Yes, it’s demo night. We’re still getting applications in to demo (you can keep them coming – we’ll choose the last batch of demo companies over the weekend – apply here: http://bit.ly/demorequest ).

However, we have chosen the first batch of demos for your delectation and these are (drum roll please) :

• Ribot with Threedom
• Terence Eden with QRpedia
• TouchType with Swiftkey
• Rococo with LocalSocial
• Poynt

And of course, our sponsors, Intel AppUp will be demoing something too plus they’ll have some new Meego devices with them.

We have many more demo’ers to announce so watch this space. And if you haven’t already RSVP’d for demo night on 18th April at CBI at Centrepoint, then what are you waiting for? Sign up and RSVP at http://momolo.org

Yes! Demo Night is back at MoMoLondon, albeit a couple of weeks later than we’d originally planned.

We'll update the agenda once we 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!

Doing something interesting in mobile apps and services? Got a cracking case study in mobile marketing? Innovating in mobile content? Then you should consider entering this year’s Meffys Awards which are now open for entries. These are one of the most prestigious global mobile awards and are definitely worth consideration.

This year’s Meffys categories span the entire mobile content & commerce ecosystem. Now in its 8th year, the Meffys honour achievements across mobile content and commerce and recognise the best innovation around the globe. Entries are judges by expert panels of leading journalists, analysts, academics and VCs. The winners will be announced at a Gala dinner attended by the industry’s most influential players on 7^th July at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s famous Covent Garden.

Companies wishing to enter should visit: www.meffys.com and submit their entries by 26^th April 2011.

For highlights from the 2010 awards ceremony and a list of 2010 winners, please visit: http://www.meffys.com/about/2010-highlights

Entering the 2011 Meffys

MEF will be accepting entries for the 2011 Meffys from today. Companies interested in entering the awards or nominating a candidate for the Outstanding Contribution Awards should go to the Meffys website at www.meffys.com for full details.

Entry prices for 2011 are as follows: £350 per entry; £150 for MEF Members. This year, MEF is also offering a special developer rate of £75 per entry (3 employees or less, no external funding and in business for no more than 1 year). Please see the http://www.meffys.com/enter/cost-of-entry for further information.

Meffys Categories for 2011

Best Game
Best Music Service
Best TV & Video Service
Best Content
Best Content Discovery & Personalisation Service
Best Social Media Service
Best Ad Campaign
new this year Best Brand on Mobile
new this year Best Mobile Website
Best Blockbuster App
Best Innovative App*
Best Technology Innovation*
Best Innovative Business Model*
Best Innovation in a Mobile First Market*
Best M-Commerce Service
Best Business Intelligence
Best Mobile Connected Device
Outstanding Contribution Award

*These categories qualify for the developer rates. See http://www.meffys.com/enter/cost-of-entry for more info.

So get those thinking caps on. With Easter looming, April 26 will come around really quickly so don’t leave it too late to get your entry in.

MoMoLo regular, Lauren McGregor from We Are Social, took some notes for us from Monday evening’s event sponsored by the lovely folks at BSkyB (who are on a recruitment drive in case you hadn’t heard already http://workforsky.com). [Image courtesy of Lisa Devaney, Hai Media Group]

Chair - Leila Makki, Video Journalist and presenter on Telecom TV

David Gibbs, director of mobile applications and services at BSkyB – including tablet editions publications

David Roth-Ey – Harper Collins – looking after the transition to digital (additional screen)

Mark Payton, Haymarket consumer media Rimma Perelmuter, MEF – business models, regulation, best-practice

Matt Pollitt, Account Director, Us Two – building and promoting mobile apps on iPhone and Android

There were many themes covered in the event so we’ll go through the topics or questions individually to give it some coherence in case you weren’t there. As much as possible was noted, but inevitably, not everything was captured.

Is there a change in emphasis with the advent of iPad 2 from content consumption to content creation?

Mark from Haymarket stated that forums have been a big avenue for content and is seeing this in tablets and sees it as a huge opportunity. David from Sky told the audience that by allowing customers to consume content QoE is of huge importance – you can recreate experiences on smaller devices like tablets. These are companion experiences such as interactive TV and how you can control your TV.

Apple vs. the world

Matt from UsTwo claims that it’s not just the hardware that gives Apple the edge. UsTwo has looked at Android and other platforms but the great thing about Apple is the instant plug in to users bank accounts via iTunes. This gives the immediate opportunity of getting things paid for easily and without disruption.

Rimma believes that the introduction of tablets has enhanced the smartphone offering as we are now seeing mass market appeal but, importantly, we are only at the start of this. We’re definitely seeing more interest in tablets and there is targeting via mobile devices – especially for the apps market. Content discovery and monetisation is still required and we need to marry up the original content distribution mechanisms with a smart business model behind it. Rimma’s looking forward to other tablet offerings beyond Apple which will create some competition and bring down price points.

David from Harper Collins is particularly excited to see that books are such a significant part of the iPad 2 and that it stretches the book experience beyond the flat page.

