Today, I started a new consulting project with a mobile app discovery start-up called, Chomp, Inc.  I’m excited to be working with a team of smart, motivated, and fun people.  I’ll be leading mobile business development for Chomp – evaluating opportunities for growth.  I’d love to tell you about but can’t.  Here’s what I can tell you… (more…)

I just downloaded Sandvine’s 2010 Mobile Internet Phenomena(1) study, a whopping 35-page report that details data trends from more than 40 of the world’s leading mobile operators, who serve more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.  Sandvine is a bit of a ‘traffic cop’ on the figurative ‘mobile highway.’  It provides network policy control solutions to mobile operators around the globe.  Sandvine’s Mobile Internet Phenomena study is jam packed with good information about what consumers are doing online from their mobile devices around the world and plenty of reasons why mobile operators need help managing mobile traffic.  Intrigued by the findings in Sandvine’s report, I couldn’t help but think about what traffic on the mobile highway looks like today and wonder what the future holds for the mobile ecosystem amidst growing  congestion… (more…)

Today, European-based mobile analytics company, Distimo, launched a new, free analytics tool called Distimo Monitor, which allows developers to track the performance of their application across several app stores and compare that performance to their competition.  Prior to this new product release, Distimo already provided both free and customized reports on the mobile application ecosystem through its “Distimo Report” offering.  With Distimo Monitor, mobile application developers can now tailor their own reports to get free insights into their apps’ performance. (more…)

Last week, I wrote a post with tips on staying productive in the office. This week, a colleague sent me a 2009 Harvard Business Review article on another blight on office productivity… “mean girls” (meeoow!). That’s right, folks, the Harvard Business Review published a very serious article on the negative impact of “mean girls” in the workplace.  According to the article: (more…)

Today, Open Mobile Solutions (OMS) announced which mobile apps will be demoed at the four Developer Pitch Sessions at CTIA Wireless next week.  The line-up of developers and mobile applications/ products looks great: (more…)

Okay, it’s not exactly a party, but if you’re a mobile developer, it’s close…Nokia is hosting their annual Nokia Developer Summit in – wait for it – San Francisco on June 9-10 at the Concourse Exhibition Center.  Amen, and thank you, Nokia, for answering my prayers and hosting something big for developers in the Bay Area.

It’s good to see the Finns reaching out to mobile developers outside of Europe.  This is going to be a good opportunity for US mobile developers to look under the hood at how to develop for new technologies like Maemo, QT and Web Runtime as well as existing technologies like Symbian.  It’ll also be a good way to learn about distributing apps on the Ovi store.

I wish the event were free, but it’s $450. The good news is that there’s an early bird registration discount of $150 off the regular price for developers that register here before March 31, 2010.

Following up on my earlier post about the Developer Pitch Sessions at CTIA in Las Vegas, CTIA just added a second panel on”Gaining Distribution” to the official agenda.  I’m looking forward to moderating this new panel, “Gaining Distribution- Panel B” on Wednesday, March 24, 3-4pm.

So far, there is a great panel of experts confirmed for this session including: (more…)

Open Mobile Solutions is offering a free Platinum Pass to CTIA at Las Vegas in March.  They’re also organizing several Developer Pitch Sesions including:

• Raising Money – a panel featuring Venture Capitalists specializing in mobile.
• Gaining Distribution – a  panel featuring various mobile distribution channels.
• Monetization – a panel of key decision makers in the mobile advertising space – agencies, brands and networks

The Open Mobile Solutions Marketplace is currently in stealth mode, but you can learn more here.  In the meantime, why not take advantage of the great panel sessions they’re organizing at CTIA and the opportunity for a free pass?

As day 2 of Mobile World Congress rounds to a close, and day 3 begins (ahem – it’s nearly 3am), I thought I’d point out a few highlights from Mobile World Congress so far:

Pre-MWC: I started the pre-MWC whirlwind with The NAVTEQ awards party, in which the EMEA winners of the Global LBS Challenge were announced.  It was a good event.  A handful of promising companies showcased their LBS-enhanced mobile products.  From there, I went to MobileSunday, which was, as usual packed with a great crowd of mobile enthusiasts bracing for the week ahead.  After that, I hit the town with the team from Skyhook Wireless (whose wi-fi location-based technology is embedded in the iPhone and millions of others worldwide) and a few of their 3rd party developer partners – all of whom are working on things that would set any mobile enthusiast’s heart racing… I’d tell you more, but that’d be like ruining a good surprise, and that’s no fun.

Day 1: I kicked off Monday by moderating a couple of panels in the “Mobile Applications – Innovation Vs Fragmentation” stream.  The first was “Attracting investment to the apps market – Identifying the key success factors,” and the panelists were fantastic: (more…)

Today, I read a fascinating report today from Mobile search engine, Taptu, which outlines trends in the “Mobile Touch Web” (i.e. content that can be run on “any touch screen device equipped with a Webkit- based mobile browser.”)  Taptu “analyzed, categorized and measured more than 100 million sites on the mobile touch Web and classified them by 20 categories and 200 sub-categories”, and this report provides insight into the areas of emerging importance in this space.  (more…)