in the ecosystem.  Speakers include: Christopher David of Sony Ericsson, Nicholas Landrin of I-Source, Jason Lim of Microsoft, and James Parton of O2 Litmus.

Our Discussion Groups are always lively - ok noisy - with lots of sharing of information, sometimes debating of points, but always valueable for everyone. Discussion groups are focused on uncovering the information, resources and people necessary for successful mobile application development.  We sit in circles of chairs for maximum participation.

Here are the topics for our Mobile Jam discussion groups and their respective speaker leads and some photos from previous Jams: 

Jam'n in San Fran CTIA

Jam

1.  TESTING
James Parton, O2 Litmus
Paul Poutenan, Mob4Hire
Chris Fromm, Eplus

2. PLATFORMS
Markus Spiering, Yahoo!
Vincent Berge, Mobile Distillery
Vildan Hasanbegovic, Sony Ericsson

3.  CONTENT
Mark Dougherty, Adobe
Alessandro Pace, Biskero
Gregory Gorman, Soonr

4. MONEY
Harold Neidhardt, Smaato
Sean O Sullivan-Dial2Do
Raj Singh, Skyfire

5. APIs
Tim Raby, OMTP
Oscar Guiterrez, Vodafone
Bill Lee, ACCESS

6. EMERGING MARKETS
Arv Singh, WIP
Amod Dadhich, Jataayu
Ongan Mordeniz, BLRSoft

7. TOOLS
Terrence Barr, Sun
Steven Cull, Oracle

8. MAPS
Patric Norstrom, Idevio

See the AGENDA for  complete descriptions of the topics.

2009 Predictions for Mobile and Wireless Developers

How can you tell the holiday is over? Conferences have started again ala CES, and the phone and emails are on full throttle.  Do any of you use the current thinking about only taking calls/emails at 2 designated times during the day?  Does it really work?  
  
January is traditionally a time for annual predictions.  I have been on the fence whether to weigh in this year as there are many good predications around such as Rudy’s or from Carlo and Russell’s Mob Happy, and I didn’t want to repeat anything, but if there is something that needs to be emphasized, then that’s just the way it is!  So here they are:
 
1.  Tough times ahead.
I reported in my June newsletter that VC’s weren’t funding, especially carrier related deals.  Rutberg’s newsletter just came out and declared that the second half of 2008 was the lowest level of VC funding since 2003.  I agree with Rudy that I too am going to see at least 10 companies that I know well go under.  It started with Trutap, that I had the absolute pleasure of being on the board for the last year, and may end with the Motorola device group, which we all know has been struggling.  Assume no one is immune.

NY’s Resolution for Developers:  Those with low overhead will likely end up the winners when we come out of this economic wind tunnel.  And absolutely those who are best connected get the furthest ahead (Hint: ask Arv  about the WIP Connector Quiz to see how you fare).
 
2.  ‘Access’ will be the new ‘Open’.  (as Twitter is the new black)
The industry is tired of hearing about Open - it has caused confusion to what open source really is and what open is really not. There is no honour in claiming open any more.   I think the industry finally understands that, so will talk about ‘access’; to more operator APIs, access to more customers through beta sandboxes, and app stores to make it easier for developers to innovate and sell. 

NY’s Resolution for Developers: Follow the money.  Make careful choices about working with new platforms with the end goal of being profitable, not just cool. But hey, if you can make $1M making a bodily function application - go for it!
 
3.  Less US Centric
Perhaps it’s due to where I’m based, but my industry news and the focus of most developers I know is solidly the US as #1, with Europe slowly following behind and anything else a place only for exotic vacations.  With the US reeling from the economic distress, Europe reaching mobile handset saturation, China and India finally turning on the 3G engines, eyes will turn to emerging markets for business. I sure saw a lot of great developes in Brazil last month. Of course, we all are in love with Obama, but it sounds like he too has a much broader perspective than previous administrations.

NY’s Resolution for Developers: Be smart about planning for and entering new markets.  Plan ahead for obvious things like usability and language differences, but do your homework on market needs (enterprise is bigger in many of these markets) and distribution is different too.
 
4.  Fragmentation by any other name is still…..
I’ve been commenting on fragmentation every year, and I only see signs of its increase.  In addition to the major OS platforms, we now have more development platforms, more browsers, more app stores, and more devices (40+ Adroid devices alone coming this year, and the new Palm Pre just announced). Porting and backfilling is still wasting 40-50% of a developer’s time.  Another 20-30% is going to be wasted in gaining access to app stores, which still have discovery issues.  What’s left for innovation and development?

NY’s Resolution for Developers:  Find positive ways to be vocal about how fragmentation is affecting your ability to be innovative such as contributing to OMTP’s BONDI initiative that is identifying standards for the mobile web.  And don’t forget about marketing, more app stores does not mean you don’t have to do any work, in fact you should be honing up on your marketing.

Your comments or addition are always welcome!
Interested in 2008 predictions - find them here. I did pretty well, except predicting that someone will finally get local search right… perhaps this year. And 2007 which was really good, especially prediciting the rise in developers can be found here.

Mobile Jam Session - Save the Date!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at Torre Mapfre in Barcelona

Infused with the spirit of the early days of Jazz, the Mobile Jam Session is a day to inspire new ideas and innovate solutions to existing challenges. The purpose is focused, but the agenda is improvised along the way.

Caroline Lewko of the Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) and Rudy De Waele of dotopen / mTrends are ‘jazzed’ about working together to bring you the first of many Mobile Jam Sessions. We are passionate about fostering a free environment for collaborative creation among all the different players in the value chain. We know streamlining communication will make it easier for our young companies to innovate and get to market faster and smarter.

It all starts as we open up the mobile ecosystem and connect experienced and talented developers, with industry experts and decision makers. It’s no secret that the industry needs the emerging companies to lead with innovation, to leverage resources and to help change the game. With the right beat, let’s get ready to listen!

Most importantly this event is driven by developers – what you want to hear, who you want to talk to, what you want to say….. But of course we want to hear from the big companies and experts too - so what’s the hot topic for you? Let’s us know by adding your name and topic to Invitation List. New tunes often come from unlikely associations, so… Jam on!

The event is free of charge for all participants, coffee breaks, lunch and networking cocktail included. We’re looking for passionate, exciting and talented developers. We have confirmed participations from Telefonica, Vodafone Group, Telecom Italia, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, Mystrands, Mobile Distillery, Trutap, Kimia, …

Be prepared to be an active participant in the session.

The event is hosted in the new MyStrands Barcelona offices in the Torre Mapfre at the Villa Olympica. MyStrands generously offers us the superb 350 square meter space on the 20th Floor of the building with a breathtaking view on all Barcelona, the city, the Olympic port and its beaches.