• Santiago Becerra – Co-Founder and CEO, MeLLmo
• Adam Blum – CEO, Rhomobile
• Chris Kemmerer – Director, Mobility SOlutions, Verizon
• Sean Whiteley – SVP, Salesforce.com

Here are my live notes… The conversation kicked off with a discussion on the consumerization of IT… Whiteley talked about Touch.salesforce.com was announced earlier this year, building the application from the ground up to account for an expanding world of appliances. They’re trying to find a balance between user experience and the infrastructure enterprises need.

Becerra talked about the importance of setting up a new team to focus on HTML5 apps and build from scratch – a SWAT team to embrace web technologies. “Realizing that the user experience is the key driver/ the key success factor is important. If you set up a new team of engineers supported by a few designers at the end, it will fail… You need to think of a completely new way of staffing your projects…”

Kemmerer agrees with Becerra. He talks about how organizations that think differently about web-based apps for enterprise will succeed. Adopting the concept of incubation… whether it’s bringing in resources from the outside or setting up new teams is critical… When you look at how consumer apps are developed… They start with a story board and a user experience… And then they go off and develop. It’s the opposite in business…You start with the application, and then you think about the user… That’s starting to change. Companies are starting to first think about the user.”

Blum talks about the importance of leveraging the device and thinking of creative ways to do things… Leveraging the way people are used to doing things on smartphones. Most of the big IT apps he’s seeing don’t resemble any of the consumer apps that are proving so popular on the app store. This should change.

Whiteley says Salesforce is building native apps so that they can take full advantage of devices. However, they’re leveraging HTML5 to make it work better across platforms. “HTML5 maybe the thing [in the future], but it’s not there yet. We are building an HTML5 app, but we’re also building native apps to drive the experience people are expecting right now.”

Blum talks about how you can build real native apps using HTML5 with a fantastic user experience. HTML5 for the interface is great, but it doesn’t give you all of the device capabilities, so he encourages people to take advantage of HTML5 but also think native.

Kemmerer talks about the importance of being able to perform tasks locally, not just in the cloud. Becerra says, “it’s really all about the user experience and performance.”

Blum says, “In 2011, if you’re an objective C developer, you’re going to get so much more done… using HTML5… It’s not really HTML5 vs. Native. It is about native apps, you need device capabilities, but it’s easy if you’re using Rhodes or PhoneGap to use this whole ecosystem of tools that’s built up around HTML5. It’s about native but leveraging HTML5.”  Becerra agrees saying that it is about leveraging both worlds, but says, “if you’re looking for a high end experience, you really have to go native.”

The conversation moves to discussion of tablets…

Kemmerer talks about how many organizations are looking at tablets as laptop replacements… a “tablet enablement strategy.”

Becerra believes that it’s not cost that drives the tablet strategy in the enterprise. He thinks it is helped by the smaller form factor and ease of display that allows sales people and others to casually show presentation materials to others without pulling out a heavy laptop.

Whiteley talks about how sales force views tablets. “The tablet affords a whole new type of work flow that allows field service agents to… do approvals and speed along their processes… Tablets are making people more efficient… customers are demanding it, so we’re putting a lot of emphasis on it…”  He says that most salespeople at salesforce carry a tablet, not a PC.

Kemmerer says, “When you look at tablets and the changing of your workflows, you’re able to tie in clear productivity enhancements…”  Accelerating approvals, bringing remote experts into a mobile, etc. You’re able to find true ROI with tablets.

Blum talks about how tablets allow you to do more interesting things because you can do drag and drop, display three panes, etc. “It’s moved so fast, and it’s such a new form factor, that it’s the developers that are writing the rules. It’s exciting to see the innovation.”

Whiteley thinks tablets are changing the way people design apps. You’re seeing less whole page refreshes and more parts of the app that refresh. “It’s disruptive and will continue to be that way.”

