There are some great posts here and for the first time Martin has two awards: the award for Best post by a Carnival newcomer to Emma Vernon for her post on how the iPad fails to excite Generation Y. Post of the week honors go to Carl Martin at Redweb for his cry for 'Back to basics'.

This is a great idea and congrats to Emma and Carl

All participants will be included in a draw for prizes including a pass for MWC in Barcelona. You can see more at the visionmobile blog

I believe that this program closes tomorrow so not a lot of time left!

I have been a fan of Nokia .. But recently, I have been critical of Nokia for mixing three distinct elements which are not easy to mix in my view i.e. telecoms, content(music) and applications.

Trying to emulate apple and grab mindshare in the music industry was never going to work and that's why I said: Nokia's mass market iPhone strategy is unlikely to work and Dave Stewart can never be the missionary man ..

As early as 2005, Nokia had(rightly) recognised that they needed to get the customers on their side and also build their own brand to overcome the commoditization of handsets (which I discussed in Long Tail Devices ) and an inevitable move to services to survive

So, it is nice to see that Nokia has come back to its grassroots and stopped trying to be an iPhone but provided their customers with something that they really want ..

That magic ingredient is 'Location'. It is obvious that Location is the key differentiator for mobile devices .. But Location was not a platform. Nokia has made location into a platform by firstly acquiring navteq and then more importantly giving out location for free ..

Very few companies can spend 8.1 billion dollars and then make the product free .. (Nokia acquires Navteq for 8.1 billion dollars)

But that's exactly what's needed since location now becomes a platform for others(developers) to build their applications on .. And these applications are unique and useful to the customers. Both Apple and Google do locations through Cell id databases (and hence it's only an approximation) but Nokia has accuracy ..

And now we see proof that this strategy works ..

In the first week of launch, of the latest version of Ovi Maps bundled with free walk and drive navigation over 1.4 million people have downloaded it already.

More interestingly, from my perspective of viewing as a platform. Ovi Maps Racing is a location-based game which uses actual data from the NAVTEQ maps, where you create your racing track and then choose your car and start playing. (source GSM arena)

Its high time Nokia started to behave as a industry leader and stop emulating the iPhone and also become a unique platform in its own right

Once again, Nokia is setting the agenda

This is all great news ..

For example: The initial contact is made through a voice mail but the response is via IM(chat). Or initial contact is made by email - response is by twitter etc

A recent paper called Evolving mobile communication practices of Irish teenagers addresses this question. One of the goals of this paper is to investigate how the teenagers' adoption of recently emergent Web 2.0 applications (social-networking web sites and instant messaging services) tends to bring about a re-positioning of the mobile phone's role as a communications channel.

Their findings suggest that the teenagers' relationship to the mobile phone is evolving as newer communications applications emerge. In particular, the technical competencies and media literacies necessary for multi-model communication are evolving fastest where locational and socio-economic conditions are most favourable i.e. small groups of teenagers were adopting multi-modal/ Web 2.0 communications paradigms where locational and, especially, socio-economic conditions were most favourable, ex: middle-class urban teens with good family income etc

The paper argues that, despite universal ownership of the technological device among the sample of teenagers, the mobile phone is caught up in wider digital and socio-economic divides.

I have been saying this for a long time .. i.e. 'mobile' is a part of a multimodal communication - especially among the youth and consequently a single mode of communication is a myth especially amongst younger people. (Mobile Youth is a myth)

To me, a multimodal communication would include many channels with integrated communications both in synchronous and non synchronous modes - ex facebook, IM, Twitter, Skype, SMS, Voice are holistic and multimodal - especially going forward.

I also believe that Operators are adopting this trend - for example with Vodafone 360.
While still not publicised well, Vodafone 360 FAQ just says that 'Vodafone 360 is available to customers on 247 mobile networks in more than 60 countries.' but not much else.

Same with the Orange On - but these can be used to indicate that the trends are changing to a converged mode of communication from mobile devices

Is there any other research that points to this trend?

