Demo night–Spring 2011 Edition courtesy of Intel AppUpp

Yes! Demo Night is back at Mobile Monday London, albeit a couple of weeks later than we’d originally planned. I'll update the agenda once I know who's going to demo their wares on the night but expect an eclectic mix of mobile applications, products and services. Each presenter will get 3 minutes to demo and then there'll be time for questions and feedback from the audience. We’ll be split into two rooms so we can accommodate everyone without being too squashed up and each demo company will pitch twice – once in each room – so there’s no need for the audience to move around. It also means we’ll have a bit more space so hopefully we won’t have to turn people away because we’re full.

We have room for 12 or more demo companies to show their wares. You can be at prototype stage wanting some feedback, or you can be at fully-fledged service stage able to share insight about getting to market or somewhere in between. It really doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you’re interested to show us what you’re up to and share at least one insight during your three minutes (and yes, we have to be strict on time). We are platform and device agnostic and it would be great to see a wide range of platforms and devices covered. And it doesn’t have to be mobile internet or app driven either. Voice and SMS services are also relevant. Just fill in this form http://bit.ly/demorequest or email helen@mobilemonday.org.uk if you'd like to be considered for one of the slots. Don’t be shy. We’ll fit in as many as we can.

This event is kindly sponsored by Intel AppUp Developer Program.

About the Intel AppUp Developer Program

The Intel AppUp developer program provides developers with everything they need to easily develop and sell applications via the Intel AppUp Centre and affiliate app stores. The initial focus of the program is netbooks and tablets, but is soon expanding to include smartphones, consumer electronics, and other devices. The program supports C/C++, Adobe AIR, Java, Microsoft .NET, and Meego apps. The developer program provides easy to use SDKs, easy deployment and validation along with a vibrant community. In addition, the program provides developers with numerous monetisation opportunities through the AppUp centre, affiliate app stores, in-application advertising, and much more.

Venue and timing

We’ll be at the CBI at Centrepoint. Doors open at 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start. The demos should be finished by about 8.15pm and then we'll have drinks and networking until 9.30pm. Please note that the Northern Line will not be stopping at Tottenham Court Road from April onwards whilst engineering works are happening. Please use Goodge Street or Leicester Square on the Northern Line, or come via Oxford Circus and get the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road as that’s working as normal.

Please RSVP at http://momolo.org/ if you'd like to attend this event. An RSVP on our Facebook event is not enough as we can't export the data to tally up numbers and create a registration list. Please note that registration details will be shared with the sponsor.

Registration will be open until Friday 15 April at midday or until we’re full up – whichever comes first.

Look forward to seeing you!

Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 are go!

STOP PRESS: The competition is now open to entrants from Spain as well as the UK, The Netherlands and Portugal. The closing date remains the same - 22 August 2010.

And it’s bigger and better than last year and Mobile Monday London is very pleased to be supporting this year’s Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 competition. And as part of that, I’m helping to organise again this year and will be part of the UK jury to find the best mobile internet start-up to put forward to the final in Amsterdam in September.

You can read some bits and pieces about last year’s event here.

The aim of the competition is to find the best mobile internet start-up across the UK, Portugal and The Netherlands and reward the winner with Euro 100,000 and the runner-up with Euro 50,000. A pretty decent prize-fund I’d say. And in accepting the prize, you don’t have to give away IP or equity to Vodafone.

The competition opens today and closes on 22nd August at midnight. But please don’t leave your entry until the last minute. All entries need to be completed in English and you do need to adhere to the Terms and Conditions. The actual competition Ts & Cs are only about 6 pages – the rest of the document relates to the Ts & Cs for Vodafone’s Widget platform which you must also agree to. Yes, it’s a long document, but please give it the once over to make sure you’re happy with it. I’ve read it and I can’t see anything particularly nasty in there, but I’m not an expert on these things, nor am I a lawyer so don’t just take my word for it.

The application form is pretty straight forward but I highly recommend that you take some thought before you fill it in. There is limited space, and limited time for the judges to read and take in what you’re writing, so it means you need to to think through clearly what your proposition is, describe the features but make sure you also state the benefits as these are what make you attractive to customers.