1. “Avoid channel conflict” There have been several examples over the years of mobile companies struggling to make/maintain meaningful partnerships because they’re playing both sides of mobile – hardware and software. As GigaOM points out, Nokia had difficulty getting other OEMs to adopt Symbian because it had a head start on developing hardware for it. Google may have the same issue now that it’s acquired Motorola Mobility.  I talked about this one a lot in the above mentioned post.
2. “Work in six-year cycles”  Historically, OS popularity has run in semi-predictable cycles, with old OSes making way for new ones every six years.
3. “Start Fresh when necessary” iOS was revolutionary because Apple started it from scratch. These days it’s difficult for a company to build its own OS from scratch without getting sued, but adding too many band-aids onto an OS can make it unstable or unusable.  As I like to say, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but you can’t dunk a pig in a vat of red lip gloss and make it look a ruby.”
4. “Offer Useful Updates” I agree, when you can’t start fresh, adding incremental changes can often satiate users until a “fresh start” emerges.
5. “Make the UX job number one”  This is a tough one for many companies – particularly because time to market and COGs often come first for management.  Making a great UX involves doing a ton of user testing and thoughtful design isn’t always quick.
6. “Offer something for IT and something for users” GigaOM points out that selling a phone that device managers love is a sure fire way of ensuring that it is sold, but since the introduction of the iPhone, this seems to be less important
7. “Keep a dev team small”  There’s something to be said for limiting the number of people who can have input into a device that seems to help OS providers make better product. As GigaOm’s report points out: “IOS’ was under 100. Android was a small project inside Google, and BlackBerry was small in the late ’90s. The team that made the Windows Phone 7 OS was a small team spun out of Zune. Jon Rubinstein left Apple and put together a small group that built webOS.”
8. “Create Ecosystems, not just phones” This is a critical lesson, and companies seem to learn it the hard way over and over again. Palm for example, had one of the strongest developer communities around, but they lost it because they couldn’t offer developers strong way to monetize and distribute content, which made room for Apple, Google, and others.  Likewise, many developers these days discount the value of carriers, but as GigaOm points out, “Many will guffaw at the above inclusion of carriers, saying they are an impediment, not an essential part of the ecosystem. That would be naive. Carriers are essential, not because of their role as bit pipes but because of their powerful role in choosing and subsidizing the handsets that actually make it to retail.”
9. “Keep a strong hand at the helm”  This one reminds me of #7.  When there are too many cooks in the kitchen, nothing turns out well.  Benevolent dictatorship is often effective…”Open” solutions and standards bodies-based decisions often get bogged down in either too many possibilities without a definitive decision and/or too much red tape.  There are countless examples of organizations haven’t done well because no one “owns” the decision.  Sometimes, what a company needs is for someone confident to take the reins and make tough decisions… Look for examples of how this has worked well at Apple and not so well with Java, LIMO, HP, etc.
10. “Consider how many devices to offer”  More isn’t necessarily better. Trying to cater to every market segment is a horrible idea. Instead, consider Apple’s approach of having one prominent product in the market at a time, and make it a great one.
11. “Lawyer Up” This report highlights one of the biggest issues in the mobile industry today – the war on patents.  As I mentioned in my recent post, “These days, it’s difficult if not impossible to build your own mobile OS from scratch, given the litigious landscape around smartphone IP.  Google acknowledged that a big reason why it is acquiring Motorola Mobility is to bolster its patent portfolio and therefore position in the market. “

In addition to talking about the future, the introduction includes a brief history of mobile by OS and OEM provider – well worth reading, particularly if you’re new to the mobile industry. GigaOm Pro users can download the report here.

• Session 1: Show Me the Money: Wednesday March 23, 11:00am -12:30pm
• Session 2: Mobile Enterprise Apps: Wednesday March 23, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
• Session 3: Multiplatform Strategies: Wednesday March 23, 3:30pm – 5:00pm

For more information and to apply to get involved, go here.

Don’t get me wrong, working in a traditional office has it’s perks, but a tranquil and productive working environment usually isn’t one of them.  I say this having worked in plenty of of cube farms, where it seemed people couldn’t pass each others’ cubes without saying a friendly hello or starting a conversation for fear of being impolite.