Being an Avataar fan .. it's great to be speaking at an event with John Landau

I am speaking at the #140conf conference organised by Jeff Pulver on Feb 15 in Barcelona(same time as mobile world congress). As the name suggests, it is about Twitter/Real time web etc. More interesting is the fascinating group of speakers from media, education and industry.

These include Jon Landau - Movie Producer (Titanic, Avatar), Bill Gajda - Chief Commercial Officer, GSMA, Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - Chief Marketing Officer, Kodak,
Jeffrey Merrihue (@JeffreyMerrihue) - Chairman, MoFilm, Pilar (@englishteach8) - Teacher & bookworm, JP Rangaswami (@jobsworth) - Chief Scientist, BT, Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) - Founder, Pinstorm; Venture Capitalist

And others ..

I am speaking on the 'Role of Twitter as the glue for the Internet of Things'

You can register HERE ..

It is an interesting comment .. and the context was as below.

Our panel was about 'Understanding Social Graph Optimization' with me + Carter Brokaw(CRO, Meebo); Vincent Sider(Head of Strategy: Social Media, Gaming & Presence, BT); Maz Nadjm, Online Community Product Manager BSKYB); Trevor Johnson (Head of Strategy and Planning, EMEA - facebook) and chaired by Antony Mayfield - SVP Social Media, iCrossing(Antony has a forthcoming book which I look forward to reading)

Thus, it had some very clued on folk and I enjoyed the event and the discussion both on the panel and also with the audience.

I took a neutral/agnostic - almost academic view which complemented the panel well

'Understanding Social Graph Optimization' is quite a mouthful .. but it is also relevant mostly to organizations and brands(and not customers) i.e. customers are really not concerned about others optimising their 'social graph'. In fact, they are concerned(rightly so ..) about companies owning their Social graph. Ultimately, we will not want companies to own our social graph and I believe that open and interoperable technologies (like OpenId, XMPP, FOAF, SparQL, Oauth, XMPP, APML, Attention.xml ) and others which become the foundation of sharing social data across social networks. This leads to interoperable social data which will be shared with others(as opposed to one company owning the social data) - I alluded to this in a previous blog (Variant of ) APML for mobile devices .. for attention data

I had four key points to say in my 3 min intro:

a) Recommendations vs. profiles: There is a tendency to confuse recommendations( netflix, Amazon et al) with profiles. Recommendations are proven. Profiling has some reservations and unknowns in the minds of many people. The operative difference is: the provider does not maintain an ongoing profile about you through all your social media activity - but rather(like Amazon) uses it for recommendations mainly. Recommendations are based mainly on your previous activity and also on preferences from your social graph(i.e. people connected to you)

b) Privacy: taking control of your social data. Interesting concept. Many are talking about it. Has an inertia problem(extra step from the customer). Yet unproven

c) Mobile: Could benefit from a converged recommendation engines. Ex - I like ZZ top and blog about it. That feed(my blog) is freely available. It could be used to augment existing feeds about me for targeted advertising. Could be seen as 'spooky' but if handled well .. could be a benefit.

d) Communication is a condiment. It is not monetizable in itself (like WiFi - see Salt pepper and social networking ). More recently, RIM used this strategy to successfully gain adoption in the youth segment with Blackberry messenger

Some more thoughts ..
a) Don't forget the Harman Bajwa episode. There is considerable scepticism

b) Antony Mayfield mentioned Russell Ackoff . Highly recommended and it's great that social media agencies are following Ackoff (who I also have a high regard for)

c) Although I did not mention this, Tim Berners Lee's original vision of the Web was Peer to Peer (and not Client server). Many of the issues we see on the web(privacy, controlling social graph etc) are as a result of Client server and would not happen in a Peer to Peer system. The Web would also be more scaleable (with fewer middlemen and failure points) in a Peer to Peer system.

d) Finally .. One of the few advertisements I love is Compare the Meerkat (and there is a whole social media marketing strategy behind it) .. I once saw an interview with the creator of this advertisement and he said that the product was so common - that he had to be really innovative

