When I started writing this blog in 2006, few bloggers were talking about social media, and even fewer were talking about mobile.  Today, that’s all changed.  Convergence is at hand, and it’s even more spectacular than many could have imagined.  Everything becoming more social and mobile, and the speed at which information moves is intense.

Things are moving so quickly that the focus of many tech blogs has shifted from substance to speed. These days, there’s not much point in trying to be the first blogger to publish tech news.  Information is moving so quickly that by the time tech ‘news’ hits most blogs, it’s usually already been reported to death. That’s why today, more than ever, I think the most interesting blogs do more than summarize the news, they analyze it.

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I recently married Rob Oshima and am changing my name from Lisa Whelan to Lisa Oshima.  I am transitioning my social profiles and SocializeMobilize.com to reflect my new name.

As I mentioned in my post over the weekend, I’ve been doing business development consulting for a cool company based in Latin America called Movile, and today, they’re launching something pretty cool…Zeewe 2.0.  Here’s the press release:

Today Movile, the leading mobile services company, announces Zeewe 2.0 (go.zeewe.com), the new version of the pioneering HTML5 app store and directory for smartphones and tablets. Zeewe has more than 1.5 million users worldwide, and these users typically use at least 5 web apps that they discover on Zeewe.  Movile also announces the launch of several exciting new features for Zeewe including off-line mode which enables users to use the Zeewe store and select apps without an internet connection on iOS devices. Beside this, Zeewe also now offers developers a payment API that enables them to charge for Apps and transact in-app purchases. (more…)

If oyu’re looking for the 2012 Mobile World Congress Parties list, please click here!

UPDATED: Feb 10, 1:25 pm Pacific: Mobile World Congress is coming up in Barcelona, Spain February 14-18, 2011, and it’s time to start planning your networking calendar.  So many parties, so little time!  I’ll be updating the following list of networking events and parties as I hear about them in this post. Check out the “agenda” view on the SocializeMobilize “Events” calendar to add these events to your calendar.

If you have a party or event you’d like me to add to this list, please send me the details and RSVP requirements.

If you need strategy, business development or marketing support surrounding Mobile World Congress, please contact me.

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I recently stumbled across a visual map of the web 2.0 landscape, created by John Battelle and team, called Points of Control.  (Note: If you’re interested in social media and you’re not familiar with John Battelle, check him out… He’s the Program Chair of the Web 2.0 Summit, and his nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter -including me- are a good indication that he regularly has interesting things to say.) (more…)

With millions of mobile apps out there, and (it seems) a decreasing number of mobile pre-load opportunities, it’s getting increasingly difficult for independent software vendors (ISVs) and web companies to gain traction with mobile operators and OEMs.  Beyond putting your on the app store and investing in adequate marketing to attract users to your app online, if you’re a serious mobile development company, one of the best ways to gain traction for your mobile application is to hire a well-connected, heavy hitting mobile business developer who can navigate the complex mobile ecosystem – driving distribution deals with mobile operators, OEMs, and other partners. (more…)

I am thrilled to be one of the five judges of the 2010 MEX User Experience Awards, the winners of which will be announced at the MEX Conference in London on May 19th.  This is the third year of the MEX User Experience Awards which seeks to recognize companies with the best user-centered design in mobile.  42 companies, freelancers, and students entered the competition this year, and today, MEX announced the shortlist of nominees up for the following Awards: (more…)

Today, my newest client, Face.com launched an new, open and free API and developer community for facial recognition and detection.  This is exciting news for developers that want to incorporate facial detection and recognition capabilities into their applications.  If you’re a developer, you can get started with the API and get involved with the community here. (more…)

Yesterday, veteran Internet industry analyst, Mary Meeker (who has been covering the Internet since Netscape days), and the team from Morgan Stanley published a new Internet Trends report.  The full report is well worth a read, and you can download all 87 pages here in .pdf.  In this post, I’ll review the highlights from this report and discuss what I think is missing – namely coverage of one of the key issues for the future of mobile Internet – native and web app discoverability.

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Today, I started a new consulting project with a mobile app discovery start-up called, Chomp, Inc.  I’m excited to be working with a team of smart, motivated, and fun people.  I’ll be leading mobile business development for Chomp – evaluating opportunities for growth.  I’d love to tell you about but can’t.  Here’s what I can tell you… (more…)