Another challenge of the conventional work environment is “meeting culture.” At conventional offices, meetings are usually scheduled in hour-long slots – even when a full hour isn’t needed. People spend their days running around from meeting to meeting (often meeting different people to discuss the same topic), unable to get much done in between. Working from home, I only schedule meetings when I’m confident that they’ll be more beneficial than a phone call or an email. I still see and/or talk to plenty of people during the day, but I try to schedule my activities in chunks (i.e. meetings clustered together with time set aside for email, etc.), which makes it more productive.

Jason Fried, CEO of 37 Signals, which makes web-based productivity software for businesses, recently expressed similar sentiment:

One of the things Jason mentions in the above video is the importance of coming to a common understanding with your colleagues about how to interact with each other in the office.  Successful management teams make an effort to minimize workplace distraction while fostering a friendly, comfortable, team-oriented working environment.  Here are a few things that I’ve found can enhance team productivity when working in a shared office:

• Before scheduling a meeting or sending someone a message, ask yourself what the most efficient way is to get things done. Is it a meeting, or will a quick call or email suffice?
• If you need to have a meeting, provide a structured agenda and key decision points to all of the participants in advance.  If key participants can’t attend the meeting, either reschedule it, or find a way to move the conversation forward by getting their input by email before the meeting, to ensure that there are meaningful outputs by the end of the meeting.
• Think twice before interrupting your colleagues at work:
  • Minimize “cube-drive-by” conversations in favor of arranging social time over lunch, ascheduled coffee break, or happy hour.  If you walk past someone’s cube without saying hello or stopping to chat, and they’re working, they won’t think badly of you for it, if you’ve suggested that you meet them later for lunch, coffee, or happy hour.
  • If you’ve got a quick question for a colleague in the middle of the day, and it’s not urgent, park the question until the end of the day. By that point, you may have found the answer or come up with other questions that you need their help with.
  • If you’ve got a quick question that’s urgent, ping your colleague via IM and let them know it’s important. They’ll respond to you as quickly as they can (i.e. when they’re not on a call or in a meeting).  If they’re not on IM, call them on the phone.

And, when all else fails, there’s always headphones.

Last week in an interview with Sky News Australia, Newscorp’s head, Rupert Murdoch, talked about the possibilities of charging for more of its content and/or  of preventing Google from indexing its content to encourage people to pay for that content (1st half of the video):

Google allows publishers to block themselves from being indexed by Google.  This begs the question, if another search engine – besides Google- is willing to pay the world’s biggest publishers to block Google and be indexed by them instead, could that 2nd tier search engine become the market leader.

Recently, on “This Week in Startups,” Jason Calcanis suggested that Microsoft’s Bing should consider incentivizing the world’s biggest publishers to get permission to index their content and block Google in exchange for fees:

If something like this happens, it could be detrimental to the largely free, and easily discoverable Internet.  However, it might also help to create a new monetization channel for struggling media entities that produce great content but are struggling to make as much money as the companies that are indexing their content.  Either way, the unintended consequences of an approach like this could be huge-  for the companies that pursue this strategy, for search engines, and for the Internet itself.

What do you think?

One company that is talking openly about their social media ROI is Dell, who today announced that since June of 2007, they’ve earned more than $3 Million in revenue via Twitter alone.  Dell uses Twitter to actively promote it’s online outlet store on Twitter (@DellOutlet) and answer customer queries.  Dell offers refurbished Dell products in its outlet store.  Because the number of available refurbished units fluctuates, prior to Dell’s active Tweeting, it was difficult for users to find out when new product were available or on sale… Customers were discovering most deals at the Dell Outlet based on chance. Twitter is proving a great way for Dell to inform customers of new buying opportunities.

