February 19, 2008 at 3:13 am ·
Authored by Julia · Filed under Networking
It looks like Xohm is about to be reborn. According to The Street, chipmaker Intel will be breathing new life into WiMax with a $2 billion funding injection.
After reports last month that Clearwire and Sprint were talking again about setting up a joint venture, it looks like the US’ WiMax network could finally be back on its feet again, with The Street suggesting that the new company could be announced within a matter of days, combining Clearwire and Sprint’s licences.
After all the upheaval at Sprint and all the to-ing and fro-ing over WiMax, hopefully this will prove the jumpstart that will get the network off the ground and if we start seeing some WiMax devices coming along too, so much the better.
At 5.55pm I arrived at the Number3Bar to setup for SMS Text News Unlimited Drinks December - this time held in the site’s spiritual home of the city of London, centre of Her Majesty’s Empire.
“You can’t come in yet, we’re still setting up,” the huge, tall bouncer blurted out when I walked up to the bar.
“Er,” I said, momentarily taken off guard, “I’ve paid for it, I’m Ewan?” I said.
“Oh, right, come on in,” replied the chap, simultaneously changing from double-hard-bastard bouncer status to friendly giant.
It was a relief to get into the warmth of the bar. I got the ubiquitous Unlimited Drinks banner set up and proceeded to the bar and relaxed when I saw fridges filled to the brim with chilled Carlsberg. Right on. Ready for the onslaught!
First in through the door was Rax Lakhani, social media expert and digital PR genius, from Splendid Communications. Rax has been helping me understand what Blyk are up to (he arranged for me to ‘become Antonio‘).
Rax and I headed to the bar whilst I explained how delighted I was to get a picture message from Blyk suggesting I might want a McChicken sandwich. The message was sent to my handset at midday yesterday.. just when I was thinking about getting something to eat. Unfortunately my 30-year old metabolic rate doesn’t quite compete with that of a 22 year old; so I’m being careful about what exactly I eat nowadays. But… mmm… a McChicken sandwich…
Whilst I was giving a bit of thought to the food I’d arranged for the evening, Oleg Podsechin of technology services company Ionsquare arrived. Ionsquare specialise in providing IT consultancy services for start-up companies and spin-off ventures — they do quite a bit in the mobile sphere. Definitely worth talking to them if you’re on the hunt for some tech assistance.
Dean Elwood, newly appointed Platform Director of Truphone (congratulations Dean) arrived along with, if memory serves, Andy Abramson, CEO of Comunicano — also very well known as Mr VOIP Watch. It was excellent to connect with them both as I’ve been reading their posts for some time.
James Body, Research Director at Truphone arrived in good form. I pointed him out to another attendee just as he was (I kid you not) shuffling his iPhones looking for one of them. I think he had three or four of them, as well as a whole host of other devices. It’s nice to see someone definitely living the dream, eh? I suspect that we should see some announcements from Truphone related to the Apple device soon.
Nick Booth of Late4work arrived. I didn’t get a chance to congratulate him on the Late4work concept. It’s brilliant! You can have a rant about being late for work thanks to Nick’s service. You call +44 151 266 9513 and you record your rant (e.g. “The sodding Victoria Line has stopped working again…”) and Spinvox’s Spin-my-Blog-Post service converts the voicemail to text and posts the rant on www.late4work.co.uk. Smart.
Mark Tynan, bursting with energy, arrived. Mark runs ShopQwik, one of the most innovative and most valuable mobile services I’ve seen, ever. You can book a flight, a hotel room (or car hire) anywhere in the world within 60 seconds, from your mobile phone. It’s utter genius. Think Expedia on your mobile. Mark was excited because they’ve almost finished adding nearly every single airline on the planet to their service. They have also built one of the world’s most ubiquitous mobile payment gateways by dint of developing ShopQwik. They will no doubt be snapped up shortly. I’m going to be using ShopQwik a lot when I’m in the States.
Ken Young, Managing Editor of The UK Mobile Report swept in to say hi shortly afterwards. I’ve been reading Ken’s work at theukmobilereport.com for a long time and it was excellent to actually connect with him in person. Do check out his site and to your feeds if you haven’t already.
Jayant Pimple, Senior Biz Dev for Aztecsoft popped by to say hi. They do quite a lot of mobile related development services, in particular application development and testing. Just as I was talking to Jayant, the doctor arrived. In the form of Dr Tim Snaith, Research Director for OnePoint SMS Surveys. Tim was accompanied by Managing Director, Neil Jessop (who was sporting an ultra sharp pinstripe suit — kudos). I’ve been going nuts over OnePoint’s services for a month or so now ever since they came across my radar. Try out their demo. Text surveys done right. Think Surveymonkey for mobile. In fact, Surveymonkey should acquire them quickly and start offering mobile services to all their clients. I pointed Tim and Neil to Hetty from event networking service Eventscope — via the bar.
The Blyk chaps arrived shortly afterwards — Adam Levene, Interactive Designer, Geoff Wright, Campaign Producer and Tom Gutteridge, Head of Creative. I demanded cards from them all whilst I regaled them with my experience over the weekend of Blyk. I’ve had exclusive short videos from Ratatouille to messages encouraging me to think McChicken sandwiches. They’re definitely doing their jobs well — and I congratulated them accordingly and pointed them to the bar.
