By Shaun Thanki

Last night MoMo launched its 84th chapter in Karlskrona, Sweden. Karlskrona is a very small Swedish town but home to the world class telecom cluster TelecomCity - a regional and global "hot spot" within the IT and telecom industry.

It was here were Europolitan was founded, one of the first and subsequently largest mobile operators and an important contributor to the development of the Swedish mobile market. Today the TelecomCity network consists of a number of leading companies. Ericsson and Telenor, among others, as well as a variety of innovative product and service companies. In total the network consist of 40 companies including the Municipality of Karlskrona and Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH).

The kick-off event that was meant as a workshop started with Richard Linden, Managing Director of TelecomCity talking about how he sees the MoMo concept could evolve as an informal knowledge arena within the local industry that consist of more than 10.000 employees and 5000 ICT students. And as a connector between the academia and the industry - one of the ideas was that Ph.D students from BTH could present their thesis in an executive summary format. Among the other speakers was Niclas Melin, Marketing Director Revenue Management at Ericsson whom presented their new concept "Mobile Money" and how this could leverage social change in developing countries and Shaun Thanki, Founding Director of MoMo Scandinavia whom has over the last year been working on connecting the mobilist community in Scandinavia.

There was a good crowd that represented almost all aspects of the industry - from global players like CyberCom Group to master students and researchers from BTH.

One of the telecom students, Erkin Gunay originally from Turkey had previously attended the MoMo events in Istanbul. Said he was very happy seeing the MoMo concept launching in TelecomCity and had great hopes for this initiative. Also iclas Melin said that MoMo as a meeting point for individuals and not the companies could really give a new social knowledge arena that would increase the personal relations within the local ecosystem.

After the speakers had presented there were some very good discussion on how MoMo TelecomCity could develop and organizer Therese Hogblad was very happy with the feedback and that finally MoMo had launched after being on the agenda for some time!

Nokia follows its last week’s research and development (R&D) reduction announcement by announcing job cuts in Japan. Nokia says that it is setting its operations to be in line with its focused portfolio of future products. In Japan this m means that 220 employees will lose their jobs.

Last week Nokia announced plans to reduce some of its R&D activities in Finland and Denmark by cutting 320 jobs.

Nokia says that it will continue its sourcing activities in Japan.

“Japanese manufacturers are important partners who play a critical role in Nokia's global supply-chain strategy and with whom Nokia continues to develop its world-class logistics operations, Nokia’s press release says. It goes on to say that the Japanese operation of Nokia Siemens Networks, Nokia's network infrastructure business, is not affected by this announcement and continues uninterrupted.

Vertu, Nokia's exclusive line of handcrafted mobile phones for the luxury market, will also continue operations in Japan unaffected by today's announcement.

New devices from RIM are generating an increasing percentage of the total number of requests for the platform, according to the October 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report. The recently launched RIM devices that are gaining traction are the Tour and new versions of the Curve (8900 and 8520).

The older 8100 Pearl series has seen its share of RIM traffic steadily decrease from 28 percent in April to 16 percent in October. However, the 8300 Curve series has maintained approximately 44 percent share over the last six months.

The Android Operating System is a relative newcomer, having turned one year old in October.

Worldwide requests from Android devices increased 5.8 times since April 2009 in the AdMob network. The HTC Dream (G1) has continued to experience strong growth over the past six months and the launch of new devices is driving significant incremental growth in Android traffic. The Motorola Droid already represented 24 percent of all Android requests in AdMob's network two weeks after it launched.

The iPhone, Palm and RIM OS's all run exclusively on devices manufactured by those companies, while the Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile OS's run on devices from a variety of manufacturers.

Highlights from the October 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report include:

• In October 2009, 70 percent of iPhone OS requests came from the iPhone while the remaining 30 percent came from the iPod touch.

• In the US, the RIM 8300 Curve and 8100 Pearl series devices have consistently remained in the Top 20 devices over the last two years. In the UK, the 9000 Bold and 8900 Curve have seen strong growth and are now the number 10 and 11 devices, respectively.

• In the US, Android had 20 percent share of smartphone traffic, up from seven percent six months before, and the HTC Magic (myTouch 3G) and HTC Dream were both Top 10 devices. In the UK, the HTC Dream, HTC Magic, and HTC Hero are all Top 10 devices in the AdMob network.

  • The Motorola CLIQ has also seen fast pickup since its launch at T-Mobile in the US and generated six percent of Android traffic on November 18.

• The top Symbian and Windows Mobile devices have not changed in 2009 and both platforms have lost smartphone share. One of Nokia's first touchscreen models, the 5800 XpressMusic, is the one of the few newcomers to the list of Top 20 Symbian devices in 2009.

