MomoLondon: Cloud Computing & Mobile

A new venue tonight — up on the 9th floor of Google’s Central St Giles office. They even provided good food for the hungry mobile mondayers…

The evening’s focus was on Cloud Computing and Mobile, and the questions seemed to focus mainly on the cloud with not much discussion about how it related to mobile. The chair, Camille, kept the discussion moving along briskly, but we didn’t really get into any depth on any of the subjects. Maybe the audience could smell the food!

The panel

• Chair: Camille Mendler @cmendler
  • Principal Analyst at Informa
• Rob Easton @Cloud_Easton
  • Head of Google Cloud Platform UK & Ireland
  • Eurovision app used App Engine for back-end
• Dr Janko Mrsic-Flogel
  • CEO of Private Planet — personal cloud
  • 7 out of 10 carriers are providing a personal cloud solution
• Caroline Van Den Bergh @GoldenGekko
  • Golden Gekko mobile agency
  • 85% of apps we build are based on Google App Engine
• Jonathan Raper @MadProf
  • CEO at Placr/transportapi & Visiting Professor at City University
  • purchasers of cloud services
  • mostly built on memset

outages & availability

• JR: best service providers are those that communicate well when things go wrong
  • one provider went down and didn’t tell us anything for an hour

looking forward

• RE: google datacentres include a new one in Taiwan at 15 hectares
  • green computing
  • Google can provide very low latency
  • enables reaching out to new business areas such as the film industry
• JR: still talking quite aggregated performance measures
  • can’t ask for X many transactions for Y pounds
  • not that detailed
  • next step may be platform products
• CVDB: mobile enterprise software saving two days a week
  • managing remote teams
• JR: sometimes blame is shifted between telcos & cloud
  • would like to have better tracing
• JMF: Private Planet have a totally green datacentre in Telecity in Holland for T-Mobile

internet of things

• JR: the problem is trading information
  • automatically discovering different feeds & blending them
  • spend 3 weeks integrating code and 3 months arguing over terms & conditions
• CVDB: best successes have been smaller ones
• CM: find my yak in nepal
  • the yak’s don’t talk back — so there’s no privacy issues!
• RE: getting electricity usage feeds every 10 minutes
• CVDB: there has been scaremongering around Google capturing data
• JR: all our data is royalty-free downstream
  • makes it much easier to deal with
• CM: Copenhagen have bike devices to share traffic information
  • provide individual exercise info
  • but also shared with municipality
• JR: Waze has lots of complicated terms & conditions
  • data is available but locked up

the next generation

• CM: has been proved conclusively that 3D gaming improves your cognitive ability
• JR: …minecraft
• JR: it’s still a bit like early 2000 — mobile operator walled gardens
  • want to take down the barriers and bring the data silos together
• CVDB: working with Saga
  • older people have more time, want to delve deeper
  • tablets more popular than mobile phones

data scientists

• CM: shouldn’t we moving towards everyone manipulating their own data
• JR: digital literacy is very shallow, especially in highest decision-making tiers

security issue — data protection

• safe harbour in tatters
• can’t use the cloud at all if we have any secure data
• JMF: Private Planet always has data centre in the specific country
  • but are governments the biggest problem? what about the corporates?
• JR: if you need to do it, in-country encrypted solutions are available
• RE: sure, there are some workloads that Google can’t take on
  • e.g. we won’t let you audit our data centre
  • so can’t work under FCA regulations
  • over time, some of these regulations are going to change
• JR: all have to do as much as we can to help the government make the right decisions
• JR: sometimes the safest place to do something is in the cloud — e.g. running Windows
  • we don’t allow it on any of our machines
  • but it’s great in the cloud!

what if cloud provider company goes bankrupt?

• JR: escrow
• JMF: most agreements done via a channel partner — so that partner will continue the service
  • single party relationship is much more complicated
• RE: cloud business could be bigger than ads for Google
  • SLA penalties are often a percentage of what you pay
  • but if you pay less and less, the SLA means less and less…

is it becoming like supermarket wars?