Stephen Wadeley from mobile messaging service provider AQL came bounding in to say hi, (Stephen handles wholesale telecoms sales for them) closely followed by another Doctor in the form of Dr Adam Beaumont, Managing Director. I welcomed both and then went quickly to find Michael Day, a Corporate Life Coach to get his card who’d popped along for a drink.
Just then, the Regulator turned up.
A ripple of awareness flew across the crowd as Sam Morris, Head of Communications and Mark Collins, Policy Executive, arrived from PhonepayPlus (the new name of UK premium rate regulator, ICSTIS). Whilst everyone has an opinion on their new name, I think we’re all agreed that it’s a lot better than ‘ICSTIS’. Sam and Mark came along to learn as much as they could about what the mobile industry in the UK is thinking — and how they can structure the regulations for best results for both the industry and the consumer.
“You’ve come to the right place, then,” I said, waving my hand toward the crowd gathering by the bar, “Most people here are either mobile industry executives, mobile applications developers or have a direct interest in the industry.” Sam’s eyes lit up!
I pointed them both to the bar as I welcomed Terence Eden from Vodafone. Terence was sporting a 2-D barcode business card badge that contained his details. Very smart. He got out his N95, flicked on his QR scanner (”It’s big in Japan, this!”) and proceeded to demonstrate it working really well. Genius. I’ll need to look more closely at these QR codes. Although there in an unofficial capacity, Terence was fantastic with the assembled masses who were firing Vodafone related technical questions at him — to which Terence had no shortage of answers. Right on Terence. It’s good to see Vodafone fielding such smart cookies.
Ben Smith, Principal Consultant for Detica waltzed in with software integration engineer colleague Julian Cooling. Julian’s been behind quite a lot of iPhone related opinion comments posted here on SMS Text News - although he sports one of the old reliable P800 Sony Ericssons. Ben, you may remember, has contributed some excellent pieces to SMS Text News about 3UK X-Series (he also runs a blog on X-Series).
A lady came round with some really nice pizza slices at that point. I helped myself to one and was pleased to note other delicious food trays being handed out across the venue. Good news. I wanted to make sure everyone was fed properly!
Kersti Klami and colleague Elissa Fry arrived from Racepoint Group (the new name for Fuse PR, by the way). Racepoint work for some rather cool mobile related clients so I fired questions at them for a little while asking all about the client activities. I’ll hopefully have some news to publish shortly along with some Q&As.
Stephen Holmes of BloodyBigSpider came bounding in. Stephen’s done the branding and image for almost every one of my companies and has some particularly direct opinions on the mobile industry that I always enjoy hearing. As I was chatting to Stephen, Nicholas Shaw, Director of BlinkSystems arrived. BlinkSystems specialises in providing easy to implement Bluetooth based solutions — so if you’ve got a requirement, particularly when it comes to Bluetooth marketing, do give Nicholas a call and tell him I sent you.
Tee Banwait of web based streaming audio service, meTracks, arrived bearing wickedly good quality meTracks headphones for a few select attendees (he’d run out so only had a few to hand out — lucky for you if you got one). Tee’s busy overseeing the first round of finance for meTracks and I’ve been thoroughly approving of their mobile service that enables you to stream your MP3s from anywhere on the planet to your mobile. Smart.
Speaking of streaming, Caroline Teunissen of video streaming services company, Groovy Gecko, arrived. It’s been a while since I caught up with Caroline so it was super to see her — she’s responsible for business development there at Groovy so if you’ve got a requirement, drop her a note. Caroline arrived with other half, Simon Wilcox of Digital Craftsmen. Although specialist in the provision of website design and management services, Simon’s been doing a ton, a veritable ton, in the mobile industry of late. Alas it’s not yet public but when it is, I’ll be posting about it.
Simon Maddox of Spoken Group came bounding in to say hi. He left me with a funky business card showing him and the Simpsons family sat at what looks like a very cheesy American restaurant. Heh. Brilliant! Simon’s companyy, Spoken Group, have been doing some super things with mobile and books. They work with authors to provide them with a mobile platform — something I think is a terrific way of connecting with interested readers. (e.g. You see a call to action on a billboard at a station, text the keyword and get sent back an audio preview. Brilliance. I’m going to do a post on them shortly).
It was good to see Ben Whitaker of secure mobile developer, Masabi. I’m not sure if they’ve got anything I’m able to talk about yet — but from what he was describing the last time we met, it’s all very smart.
Stuart Brown, Sales & Marketing Director of Mediaburst arrived to say hi. I congratulated their publicity campaign. I firmly believe it’s critical for mobile service providers such as Mediaburst to continually tell the marketplace what they’re doing and with what clients. There’s no need to give away trade secrets, but the more and more providers who actually talk about the brilliant work they’re doing, the better.
Speaking of better industry relations, MX Telecom arrived in the form of Mark Hawkins, Communications Manager and Chris Wilson, Head of Systems Development. Every time I meet someone from MX Telecom, I learn about another market moving service addition or improvement. I can still remember when, back in the day, they were amongst the first to deliver a working picture messaging API. We made great use of that. Mark was telling me that MX have been working heavily on their hugely flexible content management system, CMX2.
I was delighted when WebitPR’s social media manager Stephen Davies walked in. Also known as Mr PR Blogger, Stephen is a wickedly nice chap and has just discovered Twitter. He, like me, isn’t entirely impressed with EAT in the context of Pret A Manger.