Content discovery David Roth-Ey shared that discovery is terrible in the digital world. Even shopping on a kindle or iPad is

terrible unless you know exactly what you are looking for. There’s an opportunity here for developers to create something to help consumers to discover new content.

Self-publishing

We’re also seeing that authors are bypassing publishers like Harper Collins and self-publishing with the new digital tools available. And this is always a threat. Publishers need to show their worth to writers. We often fund authors while they are writing their books. We are not seeing this as a huge issue at the moment. We offer the full suite of options, including digital – not just the books themselves, also creating applications for books e.g. SAS survival app at £3.99 included videos, quizzes and social features. This is a major benefit to authors who may not be able to achieve this by themselves. And we sold 100,000 of those apps.

Subscription models

Mark comments on the Apple announcement of taking 30% of subscription revenues. This has made it (as in the subscription model with apps) more attractive to us. Autosport has a loyal online subscriber base already, these customers value a very good service. The subscription model now makes it viable for us to look at this.

Matt from UsTwo reckons that subscribers pay. Certainly that’s the case for the services they’ve built as they give value to the subscribers. Knowing when to charge and when not to is a trial and error process. UsTwo at first failed with a lite version of an app and saw a huge tail off after initial height of downloads but now seeing more with the MouthOff app. As for Android vs. Apple, we see that Apple provides a good way of being able to make your money back. The (Android) marketplace is too fragmented at the moment and is not built into the core UI of the handset. This will change of course, but currently it is so much easier on Apple. Honeycomb is on its way for Android and that should make a difference.

Android and other operating systems

Haymarket has seen mobile booming in growth (11% year on year) and a good chunk of which is iOS still.

David Gibbs from Sky tells us they have 10 million customers and they don’t all have iPhones – Sky has a mobile website that allows reach to many other platforms and mobile devices. BlackBerry has been an encouraging platform for us and is often forgotten. Nokia and Windows? BB Playbook? Each of these offer something different from its users than the iPad. We’re looking at all of them.

Rimma from the MEF is seeing a lot of hype around the apps market, and that it’s possible this won’t be around in the next few years. We need to look at the long term game too. MEF has an initiative called Enablers which is about operators and manufacturers working together to offer a good user experience. This initiative shares behavioural information, e.g. how consumers are engaging, and this helps you to develop relevant mobile services and adapt existing ones. We are not just inhabiting an Apple world – it is about delivering what the consumer wants in the long run.

David from Harper Collins said that an international standard for e-readers was agreed at epub which is a great step forward.This means that you don’t need to rebuild for other platforms as they share the common industry standard and allows for the full range of content to be available to all.

Web apps and HTML5

David Gibbs explained that at Sky, they haven’t really exploited HTML5 as yet because the tech team believe it is not ready yet. Currently, a mobile website is not enough to deliver the highest quality of experience compared with native apps. Sky does a lot of work in mobile web, e.g. checking your account online so it’s not a question of ignoring it. Their services are defined by the customer and currently they are using apps. It’s important to follow the customer.

Mark from Haymarket believes that apps are the way to go for the best magazine design as the tools are not available as yet to deliver what you can currently via an application.

David from Harper Collins say that they know what their customers want and they want to buy content they can use across multiple devices – hence the international standard is very useful.

Business model for tablets

The panel felt that this was not a mature enough market yet to get any real numbers and that the subscription model needs to mature. It’s a time to experiment. Sky certainly wants to extend subscriptions and target new customers. Rimma from MEF agreed that a lot of experimentation is going on and that existing newspaper publishing models were being used – pay per use, subscriptions (monthly, yearly) etc. She noted that we almost saw the mobile games industry die a few years ago and apps and app stores are giving them a new lease of life.

Matt from UsTwo added that it’s not just the business model that’s important but also the move to digital for publications in general and it’s still early days for that. I have bought a subscription and enjoy it, but from a publishers point of view, they are still lost as to what to do. As an example, The Daily has just come out to mixed reviews and lots of budget spent. No one really ‘gets’ what to do with it, just chuck video etc. on there without any real intelligence.

Mark from Haymarket talked about PDF formats. And he’s not a fan of them by any means. But Haymarket recently went with Zinio with a few of their titles and the numbers have been astonishing and it turns out that the PDF format works pretty well on tablet devices. The panel also told us that you’d be amazed at how people will scan in reams and reams of pages and produce PDFs of books and magazines – they have literally spent their free time painstakingly scanning each page individually.

Matt from UsTwo stressed that it is about the content, the drives to purchase and the implementation that is required. Make it more social, think about the environment, where are they (customers) consuming the content, who do I want to target. Rimma also noted that social platforms like Facebook are influencing consumer behaviour.

David Roth-Ey also felt we needed to be aware of content overload and that the majority of revenue will come from just plain text.

What would you pay for and how do you want your content delivered to you?

David Roth-Ey wants multiple books access, similar to how it is with music, before we see the piracy that we’ve seen in the music industry. This is something that Harper Collins thinks about a lot. A Spotify equivalent if you like. We need to find a business model to fit and it needs to be an aggregated service and probably not from a publisher. The question is whether or not e-books will flatten sales of print.