So, my point is: Actually most brands are boring! i.e. the marketing folk may like us to think that we all love their specials and their promotions, but most people don't. So, it may be a more interesting idea to associate with a popular social media item like 'ken lee'. This video has 14 million views .. and is an attempt by a woman to sing the Mariah Carey song 'Without You' - which she thinks is 'Ken Lee'(Cant leave!) So, brands could sponsor a viral classic like this song which people like .. that's the point .. especialy if they are a product that is hard to distinguish(hence gain mindshare by entertainment of customers)

Thanks to Sam and Julia of Chinwag for inviting me.
You can follow the event on Twitter at #smwldn

Corrected to #smwldn, not #swmldn. Thanks @RoseKue

Enjoy 'Ken Lee'

I am in Munich speaking at M-days but here is a quick post for the videos for MoMo Monday. Always a pleasure to speak alongwith Tomi Ahonen, Martin Sauter and Andrew Grill

The order of the speakers is: Shaun Tomi Ajit Steinar Andrew and Martin

Techcrunch does a great job of showcasing the harman Bajwa facebook vanity page incident .. and it has profound implications

In a nutshell,

There is a guy called Harman Bajwa

who owns the facebook vanity domain www.facebook.com/harman

facebook has revoked it for allegedly 'impersonating' Harman international

And retrospectively sold it to Harman International presumably

with whom they are 'working'

If your name happens to be 'Harman' - I think it is legitimate that you try to get the facebook vanity name 'Harman'

This has profound implications

Facebook is a site ... It is not the web

That's why I don't support such proprietary implementations MASQUERADING as the Open Web

This is an interesting episode and lets see how it develops but good on techcrunch again for this post

Pic - the REAL Harman Bajwa (as far as I am concerned!)

Update

Facebook gives back Harman his name and apologises

That's good news :)

I wrote this partly out of fun .. I was trying to show the deeper meaning of mobile to young people .. using an analogy of parallel universes

It brings a lot of my personality into the post(Quantum mechanics, Comics, Archeology etc).
comments welcome ..

Quantum mechanics tells us of the fascinating possibility of parallel universes . While these parallel universes may appear to be in the realm of science fiction, many young people who use mobile devices already inhabit such universes in their own mind.

To them, these universes are real and significant since these universes revolve around themselves (they are the stars)

It is easy to think of pictures taken from mobile devices as static images, but to their creators, they are much more because they have a unique meaning. The images also have a special meaning in context of their community (the parallel universe) they inhabit

The psychosocial impact of Mobile devices is an emerging topic. (i.e. one's psychological development in an interaction with a social environment)

In the paper Mobile Identity: Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media Gitte(pdf) quotes a young girl (age sixteen) who says: Parents usually don't know how important a tool the mobile has become in young people's lives. They only think about the communicative function, not the social meaning. They then explore the psychological meaning of mobile devices to young people in greater detail. A mobile device has two functions: communication and also a social element. Since the young person's Identity is tied to the mobile device, it becomes fluid - both in the physical sense (mobility) but also in the social sense (going in and out of communities). Besides mobility, the mobile device also has Availability, presence, the ability to document experiences and acts as a learning tool (since it acts as a reference point and a filter through the friends in their social network)

This means, young people inhabit a world of constant visual and textual streams which become a part of their identity (i.e. they are often afraid to 'miss something' significant in their world). The captured image is proof that 'I was there'. It need not be 'special occasions', rather it is more about 'what goes on in their mind at that time'. When shared, it is a part of an emerging collective consciousness their own parallel universe. They invest time in capturing the moment since it is a part of their own Identity(what's on their mind) and consequently they are keen to ensure that it is a part of their collective consciousness i.e. received/shared/communicated to their own group(of which they are the star)

When I read this for the first time, it sounded like an alien world. But is it?