• RE: Google reduced prices — and if you use an instance more than 25% per month then get a discount
  • terabyte of storage is $26/month
• CM: just like a loyalty card…
  • who will be Lidl and who will be Waitrose?

will we still be waiting in several years?

• JR: overestimate change in the short term and underestimate in the long term — change is stepped
  • sometimes have to wait for the step change in technology or regulation
• CVDB: business are going to grow up quickly
  • first digital generation CEOs will be around in the next few years

third party dependencies

• JR: Apple reviews can be capricious
  • if Apple fall out of love with Dropbox, then that could cause a problem for lots of apps
• JMF: was a huge debate on mobile medical health a while ago
  • then suddenly there was an app that just works
  • and the issues can just disappear
  • gadget-led terms and conditions…?

speed & access?

• RE: check out server density review
  • blog by someone who reviewed lots of providers and switched to Google
• CVDB: Golden Gekko mandate that all backends must be on Google App Engine
  • mainly so that clients can scale

new innovations in infrastructure?

• RE: Google build our own servers
  • apparently they would be the 3rd biggest manufacturers in the world
  • they value new innovation

where is the next growth to make it easier?

• RE: focused on the developer
  • acquired StackDriver to manage cloud capabilities
• JMF: If This Then That
  • making cloud development open to the consumer
  • certain mobile operators are understanding this and joining up devices in the home
• CVDB: finding that parse.com doesn’t suit
  • one size doesn’t quite fit all
  • prefer google’s flexibility

inviting consumers to get more involved

• CVDB: user testing
  • avoiding ivory tower
  • developed O2 Priority Moments
  • built packaged solutions based on it
  • incentivized behaviour also used in enterprise apps
• JR: designed a first location bank
  • your own location storage — that you can choose to share
  • (Ed. see also fireeagle)
  • next generation have a different approach to privacy
• RE: snapchat is a massive google customer
• audience: teenagers using technology completely differently
  • using snapchat to have a whole conversation
• RE: snapchat consumes more IT than any banking industry
  • JDI has 10 petabytes on Google cloud
  • consumers of IT will be well away from the enterprise
  • can have failure at a much cheaper cost — can learn more

what financial services are possible in the cloud?

• RE: restricted by FCA regulations, but other options possible
  • e.g. datasift to search across twitter
  • big challenge to attract IT talent in financial services as there are so many restrictions

skills

• JR: right now it’s hard to hire — ruby on rails developers are hard to find
  • constraint on development right now
• CVDB: couldn’t agree more — mobile skills are in short supply

tools for analytics & loyalty/crm

• looking at how data can be analysed
• wanting to drive revenue per user
• wanting to get the right tools in place to complete the feedback loop
• CVDB: iris solutions company
  • built the backend themselves
  • ?? http://www.iris.co.uk/
• JR: “build it in the cloud, but just don’t tell IT”
• RE: tableau, BIME, etc. working on top of Google Big Query
  • now a lot cheaper

After the panel discussion

As often happens with Mobile Monday, the discussion after the panel was richer than the panel itself. Some discussion points that came up when I was talking to people afterwards included:

• How do you balance keeping data on the device and in the cloud, to deal with intermittent network availability?
• Will the banks get clobbered by more agile personal finance companies that don’t have to worry about so many regulations?
• Why has it taken Google since 2008 to move from basic App Engine web apps to a full cloud platform?
• How will Google make more money from Cloud Computing than from Ads? There’s a big market, but the price is dropping…
• …and on a completely different note, several people were interested in setting up Code Clubs in their local primary schools, but were stretched for time — perhaps they could work together and contribute part-time?

MomoLondon: Operating Systems – a new set of Davids take on the incumbent Goliaths

Some really useful insights this week — with the panel providing a different perspective on the mobile industry than the usual. Although one question started on the HTML vs Native war, this was quickly knocked on the head and left for a future Mobile Monday.