You can only enter once and once you’ve entered, you may not amend your entry.

Entry is now open at http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/ and you can follow progress of the competition on the VMC2010 official twitter account. And if twitter’s your thing, you can also follow Mobile Monday London there too.

The 5 judging criteria are:

• originality, creativity and innovation;
• technical and operational feasibility;
• economic and financial viability;
• value to end-users;
• and finally, on the quality of the management team.

If you have specific questions or concerns, please get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to answer your questions or put you in touch with someone who can.

Entry Criteria:

• Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 is open to any individual aged 18 or over resident in the Netherlands, Portugal or the United Kingdom and to Dutch, Portuguese and UK-based start-up companies, businesses, institutions and all other organisations.
• Participants must be or must have the intention to become a start-up enterprise/ business in the field of mobile internet products or services. Start-up in this context means that the enterprise/business must be less than 3 years old.
• Each participant may submit only one entry.
• Entries from Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2008 and 2009 may resubmit to Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010.
• There is no charge for entry

There are three stages to the contest:

1. We will collate all the entries and the local jury will review them to get to a shortlist of 5.
2. We will then review the shortlist to find a single company or individual to put forward to the final.
3. The UK finalist will present at the final to be held at Picnic in Amsterdam on 24 September 2010 alongside the finalists from The Netherlands and Portugal.

Last year we were able to put three companies through to the final at Picnic. They were Audioboo, Rummble and Woobius. Woobius came third and walked away with a Euro 25,000 prize. And Audioboo and Rummble have both done very well since last year’s contest, both recently raising funds and growing their respective businesses.

We asked all our UK finalists from VMC2009 what they thought of the competition last year and whether or not it was worth entering.

Mark Rock from Audioboo tells us: "Vodafone Mobile Clicks was one of the freshest competitions of 2009. To have a mobile network operator embrace the start-up community in this way was fantastic. The quality of the judging through 3 rounds was excellent, if a little gruelling, And the support & help given all the way through to being taken to Amsterdam to compete in the finals (we didn't win, by the way) was above and beyond the normal competition process. Vodafone Mobile Clicks is worth the effort"

And Andrew Scott from Rummble said: "Vodafone put considerable energy behind the Mobile Clicks competition which definitely contributed to our profile .. it was also a lot of fun!"

And here’s a couple of pictures of the Woobius team with their prize cheque. Well done Woobius!

So, get the thinking caps on and get entering. The Mobile Monday London team wishes you the best of luck!

The official press release is below.

VODAFONE MOBILE CLICKS 2010 COMPETITION ANNOUNCED

Search to find best mobile internet start-up across three European markets is on

27^th July, 2010. Vodafone today announced the launch of Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010, a competition to identify and develop the best, most innovative mobile internet start-ups. Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 will run across three European markets - Netherlands, Portugal and UK.

The contest is open to any start-up with a great idea for a mobile site, service or application and entrants can compete for the €150,000 prize fund by submitting entries to www.vodafonemobileclicks.com. The competition is open now, and the closing date for entries is midnight, August 22nd, 2010.

Each entry will be judged on five criteria: originality, creativity and innovation; technical and operational feasibility; economic and financial viability; value to end-users; and finally, on the quality of the management team.

The judging will take place over three rounds. Each competing market will draw up a shortlist of their five best local submissions, a winner will be selected from each shortlist and finally all local winners will be invited to represent their country in a live final at the PICNIC Festival in Holland on September 24^th, 2010, where the overall winner will be chosen by a panel of mobile industry experts, including Om Malik, founder of the GigaOM Network, Russell Buckley, VP Global Alliances at Admob, and Rudy de Waele, Founder of dotopen, the Mobile Premier Awards and co-founder of the Mobile 2.0 Conferences in San Francisco and Barcelona.

Launched in 2008, Vodafone Mobile Clicks is a Vodafone initiative designed to accelerate innovation in the mobile internet sector across Europe. It is now the biggest mobile start-up competition of its kind.