The real journalists arrived at this point. Jon Corke, Editor of What Mobile, Jonathan Morris, What Mobile Technology Editor, arrived together with Paul Withers and MaryLou Costa, both reporters at Mobile News. It was excellent to welcome them as I read their stuff regularly — I pointed them directly to the bar then proceeded to fire mobile industry questions at them.
Darryl Ashings of Ashings chartered accountants was in good form — he’s been doing my accounts for years and is an excellent chap to talk to if you’re planning on raising any funding or you need some assistance with your financial matters. Darryl had quite a few clients in the room, if I recall correctly! I bumped into Martyn Davies and had a brief chat with him — far too brief — before I had to welcome a load of people who’s just arrived fresh from MoMo London. Martyn, amongst other things, blogs on Mobile for Blognation. Best that I link you to his LinkedIn page as he’s got a lot going on!
Ladi Sansui and Herve Parrin from mobile service provider TynTec presented themselves to say hi although unfortunately I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to them as Jason Sharpe, head of software development for Consult Hyperion arrived. Again I was just talking to Jason when Nick Hancock of TagText arrived and shortly after Nick came Dave Bush, S40 Java Sub-Project Leader at Nokia. Before I could grab Dave to find out if he knew anyone I could get to help build me a Symbian wordpress editor, the delightful Vero Pepperrell, head of Blog Marketing for Taptu arrived with Ed Hodges, Dan Lane and Jay Fenton of Howler Tech (the company behind ROK Talk). The chaps were fresh from delivering a stonking presentation on their service to the assembled masses at Mo Mo London earlier in the evening. Joining them was James Whatley representing Spinvox and the always-informed Mike Stead of Hutchison.
As I was talking away to Mike I spotted Patrick Smith of Sonus PR at the bar chatting away animatedly to Ed from ROK Talk. They stopped chatting as Dan and Jay got out their phones ready to participate in another ‘Type Off’ — this is an exercise designed to test user interfaces. Now while it’s far from scientific, it’s always interesting to see what device is able to type the sentence ‘testing testing one two three’ quick enough (remembering that each chap is classed as an ultra-geek and therefore expert at using them).
If you’d like to see the results of the Type Off (including the winner), check out this (rather dark) YouTube video filmed by Dan Lane:
Right. Now for some pictures.
First, you can get the Flickr gallery here. I’m going to pull out a few here:
James Whatley of Spinvox, Abul Hussain of Mobile9, Dan Lane of ROK Talk and Vero of Taptu.
Me. Ewan. The usual stand-in-front-of-the-banner picture.
Dan from ROK demonstrates some Vuzix eyewear that plugged into his Nokia N95 camera enabling him to view the back of his head in real time. Nice.
The AQL chaps
Me, Dr Tim and Neil from OnePoint Surveys
Right!
Thank you everyone who took the time to come along. I had a super time. Lots more follow-up to do. Please do send me your news and I’ll be back in London soon for another event in 2008.
November 30, 2007 at 2:44 pm ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Events, Networking
Gosh it’s come round quick! I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone at the Number3Bar this Monday coming for Unlimited Drinks London.
Just as a reminder — the Key points:
The date: December 3rd 2007 (Monday)
The venue: Number3 Bar, New Burlington Street, just off Regent Street, London (Google Map)
The time: 6pm onwards
Get on the list
Would you like to come along? Email me at ewan@smstextnews.com with the subject UNLIMITED DRINKS = YES and I’ll add you to the list.
If you’re heading to MoMo, don’t worry about popping along later on — and if you don’t have much time, you’re still welcome to pop your head in and say hi. You’ll generally be able to spot me by the pinstripe suit.
I’ll be there from 6pm and we’ve booked out the whole ground floor venue (not to be confused with the basement nightclub) and if you say ‘Unlimited Drinks’ or ‘SMS Text News’ to the bouncers on the door, you’ll be pointed in the right direction.
I do try and hang around the front of the venue to welcome everybody but now and again I might be mingling so don’t hesitate to hunt for me and come and say hi. I thoroughly enjoy meeting people from the industry. Be sure to give me a business card as well — THRUST it into my hand! That’s very useful so I can write a bit about you/your company and get the web addresses correct.
We’re not doing labels either. No sticky labels with names. But we are doing food. Lots of food (as well as the unlimited drinks bar — well staffed, by the way). We’re doing food differently than last time. You see the majority of folk had left by 11pm when the serving team came flying out with mini pots of vanilla ice cream. So I’ve sorted that. More food will be circulating during the peak hours between 6-9pm.
What a welcome change it was flying into Israel and being surrounded by people using mobile communications properly. Yes, there were a few really old Motorolas or Nokias on display, however the vast majority of the population I saw in and around Tel Aviv were sporting top of the range Sony Ericssons, Nokias and the like.
The innovation going on in Israel is absolutely staggering. For instance, the big GSM operator there, Orange (majority owned by Hutchison) has been launching all sorts of services recently — for example the ability to create and publish video blogs from your handset.
Mobile phones are a fashion statement too. The Israeli population (again, from what I observed) appear advanced technology consumers and don’t hesitate to show off their handset and use it. Contrast this with the almost purely functional mentality of most North Americans and, well, I felt at home there in Israel.