I really get the FirefoxOS aim of making the web more accessible to new markets around the world. Mozilla has its own motivations for making a new OS, which are different to the usual “make as much money as possible”. It will be very interesting to see how they compete against the low-cost Android devices that are getting cheaper every year.

As for Ubuntu Phone & Tablet, this seems to be more about an operator story than a consumer one. I’m not sure of the reasons why a developer or a consumer would choose an Ubuntu phone. Having played with the sample tablets that were available on the night, I couldn’t see any particular advantages over Android or iOS (or Blackberry or Windows for that matter).

Ubuntu’s message seems to be that operators can customise the devices for their own content (that always goes down well with consumers, not!), or that you can have a single superphone that you can plug in to a screen and get a desktop experience (seems like a bit of a gimmick to me…).

Thanks to Geoff Blaber for being an excellent chair and keeping the discussion moving fluidly, and to all the panel members and organisers for a great evening.

Intro

Victor Palau, VP of Phone & Hyperscale Delivery at Canonical

• hardware & os market has become monopolized in last few years
• standardization on Linux kernel (mainly from Android) makes it much quicker to set up a new operating system
  • don’t have to worry about chipsets etc as much as in Symbian days
• but platforms have to have something

Developer Economics Q3 2013

Andreas Constantinou, MD at Vision Mobile

• launching latest research today
• Ed.: this is always a really good read — Andreas gave us some highlights, but go and download the full report at http://www.developereconomics.com/go
• html5 is number 3 development platform in use
  • Android leads, then iOS, everything else way behind
• 61% of html is direct to browser
  • then phonegap at 27%
• Windows Phone going down in intent share (i.e. less developers interested…)
• iOS still leading monthly revenue at $5,200
  • Android catching up at $4,700 (using in-app advertising as main booster)
  • revenue models differ by platform
• seeing an increase in platforms used by individual developers
• main platform almost even between Android (34.4%) and iOS (32.7%)
  • html5 behind at 17.5%
• report trying to quantify platform loyalty amongst devs
• also trying to show which platforms are best for different challenges
  • and the different motivations for different developers
• more experienced developers are using more tools
  • e.g. crash reporting, ad networks, push notifications

Panel

• Geoff Blaber @geoffblaber
  • CCS Insight research house
• Alex Sinclair, CTO of GSMA
• David Wood @dw
  • principal at Delta Wisdom, formerly prime mover behind Symbian
• Andreas Constantinou @andreascon
  • MD at Vision Mobile
• Victor Palau @victorpalau
  • VP of Phone & Hyperscale Delivery at Canonical
• Christian Heilman @codepo8
  • Principal Developer Evangelist (HTML5/Open Web) at Mozilla

What do new platforms offer manufacturers?

• GB: essentially just 2 OEMs (Apple, Samsung) making any profit
• CH: not a problem of distribution but where it is going
  • producing lots of phones in saturated market
  • Mozilla’s job is to keep the web open
  • the web is worldwide
  • FirefoxOS is targeting markets that mostly have featurephones, aiming to be people’s first smartphone
  • you can get old Androids but they’re 4 generations behind with old browsers that don’t show stuff right
  • manufacturers actually quite interested in this proposition
  • Foxconn hiring 3,000 people to make a FirefoxOS tablet
  • Samsung & Apple neutering open web — you need expensive hardware and a credit card to be a part of it
  • in Spain selling €79 phone with €30 pre-paid credit
• GB: open initiatives have failed in the past: WAC, etc
• VP: open initiatives can have trouble with leadership
  • Canonical remain open but have strong leadership
  • offering operators ability to showcase their content
• DW: two good cases for disruption
  • companies that have shown their staying power
  • just an improvement in battery life would be welcomed…
  • smartphones naturally get stretched as new environments come along — and leave space for niches

What about the ecosystem?

