Join me as I moderate the WCA’s 16th annual What’s Hot (and What’s Not) in Mobility 2015 panel. Details below:

When: November 19th 2015, 6:00pm – 8:30pm (Check-in begins at 6:00pm, Event starts at 7:00pm).

Venue: Fenwick & West LLP, 801 California St, Mountain View CA

Cost: $20 through Nov 8th, $30 afterwards

The mobile market in 2015 continues to evolve. As predicted during last year’s WCA panel on the future of mobility, Chinese OEMs are now 7 of the top 10 global smartphone makers. Incumbent leaders Samsung and Apple are experiencing increased pressure, particularly in emerging economies. Nokia is reportedly gearing up to attempt a mobile comeback following the Microsoft debacle, and Motorola Mobility is surprising many of its critics with the release of the positively reviewed Moto X Pure. Meanwhile, Xiaomi and OnePlus are generating buzz in new markets, while start-up newcomers like Nextbit and Wileyfox are attracting attention by releasing affordable, competitively featured smartphones.

As the commoditization of smartphone hardware accelerates, a load of new mobile-connected IoT devices/SaaS startups are hitting the market. Virtual Reality headsets (Oculus VR, Galaxy Gear VR, Google Cardboard, etc.), wearable devices (watches, rings, etc.), and various IoT/ home automation products are attempting to ride the next wave of mobility, but questions remain about if and when consumers and enterprise will adopt these new technologies.

As the definition of “mobile” continues to expand beyond smartphones, the evolution of apps, smart content delivery, cloud services, App Performance Management (APM), monetization and user engagement services is becoming an increasingly important. Growth at both Facebook and Google is coming on the heels of a “Mobile First” services mantra. Smart, sensor-enabled, context-aware innovations continue to crank out more data sets, opening up the opportunity for companies to analyze and make use of that data to enrich our daily lives and even improve our health. Video consumption on mobile is expected to grow 20% in 2016, influencing content distribution and ad servicing. Mobile messaging and free-to-play gaming are still incredibly hot, but will it last?

Which areas of mobile are ripe for disruption in 2016 and beyond? Join us at the WCA’s 16th Annual What’s Hot (and What’s Not) in Mobility VC panel for a discussion with some of Silicon Valley’s best mobile-savvy Venture Capitalists about the future of mobility. They will also share insights into which mobile growth areas capture their smart investments – and which do not.

Panelists:
— Steve Goldberg, Partner, Venrock
— Eric Zimits, Managing Director, Granite Ventures
— John Occhipinti, Partner, Relay Ventures
— Jeff Tannenbaum, Principal, BlueRun Ventures

Register on Eventbrite to attend this event: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/whats-hot-and-whats-not-in-mobility-2015-tickets-19055820472

The Open Mobile Summit on November 10-11 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco is shaping up to be another great mobile event… Socialize Mobilize is helping get the word out on the conference this year, having enjoyed attending the show for the last couple of years.  At the time of writing, there were only 12 tickets left, so sign up quickly if you’d like to go!

This year’s agenda features over 60 speakers from companies including AKQA, ESPN, T-Mobile, Verizon, American Eagle, CBS Interactive, Fox and HTC and others.  There are four focused tracks: advertising, retail, media and mobile technology, so plenty of content and networking opportunities.

Learn more about the event here and sign up here: http://www.openmobilemedia.com/san-francisco.

I sat down with Shoneel Kolhatkar, Senior Director of Product Planning at Samsung USA for a hands-on with Samsung’s latest products  – the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, Gear Fit, and Galaxy S5 (GS5) phone.

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With less than 4 weeks to go to Mobile World Congress 2014, it’s time to start RSVPing… For the past several years, I’ve assembled a list of the best open networking events and parties at Mobile World Congress. Below is my list for 2014. To read it in larger format or download, visit this document on Google Drive.  Most of these events are free to attend and open to all, but you’ll need to RSVP.

To download any of these events to your calendar, visit our Events calendar.

If you’ve got a public event that you’d like me to add to the list, please drop me a line.

If you’d like to meet me to discuss a potential consulting project or explore a partnership my clients, Alminder Inc. (maker of Mynd – Smart Calendar & Meeting Scheduler) or AgeCheq Inc. (a COPPA compliance ecosystem serving the needs of both app developers and parents) get in touch. Please also check out my client VentureBeat‘s upcoming mobile events: MobileSummit & MobileBeat 2014)

We are a media partner with the first-ever MEF Global Forum 2013, taking place in Silicon Valley on 14th and 15th November. Hosted by MEF the global community for mobile content & commerce, this event brings 12 years of heritage and international perspectives to the heart of Silicon Valley. (more…)

Yesterday, Google sent a note to all Glass Explorers giving them the opportunity to add three people to the Google Glass invite list.  If you’ve been wanting to spend $1,500 on your own pair of Google Glass but don’t have an invite from Google, today is your lucky day… I’m giving away one of my three Google Glass invites to one of you.  Here’s how it’ll work: (more…)

I recently bought the Sony NEX-6, and I brought it with me to the World Series this weekend. This great little compact SLR camera packs a punch…

Here’s the shot I took of the now game ending obstruction call that won the St. Louis Cardinals Game 3 over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night. We were sitting on the right field line, 25 rows back just in front of the right fielder. I used a NEX E-Mount 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS Zoom Lens to capture this shot, and I was impressed by how close it looks…

The World Series was one of the few action packed events where I’ve had the opportunity to use the Sony NEX-6.  I’ve been pleased with the quality of the photos I’ve taken with this camera over the past few months. It’s a great follow-on from NEX-5, which I previously owned. And, the size is fantastic… I get great SLR quality shots with a compact camera body. In addition, there are better NEX-E lens choices available than several years ago. I have two lenses – the 55-210 mm lens I took the above shot with and a 16-50mm Lens (Black) [NEX6L/B], which is what I use in most situations.

While the NEX-6 is a great camera, and I can easily recommend it, I do have a few complaints… (more…)

Join me and others in the mobile industry including Walt Mossberg, All Things D; Bill Malloy, CMO, Sprint, Rich Riley, CEO; Shazam, Mitchell Baker, Chaiwoman, Mozilla; Abhi Ingle, VP of Innovation, AT&T; Dave Engberg, CTO, Evernote and 90+ others at The Open Mobile Summit and Appcelerate on November 12-14 November, 2013, San Francisco, CA.

This year, Socialize Mobilize is a media partner for Open Mobile Summit and Appcelerate. These intimate events connect the most influential and the most innovative people and companies in converging mobile, Internet, media, electronics and commerce. I attended this show last year and found the quality of participants and agenda one of the best of the year.  At Appcelerate, CEOs from the most successful app publishers on the planet will share the secrets to their success building, marketing and monetizing apps.

Click here to download the conference brochure including full agenda and 2013 keynote speaker update.

If you’d like to attend, please register here, and use the Socialize Mobilize discount code ‘2439SM’ to save an extra $100 from current prices. Today is the last day for ‘early bird’ tickets, which offer an an additional $100 discount. So, if you book today, you’ll get $200 off the price of tickets.