Advertising

It’s been in the press lately that advertisers aren’t interested in iPad advertising but Mark from Haymarket felt it was too early to draw that conclusion. The inventory isn’t there yet, but when it is, it’s very successful. Sky has also found that multiplatform sales and sponsorship has been successful. It’s a growing business but perhaps a little below forecasts.

What else for tablets?

Customer service is a strong contender, with the likes of Burberry using iPads for staff. Medical is another important sector for tablet devices, especially in the US. Rimma added that they’re great devices for consumer engagement and not just consumption of content. The healthcare sector have really wanted to take advantage of  the mobile device to engage and inform the consumer. The tablet can do this.

What about Android?

Android is growing in importance and has had fast growth and shipped more devices than Apple in the last quarter. David Gibbs told us that the big sticking point for Android is security. It’s a big issue for a business like Sky but that there should be a solution around September time. There was general agreement on this point. There is more piracy on Android with something like a third of some of UsTwo apps on Android being pirated copies.

Question: Hybrid Ink and LCD screens are already available in the US – anyone looking into this?

David from Harper Collins: A colour screen is better for content but it looks to be quite expensive.

Question: Can’t we do more with these devices? Tablets are more then just a mobile PC. We need to incentivise and create ideas from the developers for books, for example

David from Harper Collins agreed. The Heart and the Bottle is an app for children and was iPad app of the week. It is stretching what a picture book can be and not just at the digital level but also at the editorial level too (suggesting that it’s more than the developers who need to be thinking about this).

Mark from Haymarket commented on the front and rear facing camera of the iPad 2 which means you can now use for home entertainment systems and incorporate room backgrounds.

Question: What about security from a consumer perspective?

There are concern across the board and is something everyone on the panel were thinking about. Rimma from MEF felt we needed more consumer education as there’s growing concern over consumer privacy and a growing number of consumers signing T&Cs without a thought.

Question: Using the cloud model to share content between devices, as a content provider, is this a threat?

The living-room is still the main place of engagement for Sky consumers. We (Sky) will provide more content live and on-demand. There is still demand for branded and well written and produced content

Question: Business orientated apps for bank traders and the like, are there issues in development?

Matt from UsTwo agreed that it is very different with lots of challenges. You try to create the best user experience, but not many will actually end up using it compared with consumer facing applications. Rimma continued that mobile enterprise is getting a growing focus e.g. banking and retail.

Where does HTML5 have a role? For example the Yahoo! HTML5 service is very good and you can disconnect from the web through an app.

Mark from Haymarket would like to explore this more and make stand alone product. HTML5 is certainly on the radar. Matt from UsTwo added that HTML5 needs connectivity in a lot of cases and clearly not everywhere has access. This is the main reason not to develop with it yet. Also the development team feedback has been that it is not as good and that you don’t have as much information on the device such as location.

_____________

Further links

Check out these other links from people who attended and participated in the event…

Telecom TV's Leila Makki has done a video summing up Monday's event and speaks to the panellists and some of the audience with their take on it. http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_videoDetail.aspx?v=5319&id=a05a0fb0-e29f-44a7-bc7f-99a3293bdde9

Empirical Creative aka John Mildinhall comments http://www.empiricalcreative.co.uk/?p=25

Hotwire PR’s Annette Leach @01leachy came along and gives us her view of the evening http://interactive.hotwirepr.com/uk/762/

MoMoLo regular, Simon Judge, @simonjudge gives his round-up and some of his own takeaways on the topic, particularly around tools and authoring http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/1222

Sam Walmsley @sammielw points us to some interesting articles as reference for mhealth usage of tablet devices and how marketers can take advantage of HTML5 http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/survey-us-docs-favor-ipad-over-other-tablets/2011-03-04?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal and http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/9314.html and shares her thoughts on the event including the healthcare angle http://www.bluelightpartners.com/?p=932 Journalist, Stuart Dredge, writing for his apps column at the Guardian gives us three stonkingly good articles:

• HarperCollins talks apps, e-book discovery and a 'Spotify for books'
• Sky looking beyond Apple, despite 10.2m iOS app downloads
• Haymarket gauging implications of Apple's new iOS subscription rules

