Ted Erfer over at Intertek tells me that Intertek will be giving away a bunch of $500-$1,000 testing credits at their booth at the Blackberry Developer Conference in San Francisco, California November 9-12th.

If you’re unfamiliar with Intertek, they’re one of the world’s largest mobile device and application testing companies, with a global network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in 110 countries.  They acquired mobile testing giant NSTL back in 2007 and are transitioning the NSTL brand to “Intertek”.  Many of the world’s leading mobile certification programs run through Intertek.

If you’re a mobile developer, you know that mobile app certification costs can quickly add up – especially when you’re testing your app on multiple devices and platforms. So, if you’re going to be at Blackberry Developer Conference, stop by Intertek’s booth to see if you can score some of those free testing credits.

Customer journeys, such as finding new music or communicating with friends, no longer take place within the confines of a single device or service. Users may combine several devices or applications to achieve their objectives, creating a new set of challenges when designing user experiences which excel in this multi-platform environment. This essay brings together 5 of the leading thinkers in digital industry to explore the concept of multi-platform mobile user experience ahead of a major new MEX conference (2nd/3rd December 2009, London) on this same theme.

By Marek Pawlowski (PMN), Thibaut Rouffineau (Wireless Industry Partnership), Lisa Whelan (SocializeMobilize.com), Andreas Constantinou (VisionMobile) and Matt Lewis (ARCChart). (more…)

Jeff & Lisa in Prague 2005

I rarely talk about personal topics on my blog, but today, I’m writing to ask for your help, following the death of one of my oldest friends.  Over the summer, Jeffrey B. White lost his battle with cancer at the age of 32.  At the time of his passing, Jeff was a freelance journalist based in Berlin, Germany.  His articles were published in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer, LegalWeek, World Politics Review, PopMatters, the international edition of Der Spiegel, Gadling (AOL’s travel blog), the Patriot Ledger (where he was once a staff reporter),  the Prague Post (where he was formerly a news Editor), and a variety of other noteworthy publications.

Jeff was an amazing guy – intelligent, witty, and he had a great sense of humor.  I’d known him since I was three years old, and together with his younger brother, Greg, we grew up together on a series of memorable family vacations which started when Jeff’s dad was transferred from our home town in California to the east coast and ended all too quickly this summer.  We managed to survive childhood, adolescence, Boston College and most of our 20s together before Jeff developed Eye Melanoma, a particularly rare and aggressive type of cancer. (more…)

After listening to the podcast I did on Wednesday with Motodev on how to incorporate social media into mobile applications, Matthäus Krzykowski,  (a fellow mobile consultant, freelance writer for VentureBeat, and fascinating guy) tweeted: “@motodev @lisawhelan is great, enjoyed the podcast. However, as @danshapiro http://bit.ly/3eRvaK says viral broken is in mobile. Thoughts ?” It’s a good question.  The short answer is “he’s right,” but while the mobile ecosystem sorts itself out, there are things developers can do to make their apps more viral… (more…)

Today, I did a MOTODEV podcast with Randy Ksar of Motorola: “Social Media Marketing for Mobile Developers Part II”. The podcast addressed mobile developers and focused on the benefits of incorporating social media into mobile applications.

You can see the social dialogue surrounding the podcast on gsnap and listen to the podcast below:

Here’s the corresponding powerpoint:

In it, you’ll learn how to:

• Measure mobile app success
• Create a viral loop and engage social media within your mobile application
• Advertise your mobile apps for free on social networks
• Leverage Facebook Connect
• Add social value

The presentation also includes some useful examples of how leading mobile developers use social media in their apps. You’ll also see helpful stats on viral tuning and increasing conversions and revenue with social media techniques from Flirtomatic. (more…)

In business development, nothing beats meeting a client, partner or colleague in person. While electronic communication and phone calls are a great way to keep in touch, making time for face-to-face communication is an important part of solidifying a deep connection and/or closing a deal.  Attending industry events and trade shows is a great way to simultaneously catch up with existing contacts and meet new people.  I used to attend trade shows/ conferences to learn about what was going in web and wireless, but that’s less and less the case. The conventional conference format is growing stale, and is less relevant in our ‘real-time information’ driven culture.  The only reason I go to shows these days is to focus on relationships, and it seems I’m not alone. (more…)

Next Wednesday, October 21st at 9am, I’ll be talking with Motorola’s Randy Ksar in the second installment of MOTODEV‘s Podcast on “Social Media Marketing Tips for Mobile Developers”.  We’ll explore how mobile application developers can incorporate social media into their apps to boost downloads and increase user engagement.

What: Social Media Marketing Tips for Mobile Developers  Part II

When: Wednesday October 21, 2009 at 9am pacific / 12pm eastern

Where: Tune in to blogtalkradio.com/motodev

Ask your questions by calling in to +1 347-826-9350, tweet your questions to @motodev with hashtag #socialmedia, or via our G-SNAP! chat.

WinMoDevCamp is happening from 10-5 tomorrow (Friday, October 2nd) at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, in conjunction with Silicon Valley Code Camp.  They’ve got a solid line-up of presenters leading sessions including Susan Kevorkian of IDC’s Mobile & Wireless team, Microsoft MVPs, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and more.

If you’re planning to develop for WinMo 6.5, which is launching October 6, this looks like a great opportunity to learn and network.  You’ll be able to hear about the new OS, the new Microsoft app market (coming soon) and meet interesting people in the space.

The event will continue throughout the weekend at Silicon Valley Code Camp happening at Foothill College.  Over the weekend, developers will have a chance to: (more…)

I was excited to be the eyes and ears for Wireless Internet Partnerships (WIP) at DEMOfall 09 in San Diego last week – especially since WIP has been a DEMO marketing partner for years. Below, I recap my thoughts on the latest DEMO from a mobile enthusiast’s perspective and offer a few presentation tips for start-ups based on what I saw at the show… (more…)

Today is the last day of DEMOfall 09, and I’ll be live blogging about what I see.  Please refresh your page regularly.

It’s 9:30am, and we’re close to kick off…

First up Nubli – a 90 second alpha pitch…

• Nubli figures out which emails and contacts are the most important to you and presents them in a prioritized view
• Cuts the clutter in your inbox. (more…)