Dell now has more than 626,000 followers on Twitter and has realized more than $2 million in sales in the Dell Outlet from people who have clicked on links in their tweets. Even better, they’ve seen a further $1 million in sales revenue from people who initially clicked on a DellOutlet link in Twitter and later went on to purchase something from elsewhere on Dell.com.

In the announcement today on Dell’s blog, @StefanieAtDell describes how they grew the number of Dell’s followers on Twitter from 11,000 to over 600,000 in just three months by providing more Twitter-exclusive offers to the Dell Outlet, which were frequently re-tweeted.  Check out the graph:

@DellOutlet followers

@DellOutlet followers. Source: TwitterCounter.com

While @DellOutlet is the most popular Dell Twitter property, Dell is also promoting its US products and offers through @DellHomeOffers and @DellSmBizOffers.  They’ve also regionalized their tweets to target users in other geographies:

• UK: @DellOutletUK
  
• Ireland: @DellOutletIE
• Australia: @DellHomeSalesAU
  
• Mexido: @Ofertas_Dell_MX
  
• And other countries as found on the Dell website: Dell.com/Twitter

Today, Dell gave companies everywhere 3 million good reasons to invest in Twitter, but Twitter is just the tip of the social media iceberg.  When developing a social media marketing strategy for your company, don’t just Twitter… Evaluate the many social media channels and invest in those that make the most sense for you.  Consider your target demographic and develop social marketing campaigns that address the groups and geographies you most want to engage.  Forrester Analyst, Jeremiah Owyang provides one of the most up-to-date directories of social media statistics I’ve seen to date.

Here’s how it works: There’s a high speed infrared camera embedded at the tip of the pen that uses a dot positioning system (DPS) to take 72 pictures per second of my notes.  The infrared camera tracks where I’m writing based on the camera’s viewing of microscopic dots in my dot paper notebook, while it records what’s being said.  So, when I go back to my notes and point my pen on what I’ve written, I can hear exactly what was being said when I was making a particular note.  You wouldn’t believe how useful this is for interviewing people, taking notes in seminars, etc.

Once I’ve taken the notes, I can transfer the notes and the audio recording to my computer via USB using the Livescribe Desktop.  I can search for words, share my notes with a community of like minded users via a “pen cast”, and make my notes into flash movies. I don’t really use these last two features that often, but I can see how useful it would be if you were a student sharing notes.  As of today, you can even embed a pencast into your blog!  I don’t have a pencast of my own that’s particularly relevant to share, so I’ll just use one of theirs to illustrate the point:

As much as I love the Pulse Smartpen, there are a handful of things I want Livescribe to extend the magic to business users…

1. Build-in bluetooth:
   • How great would it be if my pen could automatically sync to my mobile phone and laptop without a USB cable?!
   • I’d love to see the notes I’ve written appear on my smartphone screen and have the ability to automatigically send those notes and audio recordings to my various social networks via ShoZu or a similar application.
2. Add highlighting capability. I’d love to use the pen not only to write notes, but as a digital highlighter as I’m reading.  I don’t think this would cause copyright issues, assuming users were given guidelines about how much they could highlight from a particular chapter, where they could send it, etc.
3. Add a “record” button on the pen itself.  It would be great to use the Pulse Smartpen as a Dictaphone very quickly, even if I don’t have my notebook handy.
4. I’d like the pen a little thinner… I know, I know.. There’s a lot in there!  It’s hard to make it thinner.  But, I’d love to have it just a little thinner, making it easier for us ladies to use.  It’s usable as is, but narrowing it just a bit more would be ideal.
5. Target mobile developers.  To do this, LiveScribe would need to have a wireless component (i.e. bluetooth built in).  LiveScribe has a developer program. I’d love to see the outreach of this program extended and a marketplace launched to make it easy to find compatible apps.

My current Pulse Smartpen is fantastic. I can’t wait to see what Livescribe comes up with next.