The MoMoLo Chronicles are back with another lovely round-up of Monday’s event from Mobile Monday London regular, Belen Barros Pena, http://belenpena.posterous.com/momolo-chronicles-a-tablet-is-well-a-tablet Dharmesh Suraj Bali has some thoughts on the topic, especially around iOS dominance in the space http://dharmeshsurajbali.com/2011/03/07/takings-from-mobile-monday-keep-taking-the-tablets/ Ian Thain from Sybase points us to some interesting resources for tablet apps used in enterprise (including their own guide to enterprise apps) http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2011/03/sap-cio-oliver-bussman-on-tablets.html?spref=tw&m=1 and http://ianthain.ulitzer.com/node/1732445 Thin Martian interviews Andy Tipton from RIM as he demonstrates the BlackBerry Playbook (audio) http://audioboo.fm/boos/296116-andy-tipton-from-blackberry-demonstrates-the-playbook-momolo and talks to Matt Pollitt about the HMTL5 vs. Native OS debate http://audioboo.fm/boos/296125 and then writes about it all too http://www.thinmartian.com/2011/03/keep-taking-the-tablets-at-mobile-monday/ Meanwhile Lisa Devaney from Hai Media interviews BSkyB’s David Gibbs http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1jgjFj/audioboo.fm/boos/296119-talking-tablets-with-bskyb-at-mobile-monday-london Ged Carroll, aka Renaissance Chambara, gives us his view and shares his mind map http://renaissancechambara.jp/2011/03/08/mobile-monday-london-keep-taking-the-tablets/ Farhan Rehan @farhan has done a great job of collecting all the tweets from the evening. Comments and backchat during the panel session are on about page 5 onwards. Some good snippets in there. http://www.tweetdoc.org/View/9943/MobileMondayLondon as well as some comments on the heat in the room – yes, the aircon was on, no, it wasn’t effective – I guess there were just too many of us in the room! And there’s a few photos on facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6251174813&v=photos And finally, we trended in London on Foursquare on the evening (although it wasn’t that hard if we’re completely honest!). Our next events are pencilled in for Monday 4 April and Monday 16 May. Watch this space for details.

You have to have been living under a rock if you haven't noticed the proliferation of announcements about everyone and her husband launching a tablet device of some description. Whether it's the BlackBerry Playbook, the Motorola Xoom, the iPad or one of the new Samsung devices, there's no getting away from it, the new category of tablet devices is taking off.

But what does this mean to the mobile world? It does feel like tablet devices are coming under the remit of the mobile teams - largely based on operating system knowledge and partly because of the whole apps thing that mobile teams are already familiar with. Media owners in particular appear to have embraced tablet devices with the FT being one of the first to launch their iPad app last May with other media owners in print and now TV, not that far behind launching. Hey, even EA games has produced a specific version of Need for Speed Undercover for the BlackBerry Playbook. The big guns are taking this seriously.

In this panel session, supported by BSkyB, we're going to explore the business models around tablet devices, what the opportunities and threats are specific to the device. Will we go beyond content consumption and move into content creation or enterprise apps. Will the new tablets make the mobile web stronger with HTML5 support or shift us deeper into the application ecosystem?

The panel will be led by Leila Makki of TelecomTV fame and she will be joined by David Gibbs, Director of Mobile Applications and Services, BSkyB and Mark Payton, Editorial Director, Haymarket Consumer Media. Further panellists to be confirmed.

We are also pleased to let you know that we will indeed have tablet devices available for you to have a look at and play with in both BlackBerry and Gingerbread flavours from our friends at RIM and Google. I daresay there may be a few iPads floating around too.

Photo credit: LoopZilla. Used under Creative Commons licence.

Agenda:

Doors open at 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start.

Panel session 6.30pm until 7.45pm followed by networking and drinks.

Venue: CBI at Centrepoint – nearest tube is Tottenham Court Road. Centrepoint is directly above Tottenham Court Road tube station. Please use the entrance at street level.

Please register and RSVP at http://momolo.org if you'd like to come.

Sponsors:

One of the world's largest broadcasters, Sky, is driving a fresh and inspiring approach to entertainment - with over 10 million subscribers and 16,000 talented employees helping us to produce a wealth of outstanding content delivered to a variety of platforms and devices. At Sky, technology is the key to driving us forward and delivering ground-breaking innovations.

Sky’s interactive and mobile technology department is the power behind the biggest commercial mobile internet platform in the UK as well as many award winning applications and services. This includes the world's first subscription based live TV service on the iPhone and iPad as well as 5 of the all time top 100 most downloaded iPhone applications that are actively used by millions of people each week.