“Through initiatives like Vodafone Mobile Clicks and our wider developer outreach programme, we’re finding ways to help stimulate, grow and commercialise the innovation that is at the heart of the mobile ecosystem,” said Lee Epting, Director of Content Services at Vodafone Group. “Vodafone Mobile Clicks is really about empowering ambitious, young start-ups to develop their ideas and accelerate them into market. I’m excited to be judging another year of inspiring entries from entrants across Europe.”

Previous Vodafone Mobile Clicks winners include Layar, an Amsterdam-based company who developed an augmented reality service that allows mobile customers to see information on nearby points of interest – for example houses for sale, popular bars and tourist information – by simply looking through a phone’s camera lens. The service launched in June 2009, and throughout 2010 the platform has seen 20% month-on-month growth. Layar has recently announced a strategic partnership with phone manufacturers LG and Samsung.

For further information about the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 competition, or to enter your company, go to: http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com

Technorati Tags: Vodafone Mobile Clicks,vodafone,competition,start-up,mobile internet,mobile applications,entrepreneurship

Upcoming stuff

Mobile Monday London - 19th July Event: 200, 000 apps, where’s mine?

Well that’s a good question indeed for anyone who has an app out there or wants to get a mobile application out there. Simply putting your application in any number of app stores isn’t enough when there are 199,999 others in there competing for attention. You’re in danger of just getting lost in the crowd. So what is the role of marketing in getting a successful application out there? How important is brand building and trust? How does a customer find out about your app and get it, whether it’s paid for or free? Is this now a marketing game rather than a distribution game? And what do developers need to know about branding, marketing and PR to create a successful marketing campaign for their mobile application or service? Does marketing need to be higher up the agenda than it was? What do we need to know about customers to make this happen?

Well that’s what our next panel session is about on 19 July 2010. Proudly sponsored by the lovely folks at BlackBerry, we’ve put together a great panel for you and expect a lively discussion as well to thrash out the marketing issues to get your on customers handsets beyond simply getting your app up in the iPhone App Store. This is not a discussion about platforms or App Stores. It’s a discussion about marketing, secrets for success, how to avoid failures and things to think about when marketing your mobile application or service.

We’re at the CBI at Centrepoint this month (nearest tube is Tottenham Court Road, please use the entrance at street level) and doors will open at 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start. We’ll announce panellists as soon as we have them confirmed. Or we might just keep it a surprise! Rest assured, it’ll be a good session. The panel session will run until 8pm and then we’ll have an hour or two for networking and drinks courtesy of our friends at BlackBerry.

Registration will be open shortly over at http://momolo.org

Photo credit Ian Freimuth via Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.

WiMD Summer Lunch: 23rd July

Interested in joining 39 other senior ladies working in the mobile sector for lunch on 23rd July? Organised by the Women in Mobile Data Association, it’s £37 to attend and there are just a few places left. For more details and payment, please email WomeninMobileData@amdocs.com

Over The Air

Yes it’s coming. It’s our third Over The Air event. We’ll be opening up for submissions soon. In the meantime, why not join us on facebook and help spread the word?

Technorati Tags: mobile marketing,mobile applications,momolo,mobile monday london,marketing campaign,advertising,mobile advertising,branding,pr,events

Next MoMoLo event: Where Mobile Meets Media – Tues 16 Feb 2010 in Barcelona

 

 

Yes, it’s not going to be on a Monday and it’s not in London, but Mobile Monday London is indeed off to Barcelona to Mobile World Congress. And as part of that, we’re putting on a panel session for you. So what’s it all about then?

Probably preaching to the converted here, but we all know how much mobile technology has changed our lives. By the same token, we also know that the world of traditional media is in trouble. Or at least, that's what we're led to believe with declining advertising revenues and fragmented audiences. With all this change, what is the role for mobile? What are the opportunities and challenges? Is traditional media dying, and if so, what should be done about it? And what are the secrets of success for mobile companies wanting a slice of the global media pie?

