I’m moderating two panels and chairing the morning sessions of the Mobile Application Developer Garage on Monday February 16, 2009 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (Hall 5, Auditorium 3).  This is a first of its kind event at Mobile World Congress, and it should be a great day.

To get a 15% discount to the Mobile World Congress, including the Mobile Application Developer Garage, please use this code: APPAB when you register.

If you’re going to the show, please stop by after the morning session and introduce yourself (or email me).  If you’re not going to the show, but you’d like to ask a question to Panel 1 or 2, please add a comment below or email me.  Here are the event details: (more…)

Updated 2/4/09

Below, please find a list of some of the open networking events that are happening around Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.  Many of these parties require registration. (more…)

There’s a lot of talk about the value of openness on the web…. Open development platforms, open APIs, open source, OpenSocial, etc.  “Open” is a popular word these days, and depending on who you talk to, “open” can mean any one of many different things. “Open” as it relates to the mobile is no exception…. There’s The Open Handset Alliance, Android, LiMo, multiple derivations of WebKit, etc.  As mobile and web convergence accelerates, so too do conversations about “opening up” the mobile ecosystem. The underlying implication regardless of definition is that “openness” encourages experimentation and innovation, and that’s a good thing…Right?!  Many of the people I talk to (including most developers) advocate for a more open mobile ecosystem, but plenty of people are skeptical of “openness”. Who is right – the advocates or the critics?  The short answer is that they’ve both got valid points. (more…)

In response to my last post, “Magikplp” asked what I thought might happen with Google in 2009.  I suspect that Google will have a good year in 2009 but not a *great* year.  Google will continue to be a force to reckon with and will remain the leader in most things web, but this will be a year of building new technologies and investing in the future, while navigating a tough economic climate – not necessarily a year for exponential profit growth (though I don’t think profits will be bad in 2009).

Google is making a huge investment in Android, which won’t pay off in the near future because mobile advertising hasn’t taken off yet.  Google doesn’t expect to make money on their 30% cut off off apps, once they start allowing paid-apps on the Android Market.  Here’s what Eric Chu (Android Mobile Platform Program Manager) said about it in a recent blog post:

Starting in early Q1 [2009], developers will also be able to distribute paid apps in addition to free apps. Developers will get 70% of the revenue from each purchase; the remaining amount goes to carriers and billing settlement fees—Google does not take a percentage. We believe this revenue model creates a fair and positive experience for users, developers, and carriers.

(more…)

Here are a handful of my predictions for mobile and social media in 2009, moving into 2010… For the record, I’ve left off everything I know will happen in 2009 and limited this list to things I *think* will happen:

• Smartphones and feature phones will continue to converge in iPhone-esque fashion.
  • Mobile Internet will drive usage of smartphones, and with it, more robust experiments with mobile advertising and payments will begin.
  • Mobile advertising and payments will gain some momentum in 2009 but won’t really take off until 2010 and beyond.
• A few thoughts on Android:
  • Android will struggle to gain momentum until there is infrastructure to distribute paid apps and an iTunes-esque web or client-based interface for PC & Mac.
  • Ultimately, Android will do well, but it’s going to take longer than many anticipate. (more…)

For those of you that disconnected during Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year, etc…  Welcome back. Here’s a summary of the most interesting social media and mobile news I read in the last few weeks: (more…)

I took a blogging break for Turkey, so this social media and mobile round-up includes the most interesting news in mobile and social media since November 21: (more…)

I’m helping get the word out about a contest that the MOTODEV team at Motorola (one of my clients) is running.

If you’re a widget developer, give mobile a whirl and join the MOTODEV Widget Developer Challenge for the opportunity to win up to $200,000 in great prizes and gain unprecedented global exposure.

SUBMIT your widget NOW –  Be one of the first 100 unique submissions received by December 18, 2008, and win a $250 gift card to Amazon.com.  Click here to learn more.

Apple:

• iPhone 2.2 Firmware was released. MobileCrunch’s review is here.  Excerpted summary of the article: “Safari’s address bar/search … tweaked a bit, apps now request a rating upon deletion, over-the-air podcast downloads …, various video and audio quality tweaks, and assorted bug fixes throughout… Google Maps has been upgraded to include Street View and directions for public transit and walking – if you have an iPhone rather than an iPod Touch…According to early reports, 2.2 for the iPod Touch brings everything but the Google Maps upgrade.”

Google:

• Google Mobile: John Gruber reports that Google seems to be using an undocumented API for the voice search feature in its recently updated Google Mobile iPhone application.  (more…)

Apple

• Apple is now the #2 smartphone manufacturer. Nokia remains #1, RIM is now#3, and Motorola is #4. More here.
• The iPhone surpassed the Motorola Razr as the top selling consumer phone.

Facebook

• TechCrunch reports that Facebook violated its own privacy policy to give Microsoft access to user emails: “Microsoft’s Invite2Messenger appears to violate that policy. Messenger users are asked to log in to Facebook, and then the names and email addresses of all that user’s Facebook friends are then sent to Microsoft and displayed in clear text on a page they control (Facebook itself only shows friend’s emails as images to prevent scraping). You check off which friends you want to invite to use Messenger, and then Microsoft sends each of them an email to install the client and become friends with you. Screenshots of the process (with emails removed) are below.“
  
• Facebook launched an app that allows users to vote for their favorite FBFund apps.  There are 25 finalists, five of which will receive $225,000 FBfund grants. Add the app here.

Google

• YouTube launched a “new advertising program that enables all video creators — from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser — to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos.”

Motorola

• Interesting article on the perception of Motorola’s recent announcements regarding changes to the org: “Motorola’s Turnaround Plans Meet with Skepticism”

Nokia

• Nokia cut its 4th quarter outlook on handset sales from the 1.26 billion it forecast in October to 1.24 billion handsets. It also forecast a decrease in the global market for fixed and mobile network infrastructure. More here.
  

Sony Ericsson

• Sony Ericsson ranks highest among customer satisfaction for the 3rd time in a row.
  
• Mobility Today is calling the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 the “ultimate Windows Mobile phone anyone can ask for”:

Twitter

• Twitter surpassed its 1 Billionth tweet this week.
  

Misc:

• Recent Layoffs:
  • TechCrunch reports 58,709 tech layoffs over the past two and a half months. Check out the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker to see the latest Layoff news.
    
• Technology announcements:
  • Loopt:
    • Loopt has become more popular than the MySpace and Facebook mobile apps on iPhone.
    • Loopt has reportedly hired Allen&Co to represent them in a financing transaction or sale
    • To cut costs, Loopt is partnering with a Qualcomm subsidiary, SnapTrack, which provides GPS data for a monthly fee.
  • OpenSocial celebrates its one-year anniversary. You can see the presentation from the press and developer event here.
  • Soocial launched its public beta.  They say that they “aim to link all currently disconnected address books to each other. A change in one of these address books will result in a change in all your connected devices.”  It’s getting good reviews. Check it out.
  • European events search engine Happener just launched after a year in development. Check it out.
  • You can now make your own customized guide book at Offbeatguides.com, which was founded by Technorati founder Dave Sifry.