The prime reason for going, of course, was to meet a few innovators. Due to time constraints I was doing a fly-in, fly-out thing. I was only in the country for about 36 hours, I think. Not enough time. Absolutely 100% not enough. I think I’ll need to go back and spend a good week or so connecting with companies. I was hoping for a more intimate networking event so I could talk more to everyone. I wasn’t disappointed! Although I had arrange to meet perhaps 35 people, however, unfortunately, timings didn’t quite work out. The majority were out of the country. Israelis, an one of the most entrepreneurial races I’ve ever encountered, do a ton of traveling.
So for instance, I didn’t get the opportunity to connect with Gilad Novik at Hutchison or his colleagues at Orange/Partner Communications. Nor Ofer Tziperman of LocatioNet, Oren Todoros at eMoze or Itay Gadot at Mobimate. Next time!
However I did manage to meet some brilliant people. Speaking of that, thank you once again to Jeb Brilliant of Brilliant Expos for helping arrange the event.
Israel Tenenbaum, Director of the ICT Department for the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute didn’t manage to make it to the event — but Jeb and I sat down with him just beforehand to find out what they do. They’re part Government funded and are working to help promote (in the context of SMS Text News) the Israeli mobile and telecoms market. Israel was telling me about a collection of companies there in Israel that are really rocking the industry. I’m going to try and do a piece on each of them soon.
We held Unlimited Drinks Tel Aviv in Herzliya Pituah, one of the hot-shot ’silicon coast’ areas just outside Tel Aviv. Jeb installed us at a wicked Tapas restaurant by the name of Tapeo (more details about the event here):
We had the upstairs area together with a dedicated barman and waiter. Just what you need. We arrived and he came bursting forward laden with menus. My eyes lit up at the mention of stuffed mushrooms and I began ordering just as Guy Horowitz, Director, Product Marketing for Telecom Products at Microsoft, arrived. Guy was joined by colleague Tsachi Weiss — I immediately set about getting them drinks, some food and we started talking mobile. Tsachi, having worked for Orange Israel for a number of years, gave me a brilliant insight into the operator and it’s history — I had no idea, for example, that they’re the new kid on the block vs the incumbents Pelephone and Cellcom.
Guy, formerly at VC Gemini, was filled with enthusiasm about what Microsoft’s working on from a mobile perspective. Obviously the software giant has been watching and reacting to maneuverings across the worldwide mobile marketplace — the likes of Google’s Android, the iPhone, application providers. Microsoft is charting out it’s own strategy and from what Guy was briefly able to mention, I think they’ll really be surprising people soon. Very exciting.
Idan Gafni of CellXpert arrived shortly afterwards. Geez. The chap had energy! Energy and bucketloads of knowledge. He was positively overflowing with did-you-knows and have-you-seen-this demonstrations. He’s a IVVR — interactive video and voice response — expert. Within moments he had whipped out his Nokia to demonstrate some brilliant mobile video calling applications that he’s been working on. I’m going to see if I can try and get some screenshots and more information on them. One of the services showed live traffic pictures from different points around Tel Aviv.
And you do need that sort of traffic information, especially in Tel Aviv. I should have got Idan to give the details to Oren of mobile email specialists eMoze. Oren called and sincerely apologised — he found himself stuck in traffic for a heck of a lot of time and in the end, he didn’t manage to pop by.
Efraim of Orange / Partner Communications arrived and dispensed forth with a substantial amount of recommendations, suggestions and industry background which I found fascinating. I’m going to mail him and find out what specifically I can publish though.
Shimon Greenspan of Global River Media arrived with colleague Dena to tell me all about the advertising industry in the context of mobile connectivity. I remember asking some of the chaps about Orange’s brand reputation in Israel. Someone, I can’t recall who, suggested that recently, a survey had put Orange as the number two brand in Israel, second only to Coca Cola. Dena was not impressed, asking what ‘Orange’ means — ‘that’s not a brand!’
Jasmine Aharon of Jajah arrived after getting stuck in traffic. She’s a huge mobile fan and, what’s more, she’s a committed Jajah user. I always like it when you meet people from mobile companies who are actually LIVING it. Within moments she was demonstrating the Jajah client on her Sony Ericsson. I need to download one for the Symbian platform and try it out. I really think Jajah missed a bit of a trick by not making a bigger play for the application space, particularly for Symbian. Witness ROK Talk, for example - they’ve effectively eaten Jajah’s lunch in the teleconference sphere. I never thought of Jajah as just an application — I can understand their ‘we don’t do phone apps’ viewpoint but for the prosumers in this world, the technology trailblazers, not having an application that you can put on the handset to make international calls, isn’t good news. I keep forgetting Jajah when I’m out and about and, you know what? I just make the call via my mobile operator and pay the premium. Or, more recently, I use my MaxRoam sim. It was, nevertheless, super to meet Jasmine. She did Jajah proud, demonstrating it to everyone!
I had a thoroughly brilliant time talking with everyone — thank you to all the attendees for taking the time to come along! I hope to be back in Israel soon!
Stay tuned for news on the next Unlimited Drinks event shortly…
November 22, 2007 at 7:34 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Events, Networking
I was delighted with the tapas at Tapeo, the restaurant where we held last night’s Unlimited Drinks. It wasn’t quite on par with the likes of Barcelona but it worked. (Good choice Jeb.)
I’m working on an overview of the evening, minus my Skypephone. Jasmine from Jajah was so taken with it that I let her borrow it to show the team. More to come soon.