In this panel session, you'll be hearing from some of the UK's biggest mainstream media owners and some of their counterparts from the mobile industry. All will be sharing their pearls of wisdom with you. We’re just confirming all our speakers but Steve Ives, CEO of Taptu and Lucie Mclean, Senior Product Manager in BBC FM&T Audio & Music & Mobile will be two of them. They will be joined by an illustrious cast. We’ll be able to confirm in the next day or so.

We are opening the event to other Mobile Monday chapters so it’s a good chance to meet and mingle with some new people as well as some familiar faces and try and make sense of the madness that is Mobile World Congress. We will be providing refreshments too – drinks and tapas -  thanks to the generous support and hosting by the UKTI. You will need an exhibition pass for Mobile World Congress in order to attend as it is on site at La Fira.

This event is hosted by the UKTI.

Date: Tuesday 16th February 2010 – 4pm - 6pm

Place: Sala D, Mezzanine floor between Level 0 and Level 1 in Hall 2, Fira Barcelona in Montjuic. This is more or less opposite the UKTI stand so quite easy to find.

Agenda:

Doors open at 4pm. Please be on time. We have a tight schedule.

4.10pm - welcome and introductions

4.15pm - panel session with questions and discussion from the floor

5.00pm - 6.00pm - networking, tapas and drinks

Please RSVP at: http://momolo.org

* Places are limited. Early confirmation of acceptance is advisable *

Please contact Helen Keegan helen@[removethis]mobilemonday.org.uk or Daniel Appelquist dan@[removethis]mobilemonday.org.uk if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!

Technorati Tags: mobile world congress,barcelona,ukti,mobile monday london,momolo,mobile monday

Heroes of the Mobile Screen – 7 Dec 09 at the BFI Southbank, London

Some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to of late. Well, if you have, then I can reveal to you that I’ve been working on a new conference, Heroes of the Mobile Screen, which is on next month on 7 December at the rather wonderful BFI on London’s Southbank. And I’d love for you to spread the word (like our wonderful media partners), buy tickets and join the conversation.

The team behind the conference, Isabel Fox, Neil Robertson, Carlo Longino, Dominic Travers and yours truly are also involved in running Mobile Monday London, Swedish Beers Mobile Networking, Future of Mobile, Over The Air, Mobile 2.0 and Tech Media Invest events amongst other things.

The day-long event at BFI Southbank will differ from anything else around (at least that’s what we’re aiming for) and get the stakeholders of mobile involved in discussing the issues affecting them and their customers. Uniquely the event also has teenagers on stage to tell the industry what they want from their mobile, what they expect from their network operators and what’s most important to them in terms of their mobile life.

Heroes of the Mobile Screen is already attracting a number of high calibre ‘heroes’ with speakers and panellists answering the call from around the world, including Kei Shimada, JP Rangaswami and Kevin Marks, Belinda Parmar, Julia Shalet, Doug Richard and Harald Neidhardt are all confirmed. The speakers are listed here and the agenda can be found here.

Heroes of the Mobile Screen opens with a keynote from Kei Shimada sharing his experience of what’s happening in Japan and what we can learn from that here in the West. And continues with four core pillars supporting discussion throughout the day.

The money
What's making money, who's making money and what's being invested in and where the money's going to be in the future? The answers to all the questions we want to ask of successful mobile service providers and VCs.

The impact of social/location
What is the impact of social media and location technology? What do customers want, what are the business models, what are the solutions to privacy issues. Carriers are placing their bets in this area, but will they pay off?

Teenage heroes
Led by digital youth marketing expert Julia Shalet, this is a new format where we invite four companies to pitch their product, service or device live on stage to six teenagers and they tell us what they really think.

Real customers, real applications, real marketing
A double session with the first half covering customers and what they really want on mobile with a focus on women in particular with some new research and insight into what women want from Belinda Parmar of Lady Geek. The second half will cover mobile marketing and advertising, what's working, what's not and what's coming next.