Google earlier this month announced that it has acquired AdMob for USD 750 million.

AdMob stores and analyzes handset and operator data from every ad request in its network of more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications to optimize ad serving. Each month, the AdMob Mobile Metrics Report aggregates this data to provide insights into major trends in the mobile ecosystem. The AdMob share is calculated by the percentage of requests received from a particular handset; it is a measure of relative mobile Web and application usage and does not represent handset sales.

Global shipments of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) will peak at about 50 million units per year in 2012 and slightly decline thereafter, predicts a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight.

Growing shipments in emerging markets are not likely to fully compensate for the decline in Europe and North America, where higher adoption of handset-based navigation services will become the primary navigation solution for occasional users. Nevertheless, multiple navigation solutions and device types are likely to co-exist also in the future. Most PNDs and in-car navigation systems still provide a better user experience than many handset-based navigation services. The report also explains that handset navigation services are also well suited as a complement to other solutions, especially for use outside the car.

PND vendors are increasingly looking at value-added services enabled by new devices with wireless connectivity to combat slower market growth, increasing competition and commoditization of entry-level devices. Berg Insight forecasts that 88 percent of PNDs shipped worldwide in 2015 will have integrated cellular connectivity.

“The connected PND segment has had a slow start, but now seems to be on-track as business models have been refined”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. Although Connected PNDs are unlikely to account for a significant share of total shipped units next year, rapid growth can be expected once customers get used to new live services such as traffic flow information, speed camera databases and up-to-date maps. “In only a few years time, wireless connectivity will be taken for granted also in Personal Navigation Devices”, said Malm.

Since its early beginnings, MobileMonday has exploded onto the world scene with a footprint that now spans 50 countries, 80 regions and 84 chapters worldwide. It is for this success that Jari Tammisto, MobileMonday’s current CEO, was presented with the International Brand Leadership Award at the World Brand Congress in November 2009. And for only the second time that an award has been given to a community, the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, presented Jari Tammisto with a special internationalization award for his efforts behind MobileMonday.

Said Jari Tammisto at the World Brand Congress, “I am delighted to see that our open operating model is recognized now as the hottest trend in brand building. Five years ago we identified it as the most effective way to globalize our operations, and now companies, communities and universities throughout the world are exploring and analyzing our model and its applicability to various companies and industries.”

The Brand Leadership Award was presented to Jari Tammisto in the annual World Brand Congress in Mumbai, India. The award is the most important personal recognition granted in the congress, the congress organizers state. The decision upon a person receiving the award was made by a jury consisting of seasoned industry professionals. Criteria include person’s merits, personal values, business ethics and a contribution to the development of the marketing industry.

Prior to Jari Tammisto the Brand Leadership Award has been presented to numerous marketing industry professionals ranging from Mohammad Al Mulla, Executive Director, Dubai Media City; Prof. Renee Mauborgne, author of “Blue Ocean Strategy”; Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi; to David Jones, Global CEO, Euro RSCG.

MobileMonday Rio de Janeiro
9 November 2009 at 16:30–19:30
ESPM Auditorium, Rua do Rosário, 90, Centro

MobileMonday Rio de Janeiro will hold its first event on 9 November 2009 at the ESPM Auditorium starting at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is free-of-charge. Pre-registration, however, is required due to limited space at the venue. Registration is now open.

MobileMonday Buenos Aires
26 October 2009 at 17:00–19:00
Universidad Tecnologica National, Medrano 951, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

MoMo TechTalks, a series of open, collaborative and informal networking for the Argentine mobile community, will launch its first event on 26 October 2009 at the Universidad Tecnologica National in Buenos Aires.

The first gathering will host Maximiliano Firtman, director at IT Master Professional Training and Forum Nokia Champion, and Bryan Tafel, CTO of Insomnia Business Solution. Mr. Firtman will present The Mobile Web and Multi-platform Widgets, and Mr. Tafel will discuss Mobile Development Challenges.

MoMo TechTalks will be coordinated by Mario Zorz and Fabio Caballero. The event is free-of-charge, pre-registration, however, is required because of limited space at the venue. Register by sending an email to rsvp@momobuenosaires.com or by calling +54 11 4961 6172, or +54 11 4962 1856.

MobileMonday Helsinki
29 September 2009 at 13:00–17:00
Nokia House, Keilalahdentie 2-4

On September 29, Marseilles IT cluster proposes a strategic partnership with Helsinki. As one of the fastest growing cities in southern Europe, Marseille is willing to enlarge its links towards Helsinki, the city which has become, after years of investments, the reference in Europe for their private and public innovative experiences.