• AC: for any platform to be successful need buy in from:
  • developers, operators, manufacturers, users, …
  • devs have to learn new platform
  • users don’t care what’s underneath
  • operators have pre-allocated slots, often by OS
• CH: Windows Phone is a great example
  • not seen the depth of commitment required from the operators
  • not willing to take the risk
• AS: not all operators subsidise handsets
  • when a new version of the iPhone comes out, AT&T’s share price drops as they have to subsidise it
  • need an alternative
  • different operators placing different bets
• AS: operators want to get their content onto devices
  • but are struggling to do so with iOS & Android
• Ed.: this is probably one reason why those two are doing so well!
• CH: app discovery as easy as searching
  • search for a movie: get IMDB deep link
  • go back to search and long-press to install app
  • then get offline goodness etc
  • drives me crazy that I have to wait 5 months for a game my friend is playing on his different device

What about the corporate sector or 3rd sector (training & education)?

• VP: one of our main focuses at Ubuntu
  • have a very secure platform, bringing to phone
  • converged device — plug in your phone and get full desktop
  • good for enterprise: single device, secure
• CH: enterprise difficult to get into as wedded to Blackberry or other platform that’s integrated with email system
  • difficult sell for open source
  • 3rd sector is an easier sell
  • e.g. simplified phone for elderly: just photos of family — click to call
• AC: changing the UI of the phone reminded me of SavaJe (way back in 2006, bought and swallowed by Sun)
  • html5 is top platform for enterprise
  • top driver is efficiency
• CH: developer scarcity — don’t have to go out to an agency
  • just use existing web team
• DW: enterprise can drive home usage too
  • LinkedIn most popular enterprise app?
    • switched back to native on mobile as tools were not good enough
• AC: html5 apps are like a car without a break
  • once it starts leaking, you can’t stop it

Are you seeing apps migrating from mobile to desktop?

• DW: more about device usage — consumer behaviour is leading
• VP: end of Windows XP support is great: making people think about it
  • at the moment can’t replace them with an html5 app
  • but solutions available in Ubuntu
• AC: crawled the Google store to find APIs used
  • only 1 in 4 Android apps could be done on straight web
• CH: that’s why Firefox provides access to device
  • some memory leaks come from platforms they are using to generate code
  • Chrome and Firefox dev tools making great strides

How many years are going to pass before clients say “don’t do native”?

• VP: has to be lots more about what’s good for consumer
  • depends on the situation and who you’re aiming it at
• AC: it’s not an either or…

Privacy: number one for Mozilla / chinese walls between work & home

• AS: virtualisation of phones available: multiple phones in one
  • lots of companies don’t use Dropbox for security reasons
  • don’t think about all the data that certain closed OSes are capturing about us
• DW: trustworthy and transparency may be change reasons
• CH: already seeing that for Firefox browser
  • sometimes have to make the UX harder to make people think about what they are doing
• VP: full Linux implementation
• GB: isn’t there an argument that deep integration with Google is part of Android’s success?
• AC: people don’t ask if Facebook & Google are spying on them: they give you something back which you perceive to be of value
• CH: it’s actually more addiction than value…

What positive reasons for getting new platforms?

• AS: it comes down to competition
  • is it a good idea for just a few companies to make the profits?
  • I represent people who used to make the profits from the industry…
  • was previously director of WAC, but by the time it was ready there was no need for it as only two platforms to develop for
  • operators want to implement RCS/joyn (operator-based IP messaging, voice, video, etc) and new platforms give them the chance to get involved
• DW: so many variations
  • e.g. Nokia mega pixel camera: “average user only cares 16/23 about camera pixels” — but actually there’s a reasonable niche here

What about the important services that users expect?

• e.g. Skype, Google Maps
• AS: was in Korea last week: their search provider is being investigated for monopolistic practices
  • also a messaging provider was worried about operators implementing RCS/joyn and taking away their revenue stream
• CH: service in China to add “written on an iPad” to the bottom of your email
  • $5 a month, and they stole your email data!

What about individual permissions?