November 20, 2007 at 1:01 pm ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking
AQA, the text answering service, are holding a big bash this coming Saturday in Leeds, UK, featuring 4 great bands, free cocktails and, one imagines, lots of answers to your strange questions.
The acts have all been chosen for their party credentials and include AQA’s superb competition winners Model Radio (formerly My:Audio), Leeds’ sexy female-fronted live dance act U R Penetrators, exhilarating pie-throwing punks Belisha from London, and Chester’s Out From Animals.
If you’d like a ticket, there’s a few left — but you’ll need to head sharpish over to the AQA Party site to register right away. I can’t be there, alas, as I’m stuck in London with multiple meetings and briefings. Looks like it’ll be a wicked night.
There’s also a MySpace page with the details here.
I’ll be making copious use of (new SMS Text News sponsor) MaxRoam’s roaming capabilities (T-Mobile UK — a whopping £1.40/min, MaxRoam: £0.31/min).
I also noticed, with some surprise, that 3 have a network there. Well I must have blanked that one. I can name most of the others (Sweden, Hong Kong, Italy, Denmark and so on) but I totally blanked Israel. I’m going to check out some stores if I can.
Anyway: To the subject of this post — What mobile companies (or individuals) do you rate in Israel? I’d very much appreciate your recommendations.
Let me know and I’ll focus some attention on them on the site here over the next few days and see if I can hook up with them. Email me or post below.
With the amount of mobile development coming out of the country, I’ve been wanting to visit Israel for quite a while. I’m pleased that this week, I’ll finally be setting foot there once again (the last time I was there: Ages ago for a school trip to see the sights, which, by the way, were brilliant).
I’m flying into Tel Aviv tomorrow afternoon and Unlimited Drinks is set to take place the following day on the 21st of November. We’re not actually meeting in Tel Aviv itself, instead we’re basing the meet-up at the uber-trendy and ultra connected neighbourhood of Herzliya Pituach — about 10km north of Tel Aviv.
That’s where it’s reeeeeeeelly cooking. The Silicon Coast! That’s where it all happens. It’s the tech centre of the country — at least, that’s what I’m told by quite a few people who’re coming along.
I’m hoping to meet up with a lot of mobile related companies and individuals, so if you’re going to be in the area on Wednesday night, please send me an email so I can add you to the list (ewan@smstextnews.com — email subject: Unlimited Drinks = YES).
We’re hosting Unlimited Drink at a Tapas restaurant by the name of Tapeo so expect some wicked food as well as some nice drinks and the opportunity to network with other mobile related people. I will be doing a write up about everyone I meet so bring business cards! I might even be able to do a spot of live blogging and Q&A interviews.
Here are the details:
The date: Wednesday 21st November
The Time: 6pm+
The place: Tapeo (Tapas/Ceviche bar)
Address: 9 Shenkar Street, Herzliya Pituach
As always, I’ll be wearing my now usual attire — bright shocking pinstripe, so you won’t miss me. Probably red tie again as well. Here’s what that looks like:
Although I’ll do my best to avoid the forced smile-for-the-camera visage.
There’s an HP mobile bloggers dinner going on this evening. I’m going along to see what’s cooking and to meet Hewlett-Packard hosts Gavin Duckett (Industry Consultant Communications, Media and Entertainment), Roger Fawcett (Director, Business Development, Communications Media & Entertainment, EMEA) and Jean-Marie Bulte (Solutions Architect Opencall Media Solutions).
There’s most likely a demo of some new technologies so I’ll take some pictures — and, obviously — some video. Likewise with my previous post, if you’ve got questions for Gavin, Roger or Jean-Marie, let me know. I’ll ask.
I’m going to talk to them about their HP iPAQ mobile devices. I like them. Just. Well. They’re a bit big, a bit bulky…
November 8, 2007 at 11:58 pm ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking
Jeb’s, SMS Text News events manager is flying into Israel right now. We’re coming to Israel, baby.
This month. November 21. In fact I’ll be in the country for a few days.
It’s a hotbed … a riotous HOTBED of mobile innovation. I’m going to see if I can hook up and document a lot of the leading companies based in and around Tel Aviv.
We’re still confirming a venue for Unlimited Drinks — but if you’re in Israel (or going to be in Israel) in two weeks time, make sure you email me and we’ll get you on the list.
Any recommendations for who’s rocking the mobile industry in Israel at the moment?
July 21, 2007 at 12:42 pm ·
Authored by Alex · Filed under Networking
Do you consider yourself a mobile geek? Do you live, work or hang out in (or within easy reach of) London?
SMS Text News reader James Whatley has just launched a Facebook group called Mobile Geeks of London. It’s open to anyone (assuming you’ve got a Facebook account, of course), and promises “chat, discussions, and general merriment.”
To join up, just click this link. There’s rumours of the first group get-together in London this coming week - and if you ask James nicely he might bring his iPhone along..
By the way if you’re on Facebook, we’ve also got our very own SMS Text News group. Sign up, stop by and say hello!
June 9, 2007 at 9:40 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking
http://nmkforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/badgewhite2.jpgLink: Schedule : NMK Forum 07
I got an invite to NMK Forum via Facebook from Mr Mbites himself, Mike Butcher. There’s quite a lot going on this year — the team there have done a wicked job.
