My client, Mojio, and Amazon Alexa are hosting the 2nd Annual Connected Car Hackathon in the lead up to AutoMobility LA 2016. The hackathon is happening on November 12th and 13th at the LA Convention Center.

At the hack, Mojio will be unveiling their new and improved set of SDKs, APIs and platform documentation. All of this effort is geared towards making it easy for developers and engineers to take advantage of the fast-growing connected car segment — a huge business opportunity!

They’ll also be given away $10,000 of combined value in cash prizes, Amazon Echo devices and Intel Edison IoT hardware kits. The Grand Prize Winners will be announced on stage on Monday the 14th at the opening reception of AutoMobility LA. Pretty cool!

I’ve got a limited number of free passes for the Hackathon, which include:

• One (1) free pass to the 2016 AutoMobility LA trade show, including access to exhibit halls, press conferences and networking events ($100 Value)
• Direct access to technical experts from Mojio, Amazon Alexa and other sponsors
• All meals, plus beverages and snacks catered by the LA Convention Center
• Official hackathon t-shirt and other sponsor swag (of course!)
• 36 hour access to the hackathon venue in the LA Convention Center

Use this link to get your free tickets: https://connectedcarhackathon.eventbrite.com?discount=LisaO (Discount Code: LisaO)

For more information about Mojio, visit their website.

I hope to see you in LA next weekend!

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.

Read More…

This week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the mobile industry’s big annual conference, Samsung announced the new Galaxy S5 phone and three new smart watches: Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit.  I attended the live announcement on Monday night at the Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona, and the excitement was palpable. Read More…

This week at Mobile World Congress, MasterCard (NYSE:MA) and Syniverse announced that they are collaborating to provide several new mobile and payment services to that will benefit mobile users that travel abroad. Read More…

Our friends over at Wearable World are hosting Wearable Wednesday at their office in San Francisco, and Socialize Mobilize has an exclusive discount code that gets you 30% until the event sells out.  Just use “PRESS_SOCIALIZEMOBILIZE” when you register here. Read More…

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. Read More…