Introduction

Held one week after Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we will be discussing (previously in Feb 08 and Feb 09) the latest mobile technologies and business models on 24th Feb 2010. At the last event, we discussed the emergence of iphone and Android as new platforms for applications and mashups incorporating 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, video and location based services.

You only need to take a quick look at the facts about mobile industry (source: Tomi T Ahonen) to understand how it touches us everyday:

- 4.6 billion active subscriptions (68% of world population of 6.8 billion people)
- Annual revenues $1.07 trillion
- Sells 1.1 billion new handsets a year
- 3.6 billion SMS text messages (SMS earns £1 million every five minutes)
- More internet users on mobile than on personal computers
- Mobile premium content and services worth £98 million
- Mobile advertising revenues £5.9 billion (mobile advertising grew by 85% last year while the economy crashed)
- Top 10 Handset makers (Nokia 432 million 38% and Apple 25 million 2.2%)
- Smart phones (Nokia 68 million 39% and Apple 25 million 15%)
- Smart phone operating systems (Symbian 45%, Apple 15%, Windows mobile 6%, Android 4%)

Will this be the year that mobile transforms global business? Will Google Android emerge as the platform of choice for mobile applications, beating Apple? How high will the social mobile web rise? Will augmented reality become more than a hype? Will mobile payments really be here? Will we start to see mobile convergence and integration? Will consolidation start to kick in?

Hear from some of the greatest minds in mobile industry today. This is clearly not an event to miss.

Announcement

Northern StartUp 2.0 is being repositioned and rebranded as Techcelerate.org this month paving the way for us to engage with larger technology companies. We expect to launch Techcelerate.org at this event with a focus group on mobile. If you wish to chair this group, contact us immediately.

Speaker/Panelists

		Volker Hirsch - Serial Entrepreneur & Senior Executive Mobile social web Volker has been at the forefront of mobile and digital media for nearly a decade. He was General Counsel and Head of iSmartMoney at mobile applications incubator iWorld where, in 2002, helped conceive the world’s first mobile artist services for the likes of Britney Spears, Eve and Duran Duran. He then helped Mforma (now known as Hands-On Mobile) solidify their position in Europe (through M&A and organic growth) and oversaw their licensing and business development business outside the US and China with some landmark licenses such as Marvel, Hasbro, Activision (Call of Duty, True Crime, Guitar Hero), LEGO, BMW, Konami, WPT, etc) as well as 250+ distributor deals including tier-1 operators all over the world. In 2008, he co-led the MBO of the business from its US holding company, which included raising capital and acquiring a mobile games aggregator. Recently, he co-founded the Blue Beck, a new social games creator and publisher focusing to bring back true sociality to electronic games. It publishes to the iPhone, Android, Symbian, and Blackberry, Facebook & emerging handheld digital platforms. He is also a strategy advisor to social infrastructure software specialists Scoreloop.
		Keith Curran - Yes Telecom (sold to Vodafone) Mobile advertising, mobile shopping and mobile payments Curran’s reputation in the mobile industry is for service provision in the dealer segment. Since he sold his Yes Telecom business to Vodafone, Curran has pursued several new, varied and exciting enterprises. Perhaps most interestingly is one which sees him back in familiar surroundings, but in an entirely new sector: mobile payments. The idea has snowballed into a business that offers consumers the chance to buy products with their phone. At the heart of this development is his ContactSecure software, which has already attracted high level interest from global players and could meet Curran’s vision of revolutionising the way people shop.
		Barry Sharples - Founder & CEO, 2ergo Growth through acquistions Founded in 1999 and having floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2004, Barry now serves as Group Joint Chief Executive Officer. 2ergo group have offices in over ten countries providing interactive internet and mobile phone software solutions to large clients such as O2, Rightmove, AT&T, Fox and ABC. Today Barry’s role involves advising the Board of Directors, negotiating acquisitions and communicating with shareholders and city institutions.
		Charles Weir - CEO, Penrillian Mobile Applications Charles is the Managing Director of Penrillian, and an expert in outsourced development and project management. He has worked with Vodafone, Symbian, Barclays, NatWest and CSFB on a wide range of projects. He is also an acknowledged authority on agile methods for development. Charles is a regular speaker at software and mobile device events such as the Symbian Smartphone show, and has run seminars for the British Computer Society (BCS), and the Association of C and C++ Users (ACCU). He has also published a wide range of papers on development and software design, as well as a book: Small Memory Software, published by Addison-Wesley and now available in Chinese and Japanese editions.

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