A belated round-up of our December 2010 event held during Technology World at London ExCel from Viji Pathy. MoMoLo's Hits and Misses of 2010 event was a panel session which reflected on what had been happening in the mobile world during 2010 and looked forward to what we might see in 2011. The panel represented different areas of the mobile industry and gave us their views on the successes and failures of 2010 and their thoughts for the future. And perhaps it’s timely we take another look at our thoughts and predictions for 2011 – were we way off or is it too soon to call it? Chair Helen Keegan – Mobile Monday London's organiser and specialist consultant in mobile marketing and media Panellists George Nimeh - Digital marketing and brand communications expert, formerly a digital director for iris Worldwide Peter Globokar - Managing director at Mooreland Partners, a global investment firm specialising in mergers & acquisitions for technology industries Jo Rabin - Mobile Monday London organiser, chair of the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and mobile consultant Matt Wolff – VP of mobile at Badoo, an online dating and social networking site, formerly CTO at Flirtomatic The panel initially opened up about the phones they used, most panellists using at least 2 devices (no big surprise there). These included the Nokia N95 8GB, HTC Desire, Nokia E71, iPad, Nexus One, iPhone and Blackberry handsets so covered the broad spectrum of Android, iOS, Symbian and Blackberry smartphone platforms. The panel then considered the general highlights of 2010. These included the fact that there was now a range of visible platforms creating a competitive market, and that Android had seen the popularisation of open platforms allowing innovative development. Google's Chrome to Phone which allowed better interoperability between PC and phone was also a great innovation. Hit devices included the iPad from Apple with its superior synchronisation, the iPad also included a great browser experience. Some of the 2010 games such as Angry Birds were popular downloads though it was thought that most users only used a very small proportion of the apps they downloaded on a regular basis. Moving on to specific winners and losers during the year, although quite a few launches had taken place such as Windows Phone 7 platform, and devices such as the Nokia N8 and the Blackberry Torch, the panel thought the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy showcased the transformative power of tablets to optimise communication technologies with a great reading and browsing experience, although it was considered still early days for tablets. Where were phones going in the future? One observation was that most phones now used similar hardware and the main selling point would be the end-to-end experience including software features such as the UI/UX and provision of services, companies like Apple and platforms like Android which had succeeded in providing better experience to developers and consumers had done well. Innovation could grow via opensource systems like Android, although it was possible that proprietary systems like RIM's Blackberry had some advantages controlling the whole end-to-end experience. Winning devices were the HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy and Android as a platform. Losers were Nokia and Sony Ericsson as well as RIM, whose closed Blackberry platform made interoperability difficult. The panel were asked if featurephones still had a role or did most consumers now want a smartphone? Especially in the West, consumers were increasing expecting the computing power of smartphones and tablets in their mobile devices. Even in the emerging markets where featurephones currently sell very well, the market will start to shrink as smartphones start to sell for $100 or less. The distinction between smartphones and featurephones was also starting to blur because of the price-points getting closer and because you can do many of the same things in terms of mobile web and applications in both kinds of devices. Although some services are far more popular in emerging markets with predominantly featurephones, such as mobile payments in Africa and services such as Badoo whose main market is Latin America, this may be partly due to better marketing and collaboration in those markets. Additionally the cost of data, or at least the perceived cost of data, is still and issue for smartphone technologies, many users were unclear on what a MB of data actually meant for them in terms of actual UX on their mobile? Although flat rate tariffs have helped user take-up of data services, bandwidth can still be a real issue for users considering access to mobile services. Although high data usage is often consumed via WiFi (e.g. 80% of data usage on iPhone), genuine mobile access can still be impossible for some services when universal coverage is not available on the move, often when they are most needed! The panel considered some of the 2010 service launches by network operators. Vodafone 360 for instance had not been a great success, with the devices not selling and the services not used – should the network operators even be delivering these kind of services? Network operators can have a complacent view of 'owning' their customers but trying to force users to do everything via operator controlled channels is generally a bad idea. For instance by not providing user with access to app stores other than the operators, which generally did not include many apps! Operators should perhaps concentrate on their provision of carrier technologies, such as analysing and providing consistent coverage, rather than trying to own the app space as different competencies were required for each. Users generally preferred open handsets without any restricting operator customisations. Where operators had been successful was through marketing strategies such as Orange Wednesdays cinema tickets and O2 Priority tickets, they could perhaps even enhance these with LBS solutions etc. Next the panel considered questions from the audience. The first question was whether the WAC (Wholesale Applications Community) initiative was going to be a hit next year? There were some challenges for operators in terms of keeping pace with operator customisations of platforms, even OEMs have found this a challenge, and pointless operator platform differentiation rather than standardised platforms was probably unhelpful. It could however be a good initiative to support app developers, especially with unified payment gateways which are still an issue for developers outside of the Apple ecosystem. The next question asked what the panel thought of Windows Phone 7. It has some good points such as great UI which used interesting technologies such as transition effects, but it didn't multitask well (yet). Microsoft hasn't been able to flood the market in the same way they did with their desktop OS, despite massive investment in mobile, due the range of other open mobile platforms being used including Android, Symbian and Meego. Although WP7 has some great features, there was doubt that Microsoft have provided any unique enough draws which would entice users from other platforms, so the jury was out on whether it would ultimately be successful. The questioner thought the unique features were perhaps the PC integration for business users. The panel then considered a question on whether the media, who have launched a lot of mobile apps in 2010, will do better in 2011? There were mixed views, although there have been a lot of media apps, generally these have only been for the iPhone. Media companies are still unsure of how to really innovate and create a business model with services on mobile, e.g. publishers needed to create more innovation in apps rather than just creating glorified RSS readers. There were also the on-going questions of mobile web versus native apps and support for the range of platforms. Generally, there was still a lot of learning to be done on what users wanted from apps, for instance whether users sought something resembling the hardcopy format, and IP issues may become increasingly important, as often the rights to publish in non print based media needs to be clarified. Finally the payment model is still an issue for publishers, which free, advertising or subscription models being tested. These issues might take longer than a year to satisfactorily resolve. The last question the panel were asked by the chair was what they would like to see in 2011? Answers included a range of interesting devices with genuine differentiation, more cooperation between stakeholders to provide innovate solutions for end users, effective mobile payment mechanisms, better search and discovery mechanisms for apps and services on all platforms, and investment for the range of highly innovate small mobile companies starting up.