I’ve got a load going on, unfortunately, so I don’t think I’ll be able to go for much. Maybe to some of the bits later on in the day (it’s next Wed). Bit of a shame a I will certainly miss the keynote from Jason Calacanis who I remember from the Silicon Alley Reporter all those years ago.
Tons of interesting people are participating — check out the schedule.
Coca-Cola is hoping its new cellphone-centric Web site for social networking, Sprite Yard, will become the MySpace of the cellphone world.
The product, to be introduced in the United States this month, will look a lot like the social networking sites that have become popular on the Internet. Consumers will be able to set up personal profiles, share photos and chat online with friends, all using cellphones rather than computer screens.
While I acknowledge Coca-Cola’s phenomenal brand power amongst the key social networking demographics, I’m not sure this’ll work. Coke have dabbled in the past in similar things, like Coke Music - albleit with limited success (Coke Music closed down in Europe last August).
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, perhaps they would have done better teaming up with an existing brand, like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, etc. Although not all of them are totally mobile friendly yet, it’s only a matter of time before that’ll happen - and at which point the main selling point for using Sprite Yard will diminish.
Silicon South West International Conference, 28 September 2007 Silicon South West’s first International Conference has attracted an unparalleled line-up of speakers to address Wireless 2.0 - the next step in wireless technology, markets and venture opportunities.
Â
Speakers:
Prof. Joe McGeehan – MD, Toshiba Research EuropeÂ
Dr Michael Walker – Group R&D Director, Vodafone
Prof. Ed Candy – Technology Director, Hutchinson 3G
David Wood – Co-founder & Executive VP, Symbian
Doug Pulley – CTO, picoChip
Steve Allpress – Co-founder & VP Wireless, Icera
Will Franks – Co-founder & CTO, Ubiquisys
Falk Mueller-Veerse – Founder & Managing Partner, Cartagena Capital
Will Strauss – President, Forward Concepts
Stuart Scott – CEO, Intohand
Walter Tuttlebee – CEO, Mobile VCE
Anders Carlius – CEO, TerraNet
The conference will be held at @Bristol, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5DB
Â
The delegate rate of £250 (plus VAT) includes the full day conference on 28 September plus a pre-conference cocktail party on the evening of 27 September.
If you’re into networking with other UK wireless folk — take a look — it’s a pretty neat speaker list.
June 6, 2007 at 10:49 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking, News, SMS
Adam Bird of Esendex is in Monte Carlo at the Global Messaging Congress. He posted the following report on this page last night and I made a note to highlight it this morning.
Have a read..
- - - - - -
Ewan,
Currently at Global Messaging 2007 in Monte Carlo. My job has its rough assignments, but this isn’t one of them. Saw Steven van Zanen of LogicaCMG, sorry Acision, speak today on SMS 2.0 and the development required get to SMS 3.0.
The thrust of his presentation was that the mobile operators were acting like rabbits in headlights in the face of the Mobile IM hype. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL where playing the ‘my community’s bigger than yours’ game and trying to wade into the mobile market by essentially replicating the IM experience in mobile.
Regular readers will probably all atest to the fact that the mobile internet is no where near the reliability experience of the fixed line alternative and that you cannot rely on the network always being there. Existing PC IM solutions essentially make that assumption.
Stefan’s view, or that of the major vendor of SMS kit, was that SMS was still the best experience on town. You can’t beat a community of 2 billion subscribers or put another way one third of the global population. It works on every handset, ignoring the US of course, and all operators need to do is augment the existing experience with IM type features and MSN, etc will not be able to compete.
It is going to be an interesting battleground over the coming months.
Two other quotes I liked:
‘SMS is the biggest brand in the world’
‘SMS is the only mobile data service that has been successful’
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Adam, thanks for writing — very interesting indeed. I particularly liked the ‘SMS is the biggest brand’ quote. Strictly speaking, I don’t agree with the reality — it’s not a brand, you can’t buy and own ‘SMS’ — but I most certainly agree with the sentiment.
May 17, 2007 at 12:49 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking
I was walking along Palace Street looking for number 16 — the offices of noted coporate venturer, 3i. I was due to meet Alex there. I had a few meetings across the early evening so I missed the vast majority of MX Alliance presentations. I found the 3i office with no trouble. I just looked for the best looking, sexiest office on the block.
VC offices always look different from normal offices. They are far plusher. Everything is high spec. Polished. Marble.
Anyway I met Alex outside and popped in, determined to connect, finally, with Jim Black, Mr MX Alliance. He’s normally up in Scotland, I’m normally… well… all over the shop. I switched to publicity mode and engaged some rather surprised looking suits and asked them where Jim was.
Found him. He’s a good guy. A really nice chap. Shook his hand. Finally!
Then I set about hunting for other good people to meet. Everyone kept on pointing at this effervescent, smartly dressed lady in the centre of the room, ‘You should talk to her,’ they kept on saying. I went over, stuck out my hand and met Sherry Madera, Chief Executive of AwayPhone. I was reliably informed that she gave one of the best presentations of the evening. It’s a pretty cool service, AwayPhone. Have you checked it out? If you travel regularly, it could save a ton of money for you by dramatically cutting roaming costs.
