VIDEO: Verizon iPhone – What’s the Catch
Got a chance to be on TV and comment about the Verizon iPhone announcement with Nina Sparano at KWGN, WB 2 in Denver and KDVR, FOX 31 in Denver. My apologies for the dark video with me looking exhausted, I had just flown from London to Berlin on a late flight and was up until 03:00 CET shooting this interview in my dark hotel room!
Source: KWGN – Transcribed article
Investing in the Mobile Revolution
Repost permission from Scott Ford, Partner, OPENAIR Ventures
The infrastructure supporting the mobile phone in your pocket is bracing for a digital communication revolution that will result in an economic boom rivaling any of the past developments of the information age. In fact, the mobile handset is quickly becoming the primary access point to the Internet, and this through just a fraction of nearly 5 billion current active units in the global market (four times the number of active Internet-connected personal computers).(1) In three years, the comparison between PC and mobile Internet access will be completely irrelevant as the handset itself becomes a small subset of many billions of mobile connections to the Internet powered through terrestrial wireless networks.
Continue Reading →
Happy St. Nicholas Day from Germany
The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually on 6 December, is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to surviving legends of the saint, and particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus, as well as the Anglo-Canadian and British Father Christmas, derive from these legends. “Santa Claus” is itself derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas.
In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of 5 December. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (Rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on a per-behavior basis. This has become more lenient in recent decades.
But for some children, Nikolaus also elicited fear, as he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht), who would threaten to beat the children for misbehavior as using this myth to ‘bring up cheek children’ for a better, good behavior. Any kind of punishment isn’t really following and just an antic legend. Knecht Ruprecht furthermore was equipped with eight deer legs. In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli, he would threaten to put bad children in a sack and take them back to the dark forest. In other accounts he would throw the sack into the river, drowning the naughty children. These traditions were implemented more rigidly in Catholic countries and regions such as Austria or Bavaria.
Source: Wikipedia
Holiday Shopping 2010
I guess the deals where just too good this year. I was leaving Best Buy from some Black Friday 2010 shopping and spotted this BMW 3-Series Convertible leaving the parking lot. While not the most ideal car for going to buy a flat-screen TV, but I suppose, it’s faster than having it delivered.
Upon closer inspection, for those who have a BMW 3-Series Convertible, note that the 47″ LCD TV in the box will fit perfectly in your back seat, with the top down. Those who want to get the 50″ or 55″ model are probably out of luck in terms of fitting it in your back seat.
Happy Shopping!
UPDATED: RIM Blackberry – Compression Enhances Mobile Internet Experience
Sorry if the photo is a little blurry, This was a presentation given by Greg Shea, Managing Director of RIM China at Mobile World Congress 2010 during the App Planet event. Got a hold of the presentation and uploaded the slide here.
Graphical Representation – Size of Global Mobile Market
Courtesy of iStrategy - Click to see full size
Mobile Asia Congress – App Planet
Earlier this month, I was fortunate to attend Mobile Asia Congress 2010 in Hong Kong. As part of the conference, the GSMA hosted App Planet, where over 300+ delegates heard from China Mobile, RIM and a number of other folks in the mobile ecosystem. The emcee, Caroline Lewko, from WIP Connector, started the day by stating: “Today is for Building Communities.” Indeed, the majority of the topics were around building mobile application communities. In particular, the conference and audience was focused on Asia.
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Future Mobile Handset Designs
Would love to here your comments on some of these mobile handset designs.
iPhone Guts Exposed
Credit: TechRepublic
Not much to write here, just wanted to share this picture.
EVENT: Ad-hoc Entrepreneur Meetup Helsinki
I’m headed to Helsinki! While I am there, my good friend, Mikko Alasaarela (@alasaarela) is helping to arrange a meetup of mobile, entrepreneurs, drinks and chatter. I am looking forward to meet and learn from people in the area as well as collaborate on ideas in mobile, social networking and more. If you are in the area and want meet up, all the details are below:
PLACE: A21 Lounge
Annankatu 21
Helsinki, Finland
TIME: 19.00 to 21.00
RSVP: Click here to RSVP
Apple Starting a Race to the Bottom (With Itself?) [republished from the Huffington Post]
Something strange is happening with Apple. Its product price points are drawing tears. Not tears of frustration, like they used to (its gadgets are cool, but so pricey), but tears of joy.
Because all at once, Apple has started to go cheap. Real cheap. For Apple, at least. Continue Reading →
EVENT: Top Legal Mistakes Startups Make
On Monday, November 1, 2010, I will be moderating a panel on Top Legal Mistakes Startups Make.
Thanks to Mario Tapia and the rest of the Mobile Monday team in the Silicon Valley for putting this together.
Moderator:
Eric Chan – Mobileslate
Panelists:
Roger Royse, Attorney at Law, Royse Law
Yokum Taku, Attorney at Law, Wilson Sosini Goodrich & Rosati
Pietari Grohn, Co-Founder and General Counsel, Vivio
Date: November 1st, 2010
Time: 6:30pm Registration Opens | 7:10pm Panel Begins
Cost: Free, but is required to attend
Drinks: Provided
Location: Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus Conference Center – 1065 La Avenida, Bldg. 1, Mountain View, CA
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Mobileslate Launches Angel Investment
Today I am formally announcing that I have added a new title: Angel Investor. I am investing in what I know best: mobile and wireless ideas. Just as software ideas have gotten significantly less expensive to start and grow, I am also noticing the same trend in mobility. The tools, components, networks and devices have reached ubiquity and there still remains a lot of innovation only investment can advance. Here are some observations that guide my thinking:
- Earlier this year, the CEO of Ericsson stated that in 10 years, there would be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet.