Being a consultant often requires very different skills than being a full-time employee.   The difference between a bad consultant and an outstanding consultant is visible in the ways that each handles change and embraces new experiences.   Anyone smart can offer sage advice, but an outstanding consultant is used to change, hits the ground running, and performs well in a short period of time, under pressure and without hand holding.  An outstanding consultant is one that takes an entrepreneurial approach to problem solving, isn’t afraid to tackle issues from a new angle (if best practice isn’t working or relevant), and has enough experience weathering the turbulence of unpredictability and change that they’re able to swiftly handle new challenges on the fly.

I’ve been a full-time management consultant for almost seven years.  I’ve learned to expect the unexpected and embrace it.  I spent my first couple of years as a consultant working for a big firm in London – mostly as a road warrior – living an often unpredictable life – frequently five days a week from different client sites.  As an independent consultant, I travel less, but my schedule is still busy, varied, and challenging.  And, my experience handling change is an advantage to my clients.  Why?  Managing a busy schedule, trying new things regularly, and striving for constant learning, keeps a consultant sharp and better equipped to perform in quickly changing circumstances.  A great consultant manages risk effectively and is always be willing to try something new, as long as it’s reasonable.

In addition to keeping a robust project schedule, maintaining a sense of adventure, and trying something new is an important part of reminding myself how to think outside of the box.  By way of example, last week, I was on vacation in Maui, Hawaii.  I make it a habit to do something new (and ideally challenging) on every holiday.  On this trip, in addition to the usual snorkeling, hiking, etc., I went zip lining.  You can my first hand account of one of the longest Zip Lines in the world, below.

Is zip lining directly related to the work I do as a consultant? No, but it does demonstrate a desire to step outside my comfort zone and try something new, and this mindset is an important part of being a good consultant… Taking initiative, being proactive, and going for it.

When hiring a first-time consultant or part-time job seeker for a short-term assignment, look not only at a candidate’s employment track record and recommendations but also assess the candidate’s ability to multitask and handle change.  Ask behaviorally-based interview questions to assess the candidate’s experience…

• “Have you started a company before? If so, tell me about the experience?” [Note: you'll get a sense for whether they were an active participant or a just a cog in a wheel.]
• “Have you been part of a start-up? What was your role, and tell me about about a major change and/or problem you had to navigate…”
• “Tell me about a new program/initiative/ etc. you spearheaded in your previous job(s)… How long did it take to get started?  What were the results?”
• “Tell me about a time when you had to quickly form strong connections/ alliances with people you didn’t know to complete a project?”
• If you’re still not sure about the candidate’s ability to manage change… talk with them about it!
  • “We’re looking for someone who can quickly accomplish X,Y, Z with little guidance.  You’ve never consulted before. Tell me why you think you’re the right person for the job.”

It’s important to consider the impact hiring a first-time consultant or job-seeking consultant could have on your project.  Doing so could unintentionally put your project (or company) at risk… What happens if your consultant:

• Isn’t comfortable in a consulting role after s/he starts your project?
• Gets a new job before they complete your project?
• Doesn’t carry proper insurance (i.e.: liability, Errors & Omissions, etc.) and the unexpected happens?
• Underestimates the length of time the project will take and gets a full-time job before your project is complete?
• Takes details of the project they worked on with you to a competitor who hires them as a full-time employee?

If your candidate mentions that they’re consulting while they’re looking for a full-time role, be up-front and honest with them, and ask good questions:

• “What happens if we hire you for this consulting project and you get a full-time job that starts immediately but your project with us isn’t complete?”  <The candidate will likely try to convince you that they can delay their start date…>
• “But, what happens if you can’t delay your start date?
• “What happens if your project with us runs late, and you’ve already found a full-time job?”

It’s also crucial to keep in mind that first time and part-time consultants often struggle with time management.  Accurately estimating completion dates for a consulting project at an unfamiliar company is a different skill than project planning at a company where you’ve been working for years and maintain relationships.  To that end, experienced, full-time consultants bring a wide variety of experiences and best practices to the table from their work with many companies, which is often an advantage.