I randomly asked another chap if he was a mover and a shaker. It’s always a useful way of starting a conversation at these networking events, although it’s slightly annoying if the person umms and ahhs and you realise you’re engaging a Class A limpwristed employee-from-section-C who knows nothing and cares nothing. Thankfully Graham Quinn, Managing Director of WirelessMobile-jobsboard.com is every bit the mover and shaker. I’ve read a lot about him and his service and I’ve heard positive things from many people. I nattered with Graham for a while and then had to explain why I had no business cards. Not a good look, is it? I promised him they were worth waiting for. Maybe another time. I came out without them. Idiot, eh?
I interrupted a totally bemused Marek Pawlowski, Editorial Director at PNM/MEX who, despite having a plate full of rather delicious pasta, was kind enough to answer my rapid fire questions about why he was using Vodafone as a service provider. ‘TWO POUNDS THIRTY PER MEG,’ I spluttered. He explained he used their 3g card. Not so bad then!
The MX Alliance is clearly rocking. There were lots of interesting people there!
Having recently completed our first round of funding we are now looking for our first senior hire.
The below advert will be in Ireland’s business papers on Friday. If you feel you qualify drop me a line with the relevant documents.
Business development manager
CUBIC TELECOMS LTD. A COMPANY AT THE FOREFRONT OF GLOBAL WI-FI /GSM MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY & THE PROVISION OF LOW COST TELEPHONY SERVICES. REQUIRES AN EXPERIENCED BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER.
THE BRIEF: BUILD A SALES STRATEGY TO DELIVER PRODUCT AND SERVICES TO THE GLOBAL MARKET. REPORTING DIRECTLY TO THE BOARD THIS IS A POST FOR A RISK TAKER, HIGH ACHIEVER AND PROBLEM SOLVER.
THE TASK: TO PARTNER WITH THE C.E.O. IN UNDERSTANDING AND TRANSLATING HIS VISION INTO A PRACTICAL AND WELL ORCHESTRATED SALES STRATEGY COVERING FULL LOGISTICS - FROM PRODUCTION THROUGH TO BUILDING AND SATISFYING CLIENT AND PARTNERS CHANNELS OF SALES, AND THE PROVISION OF AFTER SALES SERVICE AND SUPPORT STRUCTURES.
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST 7 YEARS OF RELEVANT EXPERIENCE IN A SENIOR POSITION AND MUST BE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE A NUMBER OF ACHIEVEMENTS IN THIS FIELD WHICH HAVE LED TO TANGIBLE GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY FOR THEIR EXISTING EMPLOYER. BASED IN CORK THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE MUST BE IN A POSITION TO TRAVEL WORLDWIDE IN ORDER TO LINK TOGETHER AND OVERSEE A SUCCESSFUL CHAIN OF PROCUREMENT, PRODUCTION, SHIPPING AND SALES OF CUTTING EDGE MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES.
THE PACKAGE INCLUDES:
• SALARY IN THE REGION OF €100,000.
• COMPANY CAR
• SHARE OPTIONS
• MEANINGFUL TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES.
April 12, 2007 at 8:54 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Mobile, Networking
Sonus PR, the telecom hot shots, are hosting a networking get together this afternoon
It’ll be an excellent opportunity to have a chat to some o2 people, particularly given the amount of spanking I’ve been giving their styooooopid subscribers for continuing to pay ridiculous data rates (”All together now: YOU’RE ALL CHUMPS!!”). As for o2 themselves, much kudos is in order for being able to say ‘Sorry sir, it’s 75 quid a month if you want unlimited data’ with a straight face to their customers. I think o2’s head of monthly subscribers should be given a special award for being so well tuned to his/her customers to know that introducing an unlimited data package for everyone isn’t necessarily the right time. They’re all fine paying per meg at the moment!
So, given the opportunity, I will definitely tell them how impressed I am.
I will also take the opportunity to yell chhhhhhuuUUUUUMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP at any o2 subscribers complaining about data charges that I come into contact with. Gonna take along the N95 too.
March 28, 2007 at 12:37 pm ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Mobile, Networking
If you’re a Facebook user, come and say hi at the SMS Text News group. It’s really easy to join.
I’ve been playing a lot with Facebook because of some consultancy going on. Good excuse. Right now, three of the world’s sexiest mobile industry executives are members.
Yes, it’s that time of year again when we feel the need to drink beer and talk about mobile. And after the success of our last Swedish Beers event in Barcelona, we thought it was about time we had another one in London at our usual haunt of the Nordic Bar in W1.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. You can sign up to come along on this page.
February 15, 2007 at 11:32 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Mobile, Networking
Geez, it’s still going on, isn’t it? I feel for you if you’re sat arsing around at 3GSM hunting for good parties. A solution landed in my inbox from Zahava Stroud at the ihollywoodforum:
For those of you attending 3GSM today in Barcelona, we spoke to many of you who were disappointed because there are many fewer parties this year at 3GSM and no after hours place to network. Even the most connected folks mentioned today they were looking for a great party, and here it is…..
Don’t miss the iHollywood Forum party sponsored by Digital Fountain and Wireless World Forum on Feb 14 from 6-8pm.
Join us at the Camp Nou soccer stadium, in the elegant VIP lounge with a view of the stadium.
We have great news: we were able to increase our drink orders so more of you can come–more drinks and networking for everyone. This is one of the few opportunities at 3GSM where you can network, drink and mingle with top Hollywood executives and international carriers.