• CH: permissions can be asked on a more granular basis
  • no great list of permissions as for Android
• AC: how much would you be willing to pay for a service that monitored and reported how your private data was being used?
  • people want it but are not willing to pay for it

Who is likely to nudge sub-saharan Africa into smartphones

• full of featurephones
• OLPC not doing that well
• CH: OLPC didn’t do so well as missing network connectivity
  • Ushahidi is building a wireless BRCK to be a modem for Africa
  • if someone asks “what if Google or Apple go after these markets after you”, answer is “then we’ve won!”

Visiting from Momolo Nigeria: what difference will a billion users in Africa have on design considerations?

• 120million mobile phones, mainly featurephones
• CH: sent UX designers to South America to come up with use cases
  • build apps with Telefonica targeted at those markets
  • need to meet somebody local who knows the area
  • can’t assume that everybody wants the same thing
• VP: community is very important
  • a lot of people in Africa want to contribute and make things better for their community
  • have a whole set of local community councils
  • e.g. large Catalonian community
• AC: if you need to access the internet you need a data plan
  • developing countries have very expensive access plans
  • need to have smarter ways of micro-access to the internet
• DW: designing meaningful UI for people who can’t read or write
• AS: some operators already doing micro data plans
  • e.g. facebook access not coming out of data plan (facebook zero)

Closing remarks

• GB: often on West Coast of US, it’s Android, iOS or the highway
  • been impressed that there’s a great strength in the alternatives
  • barriers to entry getting lower
  • html5 provides common access
  • market driven by growing diversity
  • fragmentation in OS space is likely to proliferate
• AC: there is no black or white
  • there’s always multiple alternatives
• AS: there’s a definite need & opportunity
  • don’t know who is going to win
• DW: which David will survive?
  • execution: can the company keep pushing out high quality?
  • proposition: will people bit?
  • community: can they start a virtuous cycle?
• VP: can you get a consumer to buy something different?
• CH: there’ll be a lot of opportunity for a lot of players
  • we were the only cool thing in MWC twice in one day
  • device should not spy on you: built the internet in a different idea and this should exist on mobile phones too

Announcements

• The Mobile Academy starts again Oct 1st - Dec 3rd
  • early bird discount of 25% if book before August 5th
• Tech meets Creative Unconference 26th July in Camden
• Campus Party 2013, 2-7 Sept, at the O2

MomoLondon: Data Driven Mobile Apps - Open data and more...

I missed last month’s Mobile Monday on Mobile Games but this panel more than made up for it.

Thanks to Jo Rabin and the rest of the Mobile Monday team for organising, and to Kasabi for the drinks!

Panel

• Chair: Matt Biddulph @mattb - http://hackdiary.com
  • used to run http://dopplr.com
  • then worked for Nokia as Head of Data Strategy in Location & Commerce apps
  • any mobile phone company is becoming an information company
  • a data driven app is one that gets better the more data it has
  • good example is the evolution of Foursquare
  • in the last few months, they have added features to let you explore the area around you
  • human interaction and input makes data come alive
• Leigh Dodds @ldodds - CTO, Kasabi
  • Kasabi trying to make data more accessible and easier to use
  • most of the apps I use are just interfaces to content, though not really data driven
  • data driven would be getting data from lots of people, or from historical data
  • favourite app is MyFitnessPal: a calorie tracking app that tracks everything he eats — either barcode or search
• Jeni Tennison @JeniT - Linked Data Expert, Technical Architect for http://legislation.gov.uk
  • been involved in data.gov.uk esp. linked data
  • mobile devices have a lot of context available
  • how do we create the API that allows us to get out just the data we need for right here, right now?
  • what is the UI to summarise the data and pull out the really interesting bits?
  • pulling in data from multiple sources
  • feeding back data
• Ian Holt @IanHolt - Developer Programme Manager, Ordnance Survey
  • quality of data is paramount
  • OS run masterclasses to help people use their data
  • favourite data app: ASBOrometer
  • what was important was people’s perception of the data…
• Hannah Donovan @han - Design Director, This Is My Jam
  • used to work at last.fm
  • thisismyjam is just coming out of beta
  • data driven apps provide a key to the mess of the universe around you