Yes, that’s right, Mobile Monday London is in Barcelona next week for Mobile World Congress and we have a great panel session lined up for you at 4pm on Tuesday 15th February in the UKTI’s seminar room which is Sala Principe in Hall 8 at La Fira itself. You must have an exhibition ticket in order to be able to attend this event.

You've heard about speed dating, maybe even speed networking, but have you heard of speed panels? Well that's what Mobile Monday London and UKTI have in store for you. You'll be hearing from a variety of practitioners and pundits talking about all things mobile marketing and advertising and the session will be ably chaired by the Godfather of Mobile Marketing, Russell Buckley, Admob Evangelist at Google and Global Chairman Emeritus of the Mobile Marketing Association. He also blogs at Mobhappy.com. The session will be hosted by Mobile Monday London's very own Helen Keegan, aka technokitten. (It should be noted that both Russell and Helen started their mobile careers at the turn of the 21st Century at mobile marketing pioneer, ZagMe.)

You'll also hear from:

Pamir Gelenbe, formerly founder and VP Sales/Strategy at Flytxt and now Venture Partner at BBV

Mark Curtis, CEO of Flirtomatic

Harry Dewhirst, VP at Amobee

Sylvie Barak, Editor of RCR Unplugged, RCR Silicon Valley and a contributing editor on RCR Wireless

George Nimeh, aka iboy, formerly MD at Iris Digital and now consulting on all things digital

Nick Hynes, former CEO of The Search Works, now co-founder at mobile media agency, Somo

Steve Jarrett, Founder and CEO of MePlease, a social and mobile marketing service for retailers.

John Roberts, co-founder, permission-based mobile marketing company, Qustodian

Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO and founder, mobile advertising firm Out There Media

Daniella Alpher, Head of Advertising, fring

Lisa Ciangiulli, Director of Marketing, Global Advertising Solutions, Alcatel Lucent

Rogier van den Heuvel, VP Global Sales for web and mobile messaging company, eBuddy

The registration desk will be open at 15:45 at Sala Principe in Hall 8. The panel session will last about an hour or so with another hour for networking and mingling. We're still on the lookout for a sponsor for the drinks so please get in touch if that sounds like you.

If you're like to attend, please RSVP at http://momolo.org/. Registration for this event will close on Friday 11 February at midday, or when we’re full – whichever comes first.

Agenda:

Doors open: 15:45

Panel session starts: 16:00

Panel session ends and networking begins: 17:00

Doors close: 18:00

Sponsors:

The venue for the session has been kindly provided by our friends at the UKTI. If you're interested in finding out more about the UK technology companies who are exhibiting or are present at this year's Mobile World Congress, please go to the dedicated website at UK Technology Live. We also recommend you sign up there so that you can network with other attendees.

Please note that all registration information given to attend this panel session will be shared with the UKTI. It may also be necessary to register at the UK Technology Live site as well - we'll let you know if that's the case.

p.s. Still not got your MWC11 exhibition ticket? Try applying for one from one of the session organisers at App Planet. There may still be some left.

This is a guest blog post from David Terrar who ran the successful pitch workshops at 2010’s Over The Air event. We thought that the information shared in the session was so useful, that we should share it here with you for a recap if you attended, or to learn from if you weren’t there. A big thanks to DCKTN for sponsoring this session and thank you to David and Penny who ran it.

A touch of Zen?
What has an elevator pitch got to do with Zen?  Well good presentation is all about learning to let go of your inhibitions and achieving absolute focus on the objective by keeping things simple, eliminating all the distracting detail along with the bad communication habits you might have.  So take the Zen approach to pitching.   Penny Jackson and I put together some communication exercises and questions for entrepreneurs, start ups and mobile developers to workshop the "pitch" topic at Over The Air 10 some 4 months ago.  We did the workshop version back on September 11 (see handout below).  Here's our blog version.

OTA The Art of the Pitch Workshop handout

View more presentations from David Terrar.

View more

presentations from David Terrar.

What is an elevator pitch?
Well, the Wikipedia definition says:

"An elevator pitch or elevator speech is an overview of a product, service, person, group or organization, or project and is often a part of a fundraising, marketing communications, brand, or public relations program.  The name "elevator pitch" reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver an elevator pitch in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes."

The idea is that you encapsulate what your product, app or project is all about.  If you get this right it will be the start of all of your messaging.  You'll probably have different versions for different audiences in different contexts:

• A phrase or strap line

• 2 Lines to encapsulate what you are all about

• A 1 minute version, or maybe a 2-3 minute version for when you've got that virtual "elevator ride" with somebody important

• A 20 minute version for the Venture Capitalists or investors who might help you fund your dream.

Why do it?
You want to get people interested and grab their attention.  You might be trying to  win business or you might be selling to potential investors to raise money to get the project off the ground.  You want to establish communication with someone/anyone who might help so you need to clarify what you are all about.  It is a great way of sense testing what you are doing  - can you get the message across and get people excited?  The pitch will help you get to as many people as possible.  You need to focus on what's important and Identify any weaknesses.  You should keep rehearsing and craft your message with continuous improvement.  If you discover you can't fully explain your product in 2 minutes, maybe it needs more work.  When you've got a good pitch, everyone in the organisation needs to be able to deliver it. 

