For the past several months, I’ve been consulting for one of the biggest mobile companies you may never have heard of, if you live in North America, Movile.  If you live in Latin America, you will likely know Movile, as one of the largest mobile value added services companies in the region.  Movile is a diversified company with a portfolio of mobile products ranging from old-skool (wallpapers, alerts, ring tones, etc.) to incredibly progressive… Among Movile’s more progressive products are Mozca and Zeewe

Mozca is the leading mPayments platform and #1 processor of virtual goods payments on mobile in Latin America. (more…)

There’s another great conference coming up for developers.  “Web Directions Unplugged” will take place in Seattle May 12 and 13, and it’s targeted at folks that are designing and developing apps and games using HTML5.  They’re offering a 30% Discount for the Socialize Mobilize community with the code “socialize,” making the show just $695. (more…)

Over the years, users have spent tons of money on personalizing their mobile phones.  Even in the early days of feature phones, mobile users proved with their wallets that they were willing to go to great lengths to customize their mobile devices…  Mobile ring tones, ringback tones, wallpapers, phone skins, unique cases.  While a lot has changed in mobile over the years, one thing has remained the same… Users love to ‘pimp their phones’, and companies are lining up to help… One of the areas that seems to really be heating up is around homescreen personalization – particularly Android. (more…)

The Global Strategic Management Institute (GSMI) is hosting three mobile + social media events in the coming months, and Socialize Mobilize is a media sponsor.  As a reader of SocializeMobilize.com, you’ll get 10% off the registration cost for each of these conferences by using the promo code “MikeSM” during registration (more information below).

Here are the details of each summit:

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Today is the last day for developers to submit their apps to the AppCircus Spotlight on HTML5, the world’s first HTML 5 mobile app competition, sponsored by Zeewe (a mobile app web store from Movile and the best source of mobile web apps I’ve seen to date).  I’m excited by this contest on several fronts…

As smartphones evolve to support more advanced web technologies, one of the greatest untapped opportunities for mobile developers is HTML 5, which allows developers to write an app once and have it run on multiple mobile devices across OSes.  (more…)

Open Mobile Solutions (one of the companies I advise) is looking for mobile app developers and panelists for its Developer Pitch Sessions at CTIA in March.  The last Developer Pitch Sessions at CTIA was really good.  This year is sure to be even better.  The sessions are as follows: (more…)

With mobile and web converging faster than ever, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between PCs, tablets and mobile phones.  As convergence progresses, mobile OEMs and Operators are looking for new forms of revenue and savvy mobile developers are having to re-evaluate there business models and decide if/when it is appropriate to pay for placement and/or share new forms of revenue (including advertising) with their partners. In this article, I provide a high-level history of business models in mobile apps, and explore if/when/how developers should charge for apps and share revenue with partners. (more…)

I recently stumbled across a visual map of the web 2.0 landscape, created by John Battelle and team, called Points of Control.  (Note: If you’re interested in social media and you’re not familiar with John Battelle, check him out… He’s the Program Chair of the Web 2.0 Summit, and his nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter -including me- are a good indication that he regularly has interesting things to say.) (more…)

Last week, I attended Samsung’s Free the TV Developer Day in San Jose, California.  It was a well-organized, day-long event focusing on Samsung Apps technology and app development.  All the talk of “smart TVs” got me to thinking about the future… Is Internet TV and apps the next big thing for developers?  If the attendees at the Samsung event are any indication of the opportunity, signs point to yes. (more…)

This year, there’s a new event taking center stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on September 13-14: APPNATION: Show me the money conference.

As you might guess, this show is all about apps and monetization – mobile apps, social apps, TV apps – you name it.  The speaker list reads like a ‘who’s who’ of mobile, web, media and agencies – well worth checking out.  SocializeMobilize.com readers will get 25% off the full conference pass by using the code MHFC25 during registration.

There’s also great opportunity for developers to show off their skills, gain some cross-industry exposure, and potentially win cash through the “Pimp My App Contest”.  Here’s the scoop:

One Great Contest — Two Cool Partners. We are calling on all developers to show off your skills by Pimping The App for Fox’s television show “Fringe”, The City of San Francisco’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau or both. Enter as many individual apps as you like for either or both of our partners. There are separate grand prizes so, who knows, maybe you’ll hack your way to victory for both contests. Sort of like winning both showcases on the Price is Right!. So, start hacking as you have until September 3rd to submit your entries.