What are your favourite datasets

• LD: NHS dictionary of medicines and devices
  • recently been relicensed under new open govt license
  • everything that you could ever be prescribed
  • annotated with mappings through to product codes — so can scan a barcode and get a reference
  • good base data set as can reliably ensure people are talking about the same thing
  • a crucial problem in big data…
• IH: often the geo data is a backdrop rather than the actual IDs
• HD: echonest danceability
  • at a hackday made a prototype to throw a track at a robot to dance to it

Do apps get worse with more data?

e.g. twitter signal/noise dropping?

• HD: bad example: Spotify getting hooked up to facebook and timelines being spammed…
  • thisismyjam trying for a slower pace
  • doing things realtime is hard but just becoming possible
  • has been a trend just to add more realtime ‘cos it’s cool
  • but actually we want to see more useful social & cultural info not just realtime firehose (“API vomit”)
• IH: crowdsourcing is great but watch the quality…
• JT: developers like to put everything on the screen
  • but need to think about that the user wants to do and how they’re going to do it
• MB: should be a symbiotic relationship between designer and developer
  • not even back and forth, but an exploration

Good/bad experiences of designer and developer? How do you avoid API vomit?

• LD: pairing up with a designer to explore some ideas is really interesting
  • designer asking “can I do this?” - stretching the developer
• attendee: disagree completely! esp. govt should not pre-judge data based on use cases
• IH: there has to be cartographic decisions at some point
  • what do we do now that we want digital output from the data that was collected previously for paper use
• JT: there’s difference between what is available in the API and what’s shown in the UI

Historically, data was in libraries by default — in the public domain. But now owned by corporations. Have we sleepwalked into the police state?

• LD: in a library is not public domain - now data is more accessible
• HD: there were also people who controlled the content in libraries and only a few people had access
  • now the data is accessible from anywhere, not just in a big city centre

Combination of licenses from different data

• Creative Commons movement has tried to clarify the concepts of collaborative works etc
• If I want to take open govt data and combine it with wikipedia…?
• LD: there aren’t any hard and fast answers
  • still in a murky state
  • Creative Commons is very useful and people are starting to apply them to their data, but creative commons licenses do not apply to content in Europe
  • though there does appear to be CC 2.0 licenses available
  • been some work in Creative Data Commons
  • commercial data has custom licenses
  • generally assume that the most restrictive license applies
  • attribution stacking problem — might have to attribute 1000 people to use one piece of data

Where does the data in an app come from?

• IH: data may be untraceable
• HD: really important to tell your users where the data is coming from
  • we still need quite a lot of different sources
  • content, editorial, user generated
  • depending on what you’re looking for, the answer might be different every time
• JT: in legislation data, trying to maintain audit trails
  • if something goes wrong, want to know where

If data is important to people, it will tend to become free…

• IH: OpenStreetMap are a wonderful bunch of people
  • OS remit is to capture a high degree of detail
  • have to have a universal coverage of Britain
  • some of data has been released as open, and some is licensed
  • keep pressuring for what you want and it might be delivered…

A mobile data driven app: integration and consequence

• MB: important word is “driven”
  • there are plenty of static data sets, and data based applications
  • the thing that I do is magnified either by the depth of reference, or the other people who have done a similar thing
  • need to involve connected reference data and activity data
• HD: people are the special sauce
  • navigating a mess - the layers that people create around what’s around
• MB: in the first year or two, delicious.com/popular or the twitter hashtags were actually interesting
  • but with too much data, everything tends to bland
  • this is a huge issue with data driven apps
• HD: last.fm data was indie focussed
  • but when integrated with XBox suddenly changed overnight to reflect country wide
  • overall stats now reflect national taste
  • but can drill down by category
  • but need to watch out for the important filters — make sure you don’t lose the “friend dataset”