Who is your audience?
It could be potential clients or existing clients.  It could be users who may or may not be clients, depending on the product.  It could be investors, the press, the boss, employees, potential partners, the bank manager or even friends and family (and maybe friends down the pub to explain what the hell it is that you do). Everyone, including people who aren’t interested.

What makes a bad pitch?
Back in 2006 at a technology event in San Francisco (without naming names) I saw the founder of a SaaS collaboration software company pitch his product to one of my friends who has been in the industry even longer than I have.  This friend is about as tech savvy as they come, having done most of the IT jobs, edited a major technology magazine, developed and marketed his own software product and been an industry analyst for a few years.  After 25 minutes of explanation he still had no clue as to what this product was for.  The cardinal sin in pitching is not knowing the subject, but it's even worse if you are so close to the topic that all you can do is dive in to the detail so that you can't see the wood for the trees - that's what was happening with that CEO/founder in San Francisco.   You might present a confusing message, go on for too long, or present something that is irrelevant.  You might present too quietly, or underwhelm them with your lack of excitement.  You might use unrealistic superlatives and switch the audience off - if yours is the best, you better explain why with evidence to back it up.  You might demonstrate a lack of understanding of the market, or have a financial plan that you can't explain properly.   You need to avoid any or all of these mistakes.  

What makes a good pitch?
You need to focus the pitch on the benefits of your product, app or project first, last, always - you've got an objective to achieve and nothing else matters!  But before you even open your mouth, every good pitch needs preparation.  Ask questions in advance and tailor your message to the audience.  A good pitch will have a story, or take you on a journey.  It will be simple and credible and compelling.  It should grab the attention right from the start.  It needs to be clear and concise.  It should avoid the technical details, they'll come later if they are actually needed at all.  The audience needs to know what it does, and probably don't care how.  The pitch should capture what is unique about your proposition, but above all you need to communicate your passion.  Passion and enthusiasm will trump any things that go wrong or questions you don't answer as well as you would like.  You need to build confidence and "hook them" so they want more.  That means that your pitch should lead towards a call to action, or specific next steps.

A good pitch is a dialogue, and not just a broadcast.  That means you've got to listen as well as present.  Make sure that you invite questions and deal with them along the way.  Remember, people buy people more than things.  Buying decisions are rarely logical, but usually based on emotion.  Don't be afraid to think differently, or even to be controversial.  But the key thing is you need to see it their way - put yourself in the shoes of your audience.

Why does everybody start with PowerPoint?
This is more about the long version, than the 2 minute pitch.  In the time before PowerPoint, people used to think about what visual aids they might use to bring their pitch to life.  These days in the business world we've been trained to start with PowerPoint.  Too many people put together their material in slide form as part of the creation process, and they lean on those slides to give them structure.   Recently I was at a Cloud Computing Roadmap conference and it felt like some of the  presenters were competing for some special "unintelligible presentation" award for putting the most words and diagrams on to a single page.    Too many slides are bullet point prompts to remind the presenter of what to say next, more like a handout than what they really should be - a visual message to make that particular point for the audience.  Don't get us wrong - you should use PowerPoint or Keynote slides where appropriate and in context, but not always.  If you do use PowerPoint, keep slides to a minimum, make them uncluttered and use more pictures than text.  We see too many "corporate" style slides with too many words, too many bullets, and in a font size that make them impossible to read from anywhere in the room.  Your voice and your passion might be all you need, but you should also consider using a flip chart stand, or a whiteboard, or some props.  These days, making a video is so easy and cost effective, that might be the route to take.  

How should your pitch start?
You need to highlight how the product, app or project benefits the client right up front.  You might start with your compelling proposition, or you might use a story or a character.  You could use a quote, or a question, or a startling statistic.  To startle is a good concept here, because you have to grab their attention and pull them in to your story as quickly as you can.  If we go back to the mistake made by that founder who wasn't getting his message across back in 2006, you need to provide a crystal clear definition of the problem you are solving. 

Do you have a tag line?
If it's possible, you should encapsulate the project, app or product in a single phrase or sentence.  If you can distil the idea down to it's essence, it always helps.  The effort is worth it, because a mantra is much better than a mission statement in explaining what you do.  Make sure you test it with people so they "get it" - they being the target audience and we mean all of those different constituencies we mentioned earlier.

How do you tell the story?
Like any story it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  You have to get them interested, explain the core message, and have a call to action.  You need to explain the cast of characters involved, make sure it's engaging and let your passion shine through.  Good presenters have presence, charisma and good social skills, but these are all skills anybody can learn to do better.  You might use quotations, but avoid jargon and technical detail.  Use attention grabbing facts and make the story an evolution.  We've said it before, but it's so important - put yourself in their shoes. 

Depending on the context, and your audience you will need to assemble the right team, and make sure you have the answers to anticipated questions already prepared.  Listen and respond, make it a dialogue and try to leave them wanting more.