In its desire to catch-up, Marseille is going to spend more than 7 billion euros in the next five years in infrastructures, equipments, transportation, and high-tech parks — impacting the growth of the local IT industry.

In a two hour conference, CEO’s of six of Provence’s leading companies, Gemalto, Inside Contactless, Avenir Telecom, ST Microelectronics, Tagsys, Mobile Distillery will discuss the advantages of this partnership, the ambition of Marseilles and the opportunities of this partnership for Finnish companies.

Based on this current business flow committed to Nokia, the common objective is to reinforce any Business and R&D opportunities between the two clusters.

Program

16.30

Welcoming

• Gabriel Rebourcet, Finnish Consul, Marseille
• Patrick Dalez, Forum Nokia

16.45–17.00

Key attractivity factors, the Hot Spots in IT

• Robert Maury, Director Provence Promotion
• Jean-Daniel Beurnier: Founder, Avenir Telecom and Member Club Top 20
• François Jalinot, Managing Director Euromediterranée

17.00–17.45

Testimonies from Marseille IT leaders: Round table with a Moderator

• Philippe Brun, Président, ST Microelectronics SAS, Aix en Provence
• Remy de Tonnac, CEO, Inside Contacless, Aix en Provence
• Jacques Seneca,Vice Président, Gemalto France
• Jean-Daniel Beurnier, Founder, Avenir Telecom, Marseille
• Alain Fanet, Président and CEO, Tagsys RFID, Marseille

17.45–18.15

R&D opportunities between Helsinki and Marseille

• Georges Falessi, CEO IT cluster Provence-French Riviera cluster
• Vincent Berge founder, PACA Mobile Center and coordinator Mobile Monday Marseille
• Michel Combe, Landwell Global, legal and tax advises

18.15–18.45

Pitch from Finnish Start-up

18.45

Buffet

MobileMonday Helsinki
17 August 2009 at 15:00–17:30
Molly Malone's Irish Bar, Kaisaniemenkatu 1 C

What to do with position information?

Kalle Snellman, Idean: Where is the Finnish positioning market today?

Tuomo Kolehmainen, Foreca: Weather, one of the best on-demand contents for LBS

Petri Kiianlinna, LogiNets: RFID Mobile does not rely on human memory

Doors open 17:30, the program starts 18:00 Welcome!

MobileMonday Taipei
3 August 2009 at 16:00–18:00
Mary's Bistro Cafe, 2F, No.89, Sec.2, Ren-ai Rd.

It’s fascinating to watch laptops getting smaller and turning into “netbooks” while mobile phones are getting bigger to accommodate full keyboards and better Web browsing and application support. The pundits think these low-cost portable devices offer so many attractive features that they’ll soon displace smart phones. Intel CEO Paul Otellini even called Netbooks the “only bright spot of growth in the PC industry ”. As netbooks continue to spread and become a common option for entry-level users, road warriors, and users who primarily need just e-mail and the Web, netbooks are going to inevitably change the computing world. As a result, the limited local processing and limited local storage available on netbooks are likely to become catalysts for transferring more processing and storage to the data center, where companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are currently building up large reservoirs of computing resources.

Those three companies will certainly be beneficiaries of this trend – especially in terms of their cloud storage initiatives – but so will many other companies that host Software-as-a-Service applications, hosted storage, and cloud computing services. Enterprises will also exploit this trend to gain efficiency and manageability improvements by being able to centralize more applications, and in some cases even migrating to more of a thin client architecture. Corporate users have often resisted this scenario because it took away some of the flexibility they were used to on their PCs. However with netbooks, this type of centralization would actually help speed up and simplify storage and applications for users on their netbooks, and so it’s much more likely to be accepted.

For 23rd MobileMonday Taipei Event, we will talk about one of the latest trends in mobile world, netbook, since more and more operators are offering free netbook to encourage their customers to sign up for 3G serives. Along with netbook, we will also discuss the development of cloud computing in today’s hi-tech market. And we will also demo a brand new operating system specially designed for netbooks, called Jolicloud. This OS provides a beautiful interface, an application directory and a set of social features that makes it easy and fun to use.

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, August 3rd, 2009 Place: Mary’s Bistro 2nd. Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentations & Discussion: 7:30 PM

Presentation from Netbooknews.com: – Netbook Overview and Cloud Computing – From smartphone and mobile computing to netbooks

Special presentation of Cloud Computing from a world famous cloud computing service provider

And live demo of Jolicloud, a brand new OS specially designed for Netbooks

Networking Time: 8:00 PM

Please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xPeXYyvI37vrleYJweIkvQ_3d_3d to sign up.