Children has always lived in their own worlds .. A space of their own .. Away from every one else which they create. As a child, I used to read comic books extensively(especially Disney, Hanna Barbara, Tintin, Asterix etc) which I still do! It is a unique world that has meaning only to me ..

We see the same phenomenon today .. But through an interactive mobile medium. The mobile device has become a social artefact i.e. an object made or modified by a human being.

Ancient human beings made rock paintings in caves which depicted their world ..

Through their mobile images, the young inhabit their own private world .. Which revolves around them.

Their own (mobile) parallel universe!

PS: If you are interested in parallel universes, see this BBC link on parallel universes and the work of Michio Kaku whose site is HERE

I first got interested in this topic after reading Hyperspace a few years ago and
Parallel worlds is also good and more recent

Image source: http://www.dl2.net/images/art/merfyl/magic_portal.jpg

If you had an HTML5 capable browser you can see it but if not this video will show you hhow it looks

see creator Guillermo Eteves blog for more

Thanks to Shaun Thanki for inviting me

With Tomi, Martin Sauter and Andrew Grill as co-speakers .. this should be a great event

If you are attending, happy to meet up!

I have a theory ..

a) all voice is going VOIP. Already the core network has IP(through IMS). The access network is supposed to get IP through LTE

b) However, voice is the big bottleneck for LTE - hence initiatives like VOLGA and 3gpp voice

c) Now, both of the above have limitations. They will take a while to be 'global'. Meanwhile the world cannot wait for the telcos to interoperate

d) Now this is where Jajah gets interesting. Jajah has a virtual network through VOIP servers across the planet. As gigaom says

However, Jajah's struggles didn't prevent it from building its own virtual network with special VoIP servers across the planet, connected through leased fiber connections. It also connects with various PSTN networks (see map). Think of it as a virtual global phone company that allows it to route calls from one place, say New York, to another like Shanghai, at ultra-low prices.

e) This means - telefonica gets a VOIP network globally and does not need to rely on either Volga or 3GPP voice. It could easily 'offload' long distance voice calls to the Jajah VOIP network. This could work well especially for Telefonica's latam footprint

f) There is also a seperate case for Voice as a platform see visionmobile post HERE

If the above theory is true .. then I think it is a very clever move.

It also shows that VOIP has truly arrived!

OMTP has launched it's OMTP BONDI widget competition with a First Prize $5000

The competition detalls are HERE

The aim of the competition is to create a widget using the tools, tutorials and examples on the BONDI website and upload it to the Competition widget gallery. There is a great panel of judges from across the industry who will meet in the week before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and choose the best widgets. These will then be 'demoed in all their glory on a number of great handsets at the event'.

This is truly great news because as developers, the 'deployment on handsets' is the holy grail and I am curious to see the great handsets

The competition closes on February 8th - so there is not a lot of time!

The BONDI blog is HERE

I am speaking at M-days 2010 in Munich at BMW-Welt .. this is one of the largest Mobile events in the German speaking world and its the first time it includes English speaking speakers as well. More details below. My keynote is with Intel, Deutsche Telekom AG, Qualcomm and others as below

M-Days 2010 - European Media and Mobile Experts Meet at the BMW Welt in Munich
Well-known International Speakers and English-Speaking Panels Focus on the Future of the Mobile Industry as well as on Application and Smartphone Trends

On 28th and 29th January 1,400 representatives of the mobile industry start the mobile year 2010 at the BMW Welt in Munich with one of Europe's biggest mobile events: The international congress and trade fair M-Days - the home of MOBILE - offers deep insights into current and future trends in mobile technologies and marketing. International speakers from enterprises such as Qualcomm (UK), Rubberduck Media Lab (Norway), Intel Corporation, Futuretext, Southend United Football Club (UK), BBC worldwide (UK), Out There Media (US), Fjordnet Ltd (UK/F), Screen Digest (UK), Keynote Systems (Silicon Valley, USA) and SiMobil from Slovenia provide a comprehensive overview of upcoming developments. The M-Days are the ideal platform for the exchange of ideas between German and international partners.
Erding, 11th January 2010: The mobile industry will be at home in Munich when the international congress and trade fair M-Days - the Home of MOBILE takes place for the fifth time at the BMW Welt on 28th and 29th January.