Lastly, when comparing a new consultant with one who has experience, look beyond the rates when making your decision.  New consultants may quote lower rates than experienced consultants – either because they haven’t factored complete self-employment costs into the equation (health care, self-employment tax, liability insurance, etc.) or because they see consulting as a short-term fix to their lack of employment and are willing to sacrifice salary in the short-run in favor of looking productive to future employers.  However, hiring a consultant because they have low rates is short sighted.  As they say in the circus, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” Put another way, when it comes to consulting outcomes, there’s “good”, “fast” and “cheap”, and at any one time, you can only have two of the three.

If you want the job done right, hire a consultant that has the best experience, references, and fortitude to succeed.  Hiring a consultant that’s looking for a full time role rather than a full-time, experienced consultant isn’t necessarily a bad choice, but before hiring a consultant, it’s helpful to understand their short and long term motivations and the risk of unintended consequences.

TwitPub is a 3rd party developer that is leveraging Twitter’s infrastructure to monetize tweets through subscriptions. TwitPub is run by AdExcel Online Networks Sdn. Bhd., which is based out of Malaysia. TwitPub operates a bit like a premium SMS subscription (though not on your mobile) – users pay to subscribe to the private tweets of content owners/ publishers.  The idea is that content publishers sell access to their private tweets, which can contain information about any number of topics (daily horoscope, finance alerts, music news, etc… anything – you get the idea). 

The price of a subscription tweet stream starts at $.99/month, which seems like too high of a price to pay, without knowing the Twitterer well and how many tweets/day or week you’ll get. But, I suppose if a big name journalist or company decides to use it, $.99 might be reasonable.  Without creating a service level agreement that requires Publishers to publish quality content at specific intervals, I don’t think many people will be willing to pay for tweets.

TwitPub shares revenue with Publishers, giving them “80% or more, depending on the volume of the subscriptions” and keeping 20% or less for “revenue sharing and operating expenses”.  TwitPub doesn’t specify how many subscriptions are needed before the revenue share percentage changes.

I didn’t find any content on TwitPub that I actually want to pay for…There aren’t any major publishers or Twiteratti using the service yet, and with all of the free content on the web, I can’t imagine wanting to pay for 140 characters of text when there are plenty of great tweets available for free.

The only way I can imagine that TwitPub will survive is if it gets a few big name Twitterers and publications on side.  I would be willing to pay for the tweets of well-known publications as part of my overall subscription (i.e. See the WSJ tweets when you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal), but that’s not currently on offer.

If a well known entity (Twitter) or a major media company were to buy TwitPub (or implement a similar idea), there could be revenue opportunity.  At the moment, I can’t imagine a major publisher agreeing to share 20% revenue with a Malaysia-based company they’ve never heard of.

If you’re curious about TwitPub, here’s a description of how it works:

• For Publishers:
  • When a Publisher makes $25 or more, TwitPub will pay out via PayPal. After the Publisher earns $50 or more, TwitPub will pay via check.  Preferences are indicated in the TwitPub dashboard.
  • Set up a Twitter account (or use an existing account) and set it to “private.”
  • Open open a TwitPub account
    
  • TwitPub sends activation email. Validate your TwitPub account by clicking on the link inside the email.
  • Once logged into the TwitPub site, click on “sell” to set up your account and set a price for your tweet stream.
• For End-users who want to discover and subscribe to content:
  • Open open a TwitPub account
    
  • TwitPub sends activation email. Validate your TwitPub account by clicking on the link inside the email.
  • Once logged into the TwitPub site, click on “buy” to find content to subscribe to.
  • When you find content to buy, you enter your Twitter account details and pay via World Pay (which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which for those of you who are unfamiliar is a huge banking conglomerate based in the UK).
  • Note: It seems odd to me that TwitPub will pay developers via Paypal, but they won’t use it to collect payments from subscribers.  WorldPay is a legitimate online payment service, but it’s not well known in the US.

Why did I start a new blog when I already had one?

