Mobile Monday Amsterdam

Simon Schoeters Bunker was asked to photograph <a href="http://www.mobilemondays.nl" class="ext" title="Official website Mobile Mondays Amsterdam">Mobile Mondays</a> in Amsterdam. He was kind enough to put me on the guest list and even offered a taxi to Amsterdam and back. Would be stupid not to go, wouldn't it? <ul> <li>Raimo van der Klein, founder of Mobile Monday Amsterdam, opened with a presentation about the ‘smart context’ or how context could change depending on your state: happy, sad, at the airport, in the office, etc. E.g. the software could learn what is normal for you (commute) and share abnormal (leaving for holidays) events with friends.</li> <li>Johan Koolwaaij, scientific researcher at Telematica Institute, showed <a href="http://www.iyouit.eu" class="ext">IYOUIT</a>. A mobile app that gathers data around you and about you. Sounded like a huge ‘log everything about your life’ but not exactly production ready yet.</li> <li>Raymond Perrenet, EVP Strategy & Development at T-Mobile, about the raise of data plans on mobile phones with the introduction of the iPhone (and with Android around the corner). Are mobile data plans finally taking off?</li> </ul> <h3>Teemu Arina</h3> <a class="url fn ext" href="http://tarina.blogging.fi/" title="Tarina: Teemu Ariana's website">Teemu Arina</a> took another approach. He went for 3 pecha kucha presentations in a row: “Changeable in appearance, mood, or purpose”, “Undergoing a shift in status” and “Moving or changing quickly from one state or condition to another”. All three visually stunning presentations in his own eccentric style. Loved it! This guy knows how to entertain his public. I'll copy Dorien here and link to Teemu's <a href="http://tarina.blogging.fi/2008/10/18/speaking-at-mobile-monday-amsterdam/" class="ext" title="How Mobile is Changing our Society @ Tarina">own post</a> about his presentation. <h3>Bruce Sterling</h3> Closing speaker was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling" title="Bruce Sterling article @ Wikipedia" class="ext">Bruce Sterling</a>, an American science fiction author, I had never heard of. His talk sounded very religious <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/3000514199/in/set-72157608628987398/" rel="me" title="Sterling speeching from the pulpit in De Rode Hoed @ Flickr" class="ext">standing on the pulpit</a> and speaking about the “Internet of Things”. He explained that people close to the volcano will experience the greatest impact: your grandmother's life probably won't be affected with the introduction of the iPhone when she still uses a landline but yours will. In 10 years time you can still use a hammer but your iPhone will be useless. A nice point - made me think - after seeing the BlackBerry Storm vs. the G1 fight on stage earlier. In Sterling's words: <blockquote>“I want you to think real hard about the values you are going to save and stop worrying about the plastic.”</blockquote> <h3>Conclusion</h3> Overall it was an interesting day on a beautiful location, almost feeling surreal driving back to Belgium in the thick fog. The best part, however, were the discussions with <a class="url fn n ext" rel="acquaintance met" href="http://theicecreamdebate.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/mobile-monday-amsterdam-think-about-value" title="Mobile Monday Amsterdam: “Think about value” @ Theicecreamdebate">Dorien</a>, <a class="url fn n ext" rel="acquaintance met" href="http://delvauxkoen.blogspot.com/">Koen</a> and <a class="url fn nickname ext" rel="friend met" href="http://www.pitslamp.be/">Bunker</a>! Photos are available on <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/sets/72157608628987398/" rel="me" class="ext" title="My MoMo Amsterdam Flickr set">my</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/loneblackrider/sets/72157608661125212/" title="Bunker's MoMo Amsterdam Flickr set" class="ext">Bunker</a>'s Flickr stream.

2008-11-04T14:30:15+01:00

momo8-amsterdam Mobile Monday Amsterdam

2008-11-05T09:24:37+01:00

Simon Schoeters Yesterday we went to <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.be/" title="The Mobile Monday Brussels wiki" class="ext">Mobile Monday Brussels</a>. Mobile Mondays are community events for: <blockquote cite="http://www.mobilemonday.be/">[...] mobile industry visionaries, developers and influential individuals. The Mobile Monday spirit is one of open innovation and is seen as a catalyst for mobile innovations.</blockquote> All around a central theme: “When marketing meets mobile”. The organizers in Belgium would like to keep it small and informal for now to let it grow organically. In September this year around 20 participants showed up, this time 46 people subscribed. It's growing already. <h3>Presentations</h3> <ul> <li> <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/3038845989/in/set-72157609292347956/" rel="me" title="See a larger version on Flickr" style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 10px"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/3038845989_a2f35d14c6_s.jpg" height="75" width="75" alt="" /></a> Fabian Tilmant from <a href="http://www.cleverwood.be/" class="url org ext">Cleverwoods</a> spoke about “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fabiantilmant/mobile-monday-key-role-of-platforms-presentation" title="Check out Fabian's presentation on SlideShare" class="ext">Mobile Advertising: what can we expect in Belgium</a>”. He explained why mobile internet needs more ‘mobile platforms’ to see its breakthrough. Platforms are needed as a basic layer for advertising and he explained that a mobile model can't succeed without advertising. Although I do agree that advertising is an important factor, I don't think you always need advertisements. The <a href="http://m.standaard.be/" title="Mobile version of De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper (Dutch)" class="ext">mobile</a> De Standaard site (a Belgian newspaper) doesn't inlcude adds and still everyone keeps mentioning them (or is this free advertising I'm promoting here?). Especially with the limited screen real estate and a low user attention level we'll need a different kind of advertising, banners just won't do it. I think you'll need to give the user something back for the time he invests in your ad: sponsored content maybe or a sponsored mobile game? The free version of Twitterific includes non-obstructive ads, is this the way to go? </li> <li>Jean-Paul de Ville was supposed to demo <a href="http://www.pumbby.com/" class="url org ext">Pumbby</a>, a service that pays you to receive ads on your mobile phone. I was looking forward to this one but Jean-Paul was ill. Now I still don't know why this happy sounding name needs two B's. Oh well...</li> </ul> <h3>Networking</h3> After the presentations everyone introduced himself briefly. This wouldn't have been possible in a larger event but here it worked out perfectly. In my opinion it lowered the barrier for the networking later on and showed what companies are interested in mobile platforms today. It seems most participants have a media/advertisement background but it was nice to see De Lijn (public bus and tram service in Flanders) was there as well as I like to complain about the lack of mobile support on their site. The <abbr title="Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen">NMBS</abbr> (Belgian national railway operator) and De Lijn are really important companies to promote mobile internet in Belgium. If they could provide their mobile platform (with an <abbr title="Application Programming Interface ">API</abbr> if possible) with the bus and train schedules it could be a huge boost for mobile internet if you ask me. I'm pretty sure the developer community could take over from than on and create mobile widgets or mashups that find the next bus home (delays included) when your train arrives. I had a great discussion with the guys from Microsoft as well, about the need for a company to embrace mobile platforms or not. Even though our views differ I liked to exchange thoughts. Still interested? Have a look at the <a href="/blog/momo8-amsterdam" title="My blog post on Mobile Monday Amsterdam a few weeks earlier">Mobile Monday Amsterdam</a> post I wrote earlier this month.

2008-11-18T13:04:44+01:00

momo2-brussels Mobile Monday Brussels

2008-11-19T14:24:21+01:00