I came up with idea around the event because we realised that most of the events I attend throughout the year all talk around the same subjects, with the same people and bring up the same issues, without resolution. It’s time for us to stop talking to ourselves, look out beyond our industry and make some changes for the better. I believe it’s important to engage our colleagues in marketing, web 2.0 and media as well as more of our mobile colleagues from throughout the value chain. The exciting stuff is going to happen when industries cross over – that’s where the innovation is. In putting the agenda together, we believe we have something that will appeal to a wide audience – whether you’re a director of marketing for an FMCG brand or a web developer toying with the idea of developing apps for android or iphone.  And to do that, we need to share real customer insight that we can use to make ours and others mobile lives better.

Tickets are now available online now for £99 (ex VAT and booking fee) at http://mobileheroes.net . We’ve kept the price deliberately low and it’s subsidised by sponsors who we’ll be able to announce shortly.

If you’re interested in sponsoring the event in some way, please get in touch with me via email.

If you’re interested in pitching your gadget, application or service to our teenagers, please email Dominic Travers to put your name forward.

We are keeping a waiting list for potential speakers and panellists. If you’d like to be considered, please contact me.

So get your tickets now and become a fan on Facebook or follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/hotms too.

Technorati Tags: conference,mobile monday,mobile monday london,events,london,mobile media,mobile marketing,mobile applications,mobile network operators,learning,networking

Vote for your favourite start-up and help them win Vodafone Mobile Clicks

Some of you may know that I’ve been working with Vodafone UK & NL on the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition. I helped to organise it and was also one of the judges for the first heats.

We're now coming to  the end of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition now and we have our 6 finalists. They'll be off to PICNIC next week in Amsterdam to fight it out to win hard cash for their start-up. There's 150k Euros up for grabs so it's a tough one. And there are six excellent finalists to choose from too. It wasn’t easy to get to the final six, but we did. There are three finalists from the UK and three from the Netherlands and there are 3 cash prizes up for grabs out of a total prize fund of 150k Euros.

The jury for the final is Richard Titus, Lee Epting, Rudy de Waele, Vincent Everts & Heike Scholz.

But it's not just down to the jury. Mobile Monday London members have a part to play in the process too. There has already been public voting which closes this Friday which is open to anyone http://www.vodafonemobileclicks.com/vote/ but in addition, we have been asked to create a poll so you can choose your favourite start-up and who you would give a prize too. The votes from Mobile Monday London members will be weighted more heavily than the public vote, so your vote really does count.

I've opened up the poll over at Yahoo Groups (I couldn't find a better way to run it so that it was one vote per person). If you're not already signed up to our Mobile Monday London Yahoo Group, then please sign up and make sure you fill in the bit that says why you want to join the group so we know you're genuine.
Our friends at Mobile Monday Amsterdam are going through a similar process and have already been busy voting.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon/polls

There is just one vote so use it wisely, but please DO vote! The poll will be open for a week only and will close on 22nd September in advance of the finalists heading off to Amsterdam.

And in case you're wondering who the companies are and would like a bit more info, then here you go...

Woobius http://www.woobius.com/ (UK)
A service for the construction industry allowing them to collaborate by gathering all info & data in one place with access for the team. With the help of Woobius Eye for mobile, it is possible to solve problems & reduce build costs & the number of mistakes made.

Rummble http://www.rummble.com/ (UK)
A service that recommends content to the user, based on people with the same interests and hobbies. By sharing information and creating a trust network, the customer will get more interesting & relevant content.

Mobypicture http://www.mobypicture.com/ (NL)
Share photos, videos & audio with friends at social network sites like hyves, facebook and twitter with one press of a button.

Audioboo http://audioboo.fm/ (UK)
Directly record audio (eg interviews or quotes) & share it with social network sites like twitter and facebook. The last recorded, most popular and featured "boos" from the community can be played as well.

Layar http://layar.com/ (NL)
A browser that uses 'augmented reality' so a user can see what is in their surroundings by looking through the camera of their handset.

MyNameIsE http://www.mynameise.com/ (NL)
Connecting people on & offline by gathering their profiles on various social networks in one place. These can be shared in real life via mobile or bespoke device, The Connector.

Thanks everyone and please get voting!

Technorati Tags: Mobile Monday London,vote,Vodafone Mobile Clicks,competition,start-up,Rummble,Woobius,MobyPicture,Audioboo,Layar,MyNameIsE