And there is still time to register for our iHollywood Mobile Europe Summit on February 14 at Camp Nou, before the party, where you can attend our sessions and meet top Hollywood executives, European and Asian carriers. Summit tickets are $395 and include meals, sessions, networking and the party. Register at: http://www.ihollywoodforum.com/MobileBarcelonaEventDetails_2007_.htm.
Camp Nou Directions:
Av.Joan XXII; Acces 7 (ENTRANCE 7); Door 13, Room: Sala Fundacio
The stadium is located in the West of Barcelona, app. 5km from the city centre.
Bus: Line 7, 15, 43, 67, 68, 74, 75, L12, L50, L60 & L62
Metro: Line 3 (leave at Maria Cristina or Les Corts) & blue line or line 5 (directions:Cornella) Exit at Collblanc or Badal. It is 15 minutes walk to entrance.
January 25, 2007 at 10:28 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Mobile, Networking
Got a note in from the uber-connected Caroline Lewko about the upcoming GSM conference. If you’re going along, do get your company listed in the WIPConnetor company showcase. More details:
Are you attending GSM World Congress in Barcelona February 12-15, 2007?
WIP’s February newsletter will go out next week, and I’d like to showcase all the WIP members who are attending. To ensure your name is listed, you must indicate in the WIPConnector Directory that you are attending.
How to: go to “My Profile†tab, under #3 tab “Additional Informationâ€, under General Information, make a choice under “Attendingâ€. Please do this by Tues, January 30, so we can find you and list you.
Go ahead and network before the event with other members from North America, Europe or Asia.
The WIP newsletter goes out to over 2500 people in the wireless industry including international carriers, device vendors, investors and others. The February newsletter will also include announcements on WIP affiliated networking opportunities during the Congress so watch for it! Hope to meet with many of you next month.
January 8, 2007 at 2:31 am ·
Authored by Ewan · Filed under Networking
3GSM: To go or not to go; that is the question;
Whether it’s nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of walking ’round the venue,
Or to take RSS against a sea of press spin,
And, by opposing, end them?
So that didn’t quite work.
Anyway my question is this: 3GSM? To go, or not to go?
Everyone I speak to. Everyone. Everyone seems to be going.
EVERYONE AND THEIR GRANNY is going.
I’ve been sat thinking about whether or not to go. Whether it’d add more to the blog or whether, upon reflection, I’d be producing a lot of content that, in the scheme of things, isn’t quite that useful. I’m in two minds.
I was chatting to a colleague last week, saying, ‘Oh, yeah, or the second week of February?’ and was quickly reminded that they’re ‘in Barcelona’.
Gaaaah.
Everyone but me is going!
I’m not going. I’ve no reason to go, per se. Why, prey tell? Well, I just don’t feel like I’m missing that much.
If it was in Cannes, well, there’s that really good La Pizza restaurant on the corner of the marina next to the Police Station. And Cannes is quite a nice, small place to jet off to. Barcelona? Huge. Big. Yes there is the added bonus of the super Ritz Carlton Hotel Arts, but I just… it’s a bit tooooooooooo big.
Just looking down the site frontpage, there looks to be a ton going on. Robert Redford will be announcing the Sundance Mobile Premiers:
This groundbreaking pilot project will exclusively premier five films by six new and established independent film makers at the 3GSM World Congress in 2007
That’s cool.
There’s some mobile awards going on. Global Mobile Awards 07 to be precise. Again, cool.
I’m just not turned on by it all.
SMS Text News favourite, Arun Sarin, is scheduled to do a keynote speech, so too the chappy from Orange. A chappy from o2, a chappy from BT, a chappy from Microsoft….
It’s all a bit…….. too big. Too ‘the-same?’
What are they going to say? I mean, really: What NEW things are they going to say?
I think, perhaps, I’m a bit spoilt by Steve Jobs and the way Apple do their thing. What possible value is there in sitting in front of Mr Sarin and listening to him explain away a load of rubbish that sounds good delivered in a conference hall that doesn’t, in ANY WAY, correspond with what my friends Jo and Nat (normobs - normal mobile phone users and Vodafone customers) experience on a daily basis with their Vodafone service?
It’s that kind of thing that, when prompted about 3GSM by various people, usually leads me to respond with, ‘Mehhh.’
Flying over to check out Nokia and listen to their folks talk about the next generation, that was valuable, worthwhile. That was a turn-on!
3GSM? It’s not a turn on. Strange that. I don’t seem to have the hots for it. I’d have been well up for going last year, I reckon. In the end I was too busy.
So going-to-3GSM-because-everyone-else-is…. nah.
I may well change my mind. I’m sure I could do a good bit of reality reporting. That’s if I can hold myself together without exploding in response to the absolute tripe some speakers will be dispensing (Witness the Orange guy at the Nokia World conference giving a total bullshit answer regarding mobile data. I nearly yelled ‘HOGWASH’ at the top of my voice from the back of the hall. Very nearly.)
It’s certainly a useful networking opportunity. I grant ye that. This said, I think I shall most probably be sitting back from February 12th, reading the press releases as they come out and tracking what other people say.
I’ll be kicking myself if Arun Sarin gets up and says, ‘Right, as of tomorrow, mobile data is £3 a month unlimited for everyone of our XX million customers.’
But, chances of something exciting and dramatic as that happening at 3GSM? You tell me…. Happy to be proved wrong though!
In the meantime, if you’re going, have a good time.
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