In 2006, I started a blog about social media and mobile on Vox, a community powered, free blogging platform run by SixApart.  I originally started blogging as an online experiment, prompted by conversations I had with colleagues at SplashData, who I met while consulting at Palm, Inc.  SplashData made a mobile blogging platform that was acquired by SixApart, and they encouraged me to try Vox, which had just launched.  Interested in the socialization of the web, and curious about blogging, I used Vox as a way to express my thoughts and start conversations about web 2.0 and, occasionally, mobile convergence.

I experimented a bit with other free blogging platforms like WordPress.com early on, and at the time, they weren’t nearly as easy to use as Vox.  As I grew to enjoy blogging and started reading more about the features of other blogging platforms, I contemplated moving away from Vox to a more feature rich platform with:

• analytics so that I could see how many people were reading my blog, determine which posts had the most views, etc.
• interactive social features that would enable readers to easily share my posts via their favorite social networks
• universal commenting so that anyone – even those outside the Vox community could comment
• search facilities that would allow me to search not only for tags but also for specific text in posts
• etc.

Unfortunately, there was no clear upgrade path from Vox to a more robust platform.  I held onto Vox for a long time having heard rumors of an upgrade path to TypePad, but when it didn’t materialize, I decided to leave.  After talking to a variety of consultants, bloggers and reading a lot of reviews, I embarked on the process of migrating to WordPress.  I learned the hard way that once you’re on Vox, moving is a difficult and largely manual process.  I hired a great WordPress consultant (Kim Woodbridge at AntiSocial Development), who helped me implement a semi-custom theme based on one I purchased from Woo Themes).  And, for the last several weeks, over hours of evening television, I painstakingly and manually copied the hundreds of posts I originally had on Vox to this new website.

If you’re out there shaking your head at me and mumbling, “I could have quickly written you a script to do that”… Rest assured, I talked to a ton of consultants, and the only one that said he could write a script to migrate all of my posts (not just the first 10 posts or excerpts of all of my posts) provided me with a bid that made McKinsey & Co. look cheap.  (Note- If you still think you can write a script like this easily, go for it!  I bet there’s a lucrative business opportunity in migrating power Vox users to other blogging platforms.)

I’m excited about SocializeMobilize, not only because I now have analytics, interactive social features, robust commenting, and search capabilities but also because I’ve merged my blog with new information about my business development, strategy, and marketing consulting practice and clients.

I hope that you’ll find this site easy to navigate.  If not, let me know. I’d love your feedback.

Blog Features:

SocializeMobilize is written in WordPress (WordPress.org), using a semi-customized Woo Theme.  It’s also readable through your mobile browser at the same URL and via RSS (by clicking the RSS icon in the right banner).

Here’s what you’ll find as you navigate the site:

• About: My bio
• Services: Information about my consulting business
  • Consulting Services: What I do for clients and how I can help you.
  • Clients: A list of my past and current clients.
  • Recommendations: Hear directly from my clients.
  • Events: This is my public calendar streamed from Google. In it, you’ll find events I’m attending.
• Contact: You can contact me via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Facebook or email using the icons in the right banner, or use the contact form on this page.

For those of you who are into technical details, SocializeMobilize uses the following plugins:

• Akismet: Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.”
• All in One SEO Pack: Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog
• cforms: contact form
• DISQUS Comment System
• Exec-PHP: Executes <?php ?> code in your posts, pages and text widgets.
• FeedBurner FeedSmith: detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber.
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Google XML Sitemaps
• MobilePress: Makes your WordPress blog into a mobile website
• Simple Tags
• Sociable
• SRG Clean Archives
• TinyMCE Advanced
• Tweet This
• Twitter Tools
• WordPress.com Stats
• WordPress Database Backup

What’s next?

Tomorrow, I’m going to Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, and Wednesday, I’m off to CTIA in Vegas. I’ll be live tweeting and writing about interesting things I find at both shows.  Stay tuned.

If you’ve got interesting mobile or social media products you’d like me to review, upcoming social media or mobile news, or other ideas for posts, please ping me.