Due to their enormous success in the last few years, the M-Days attract speakers, exhibitors and visitors from all over the world - the congress and trade fair has become a well-established platform for the international mobile industry. The fifth M-Days offer three simultaneous series of presentations, one of them especially for English-speaking audiences.
The first highlight of the congress will be the keynote of an authority in digital measurement, Gian Fulgoni from Chicago, co-founder of comScore Inc., dealing with "The Mobile Media Ecosystem - How Mobile is Changing the Game" on 28th January. Fulgoni says: "2009 was undoubtedly a big year for mobile, and 2010 will no doubt be an even bigger, more exciting one. Increased mobile usage patterns and the rapid evolution of the way consumers interface with their mobile devices are currently changing the world."

M-Days: First Day
On 28th January there will be three English-speaking panels:
11.30 am - 01.00 pm

Mobile Trends 2020, Mobile Research and App-Commerce: What Comes Next in Europe?
Google activities send out a clear signal to the market: mobile is different and mobile is hot. The advance of touchscreen devices, app stores and new advertising approaches/formats are all coming together in a new kind of interactive mobile internet, a brave new place, where new content, new experiences and even new mobile search services will set the bar e. g. for mobile commerce, mobile video and TV.
In this session trend scout Monty C. M. Metzger, Ahead of Time, gives an overview of mobile communication trends 2020. Peter Broekroelofs, Service2Media, provides insights into the changing rules of mobile commerce. Ola Svartberg, Rubberduck Media Lab, shows how the "iPhone puts Mobile-TV in the Picture". The panel is moderated by analyst Peggy Anne Salz, Founder of MSearchGroove

02.00 pm - 03.30 pm
Mobile Advertising & Media Trends in Europe and Around the World
This session explores what different markets can learn from each other about mobile advertising and what is working in the market. It shows in which countries mobile advertising has been applied successfully for the past two years and how the rapidly-growing markets of Central and Eastern Europe and those of Asia-Pacific implement their mobile advertising strategies and make profit, even amidst the global financial crisis.
The panel opens with the key speech of Tom Bohmann, Vice President BCC UK. Industry representatives such as Kerstin Trikalitis, managing director, Out There Media, Mark Davies, marketing manager, Southend United Football Club, Michael Schade, managing director, Fishlab Entertainment, and a representative of Ogilvy UK will share their experience and expertise with the audience. The panel is moderated by Mark Wächter, managing director of MWC.mobi and MMA Global Board of Directors & chairman BVDW Section Mobile.

04.00 pm - 05.30 pm
Needs and Problems in the East-European Market
For most German and European companies Eastern European countries are an interesting growth market. This session focuses on the needs and problems, working business models and also the chances in this region. Learn from experts and their experiences in the Alps and Eastern regions.

Mirko Nedeljkovic, managing director, mineus )( s.r.o., Prague, Thomas Kicker, marketing manager of tele.ring, and Peter Pavic, managing director of Croatian SiMobil and Styria Media, will contribute to this panel. The south-east expert Harald Winkelhofer, IQ Mobile GmbH, Austria, will moderate this session.
Mobile Media Night, 8.00 pm: During the Mobile Media Night visitors have the opportunity to meet mobile experts to exchange ideas and initiate cooperations.