What about delivery?
This is where good presentation skills come in handy.  You need your passion and enthusiasm - it's a cliché  but they'll be more impressed with the height of your enthusiasm than the depth of your knowledge.  You need clarity and to have tailored the pitch to this particular audience.  Get the visual aids right, if you need them.  Make eye contact with everybody you’re pitching to.  Try to entertain, and be confident - If you are enjoying it, they'll enjoy it.  When you do get the conversation going you need to take care that it is a dialogue, and not debate.  When something goes wrong, don't apologize, just recover and carry on - a lot of the time they probably won't even notice. 

When you're presenting, do you get a dry mouth, stage fright, or worry about losing your train of thought?  The best way to counter that is to rehearse and  rehearse and rehearse, especially down the pub, or with friends & family.  As well as getting comfortable with the words, you'll test the pitch properly, and testing is essential.  One other thing that helps improve anyone's presentation style is to get someone to video you, and then watch yourself with all the mannerisms and bad habits you didn't know you had so you can see the kind  mistakes you make.  It's painful, but it will help you improve.  And our last point here is a difficult one.  With all of this rehearsing and refining we're asking you to do, you need to try and make the pitch sound spontaneous too!

What do you need to cover?
This depends on the context and the audience.  You have to cover the core message - the problem you are solving, and the benefits you can give them.  What is the opportunity?  What is the return?  You need to highlight why you are unique.  When you are pitching to potential investors, spend more time on the quality of the team than your business plan and the financial numbers.  Investors back people more than the plan, because business planning is where their expertise  comes in.  Cover the market, your business model, and the competition.  When it comes to the plan, look at what Guy Kawasaki says in The Art of the Start - "Weave a MAT" of Milestones, Assumptions and Tasks.  Spell out what you need.  Be honest, and don't try and hide anything.  Cover the risks and the issues and explain next steps.  And don't forget to prepare what to do or say next if they say yes!

So in Summary

• Tell a story

• Start from the audience’s point of view

• Think benefits and needs

• Test your message thoroughly

• Use energy and enthusiasm

• Be clear and concise

• Avoid too much detail

• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

• Follow the 9 C’s of a great pitch

The 9 C's of a great Pitch
We started to use a lot of C words in some of the explanation above.  Chris O'Leary pulled together a great prompt for what you need to focus on in his "Elevator Pitch Essentials".  A good pitch needs to be

– Clear
– Concise             
– Compelling
– Credible
– Conceptual
– Concrete
– Consistent
– Customized
– Conversational

Take a look at the last few pages of the Pitch Handout for a list of recommended books, some references, and our contact details if you want to know more.  Penny and I would love to hear from you.

This post was first published on David Terrar’s blog here.

Yes, it's that time of year again when we all descend on Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. And this lunch is a chance for the ladies headed to MWC11 to get together for an hour or so over a relaxed lunch and chew the fat with our peers away from the main drag. Priority will be given to ladies to attend. If there's room, then we'll be able to have some gentlemen join us too. However we are limited in space.

We have the upstairs of a local tapas restaurant all to ourselves. It's the same one as last year - Restaurant Aranega. And it's about 5 minutes walk from the entrance of La Fira on Avenida Paral-lel. http://www.aranega.es/ They looked after us well last year so I’m sure they’ll look after us well this year too.

If you're interested in joining us, please let me (Helen Keegan) know by RSVP'ing on Facebook (or you can search on facebook for ‘MWC11: Ladies-only lunch’. I’ll be taking payment in advance and it will be 20 Euro per head (or thereabouts). That's because we need to pay for the food in advance as the restaurant will be busy so we’re pre-ordering. I'll be able to take payment by PayPal. The lunch will be a range of tapas to share with soft drinks provided. Wine and additional dishes can be ordered on the day and paid for separately.

Of course, if we get a sponsor, then we won't need to worry about payment... so if anyone is up for that, or knows someone who is, please get in touch with me by email.

The Lowdown:

Date: Tuesday 15th February at 12.30 until 14.00

Venue: We have the upstairs room booked at the lovely Aranega - just like last year - http://www.aranega.es which is on Avenida Paral-lel 188. Come out of La Fira, walk down Avenida Paral-lel, and it's on the * left* hand side at number 188 -just over the road from Congress and less than 10 minutes walk.

Agenda and timings: 12.30 Doors will open at for drinks and mingling.  We’ll be closing around 14:00 and going back to Congress.

Cost: 20 Euros – or thereabouts

Do tell your friends and look forward to seeing old friends and new.

MobileMonday London's very own Julia Shalet, Product Doctor, will be presenting a joint MoMo/DCKTN Webinar 10.30 to 11.30 on Thursday 27th Jan 2010. Julia's insights into the youth market are fascinating for anyone who has an interest in this segment, and unmissable for anyone whose products target it. Using case studies from virtual world to mobile to community projects with a social media twist, this presentation will cover:

• Key insights from the youth market on digital products across a broad range of areas
• Adult mis-perceptions of young people
• How engaging end users early and often will bring you commercial benefit
• How to create learning experiences for young people that you involve