- By the end of this year, ABI Research predicts that there will be 5B mobile users in the world. As we narrow in on 100% global penetration, the remaining population will have a mobile phone within the next 10 years, many of them experiencing the Internet and other data services through a mobile device.
- Public Safety Broadband is estimated to be a $10 billion market in the United States allowing for greater access in real-time to data and collaboration across law enforcement and other public safety organizations.
- The tablet market will hit 64 million units shipped by 2014, while in 2007 Gartner reported that over 1 billion phones had been sold a year.
- IDC predicts that there will be 25 million mobile applications by 2014
Based on this and more, it is clear to me that mobile is still evolving and the best is yet to come. I am committed to investment in mobile and wireless in the following areas: access, enterprise, entertainment, messaging, and payment.
As I start this new chapter with Mobileslate, I will continue to provide Business Advisory Services in mobile and wireless that encompass strategy and product roadmaps.
More information about what I am looking for can be found here.
I look forward to hearing about your ideas. (ideas AT mobileslate.com)
Carnival of Mobilists #240
Well, after the double-shot of Carnival of Mobilists #239 where I wrote up two weeks of posts, I am hosting back to back with #240. Before we start the posts, Peggy asked me to make a special mention that this week, Carnival of Mobilists celebrates its Fifth Anniversary. Great that over the years, this list has continued on. Continue Reading →
EVENT: Android Bootcamp at CTIA
Next week is CTIA. There will be a lot of networking, speeches and knowledge exchange. Once such event is the Android Bootcamp happening on October 7th and 8th at Moscone Center. I’ll be speaking on Thursday, October 7th from 14:00 to 14:55 about Android Application Discovery and Monetization with Patrick Mork from GetJar moderating.
It should be a great conversation as some of my lessons learned from my days in mobile search (2003 to 2007) are still relevant now, more than ever.
Carnival of Mobilists #239
This week I am hosting a double-shot of Carnival of Mobilists, all right before the 2010 CTIA Fall San Francisco Conference. Continue Reading →
AppCircus Launches 2010 Tour
My friend Rudy De Waele from mTrends is organizing a new set of events geared towards getting mobile developers around the world to showcase their creativity.
AppCircus (www.appcircus.com), the unique global travelling showcase of the most innovative and creative apps, today announced the launch of its 2010 Tour. Over the next four months, it will be setting up in most of the major cities across all the continents. There are more than 40 AppCircuses confirmed so far and more are coming through everyday. See the full list of confirmed event cities here (http://www.appcircus.com/events).
Nokia: Six Ways to a Comeback [republished from Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
Nokia faces plenty of tough challenges from Apple, RIM, and Google, but with its recent executive change, Nokia can still rebound
Nokia is the world’s mobile-phone superpower. It holds roughly 40 percent of the global market. In some countries, the brand is even synonymous with the word “phone.” Go anywhere outside the U.S., and you’ll probably have to rely on a Nokia (NOK) phone to get around.
Of course, inside the U.S. it’s a very different story. And that’s the problem.
Over the past two to three years, the mobile-phone giant has become all but obsolete in the U.S. as it failed to develop smartphone devices that could compete with Apple (AAPL), Android, and Research in Motion (RIMM). What worries the company, and many analysts, is that the U.S. revolution could spread globally—gobbling up the rest of its market share. Recent estimates by Gartner predict that by the end of next year, Nokia’s Symbian platform (34 percent) could be surpassed by Apple’s iOS (17 percent) and Google’s Android (22 percent). Sanford C. Bernstein also forecast on Sept. 14 that Android and Apple combined could control 52 percent of the overall smartphone market by the end of 2011. Continue Reading →
Open Letter to Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia
Dear Mr. Stephen Elop:
Congratulations on your new appointment as CEO of Nokia. This will perhaps be the most challenging roles of your career. Your prior companies where you held management roles were those of ascending and stable in nature, in comparison to your new job at the helm, where things appear to be quite unsettling. I have put together a few areas of concern that hope you can address during your tenure.
Continue Reading →
EVENT: SVC Wireless Conference 2010
On September 24th and 25th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the Silicon Valley China Wireless Association will be hosting their annual conference andt his year marks their 10th Anniversary.
I will be moderating the Mobile Application Panel at the event and one of the judges for the Mobile Application Competition.
If you’re a developer, it would be great to submit your application!
EVENT: Mobile 2.0 Silicon Valley Event
Our two-day event, presented by the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee, focuses on understanding and leveraging Mobile Ecosystems, building and successfully monetizing new Mobile Applications and Services, and exploring Disruptive Mobile Innovation and Business Models.
Should be a good event with one day focused on Developers and one day focused on Business.
Corporate Espionage From My Mobile Phone
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Recently, I have been noticing quite a few people learning to use the Status Update function on LinkedIn. Also, I have been noticing quite a few invites for TripIt and Foursquare. It got me thinking about tracking business colleagues and not just friends. This let me to think about how one could possibly spy on each other with validation and certainty. Here’s how the scenario goes.
2010 CTIA Party List – San Francisco
CTIA is less than a month away and I have begun to post the list of Cocktail, Dinner, Networking, Parties, Receptions and more.
Here is the link: http://www.mobileslate.com/ctia.
Also, if you follow me on twitter (@mobileslate) you will get Daily Reminders about the events for the day.