M-Days: Second Day
Mobile Fragmentation: Yet another OS, Browser and App Store on the Mobile Market?
The key-session provides an overview of the rapid changes in information technology and mobile communication. The vision for the future of mobile communication is a fully interconnected world in which every citizen will access, create and use content. Mobile offers a myriad of functions. Every day thousands of features are added to ease the consumer's life. Yet mobile as a platform and channel is becoming increasingly complex. Fragmentation absorbs developing resources and causes confusion amongst consumers. What effects will mobile have on the micro- and macro-economy and the society in general? What is the best way to limit fragmentation and complexity?
Ajit Jaokar, founder of the London research institute and publishing house Futuretext, opens the keynote session. Jaokar is a highly respected commentator and author of the book "Open Mobile: Understanding the Impact of Open Mobile". Also contributing to the panel is Wolfgang Petersen, director developer relations division Europe, Middle East and Africa, Intel Corporation. He is responsible for developing and managing Intel's DRD strategy and programs across EMEA mature and emerging markets. Colm Healy, vice president of Qualcomm (UK), speaks on the topic "Mobile Applications - Beyond the First Wave" and Anuj Khanna, founder & CEO of Wireless Expertise Ltd (UK), presents the study "The Future of Mobile Application Storefronts". Dr Rainer Deutschmann, senior vice president mobile products, Deutsche Telekom AG, provides input on mobile communication around the world. The panel is moderated by Mark Wächter, managing director of MWC.mobi and MMA Global Board of Directors & chairman
BVDW Section Mobile.

There will be two English-speaking panels on 29th January:
11.30 am - 01.00 pm
Session: M-Social/Content/App
Customers: Mobile Performance, Perspectives of Applications and Successful Content Networks
One of the biggest challenges in the mobile market today is to ensure a satisfying end user experience for mobile applications on hundreds of different mobile handsets operating over different networks. The trend towards social media and mobile communication makes consumers more demanding. What makes an app perfect? What functionalities are crucial for the success of a network-community? How can be ensured that mobile content consistently works on different devices in Europe, Asia and America? What is "good performance" with regard to applications?
Mobile communication designer Christian Lindholm, managing partner of Fjordnet Ltd., presents the keynote: "2010 Mobile Trends: How to design a perfect app". Tony Perez, solution consultant, Keynote Systems (Silicon Valley), informs about his experiences in mobile application testing. Ulrik Jensen, European director of Gedda-Headz A/S from Denmark, presents the success story of his company´s mobile gaming community. Dr Torsten Wingenter, global coordination social media marketing at Lufthansa, talks about experiences with the Miles & More user app.

11.30 am - 01.00 pm
Session: International Topics
Ronan de Renesse, senior analyst and head of mobile media, Screen Digest (UK), opens the session with a study on "Current Analytics of the Mobile Market". Alexander Zudin, CEO Paragon Software (SHDD), presents the latest mobile trends in app commerce and provides examples of mobile productivity applications for handheld devices. Stephane Gantchev, business development director Central and Eastern Europe and co-founder of Mobile Monday, Sofia, shows how to build advertising inventories through customer loyalty programs. Andrew Bud, executive chairman of mBlox (UK), explains future business models of mobile services such as mobile payment, ticketing, sender-pays and smart pipe enablers. Representatives of Nokia and 12snap demonstrate aspects of mobile marketing from tactical to strategic marketing.

Development Session
The session focuses on "Developing on Android and Symbian" and is moderated by Simon Tennant, CEO, Buddycloud. It shows where Android fits into the mobile ecosystem and how network operators, developers and users respond to the operating systems Android and Symbian. The session provides some hints on how to develop successful android products from design and screenshot mockups to coding and release. It also deals with aspects like designing for user-generated content and location awareness.
If you would like to attend and register for the fifth M-Days in Munich or need further information on the congress and trade fair, please visit http://www.m-days.com/englisch/hauptseiten/congress.htm

M-Days Organizer - 11 Prozent Communication
11 Prozent Communication, located in Erding, Germany, has established itself as a neutral communication platform for brands, media and the mobile and digital entertainment worlds. The consulting agency provides companies with detailed and extensive information on the e-game and mobile markets. In addition, 11 Prozent organizes events (www.gfm-world.de, www.m-days.com, www.mobile-content-days.de), does PR work and is the publisher of GfM Nachrichten (www.gfm-nachrichten.de), a periodical dealing with mobile, eGames, IPTV and social media.
Press contact