Data protection: need to ask users to explicitly opt-in

• IH: MapAction in Haiti
  • some events will create a lot of noise
  • needed to concentrate in specific countries
• JT: UK is pretty near the forefront of open govt
  • open data institute
  • hard to work in balance with legal framework

Privacy: user backlash

e.g. Path uploading your address book without asking

• LD: product development — want to get as much data as possible as that’s where the value is
  • from the consumer side, want to know where the benefit is for me
  • don’t want to give it away just for marketing or selling on
• HD: we’re currently working with blunt tools when explaining to user how we want to use consumer’s data
  • OAuth screens don’t offer room to tell you how your data will be used

Web or apps?

• MB: most exciting thing is the phone being full of sensors
  • the map (generated data) can become worth more than the territory (the app you build)
  • so always think about native apps over web
• JT: (as W3C contributor) should always be using proper web apps, of course…
  • but apps can always get more data than generic standard APIs
  • payment model is good on devices but not good at the moment on open web

Is there a good description of different types of data and how you might need to combine them?

• HD: use cases are fundamental
  • often see a tendency to make things consistent
  • but the different things may have different contexts
  • for example, last.fm on a TV with XBox is different to what you would want on your phone
• LD: took a while for the language of film to evolve
  • maybe we’re going through the same thing in mobile?

What kind of data stores are people using in real life? NoSQL, RDF, Oracle…?

• MB: more about really rigorous approach to data identity
  • have to keep provenance and individual promises

Is there any way I could buy and sell my data?

• LD: lot of work going on in this area
  • storing personal data and allowing apps access to it
  • My X (?) in the UK
  • Ed.: I couldn’t find a reference for this one

Announcements

• 19th March: ePublishing/eBooks
• 2nd April: DEMO NIGHT
  • applications open very shortly!
  • looking for 16 companies
• Mobile 360 Live
  • 20% discount for Mobile Monday London members

MomoLondon: Mobile Social Networking

Not the most thrilling of momolondon’s tonight. The panel format worked well and the chairs asked reasonably interesting questions, but I think it was the subject matter that just felt a bit samey to me. Even the twitter backchannel seemed a little subdued. Maybe it was just my cold…

The best bits for me were Steve Lawson talking about his experiences of trying to use his mobile for social media (where by media, he meant actual music and video production).

Priya Prakash of Flirtomatic also had some interesting things to say, but I felt that she didn’t really get into her stride. She said she was in the middle of a user experience analysis of her site and wanted to involve the audience in some research, but this never really happened. Perhaps an idea for a future Mobile Monday…?

Anyway, here’s my notes — as always, please add comments if there’s something that you want to know more about.

First Panel: Why are people going to be using mobile social media?

Panel

• Chair: Josie Fraser
• Steve Lawson - Musician/Consultant
• Luke Brynley-Jones - Trutap
• Paul May - Bluehoo
• Brian Fuchs - Internet Centre, Imperial College
• Graham Brown - MobileYouth

Steve

• broadcast model of connecting to audience is dying
• entry level of broadcasting has dropped
• how am I using it: with a great deal of frustration…
• currently using mobile to post data as things happen
• not using other people’s mobiles
• where is it going? for most people, it’s not the gadget that’s important
  • don’t want my audience to have to become mobile geeks in order to access
  • e.g. twitter
• I take the bus rather than the tube as I can be online during the journey

Luke

• had to focus on where users actually were
• a lot of users in asia — india, indonesia
• did 120 interviews with users and ex-users
• had been focussing on facebook, but 0% of users in Mumbai have facebook accounts
• further details:
  • typically 20-30 year olds
  • slight male bias, but not much
  • wanted to chat with their friends
  • wanted to flirt and meet others
  • location was important — e.g. there are transport problems in Mumbai
  • sitting there 2-3 hours a day chatting with their friends

Paul

• wrote a book in 2001 called Mobile Commerce — did very well in China…
• nowadays meetings never happen when they’re organised — instead people send you messages by every which way and you’re supposed to pick them all up and not be surprised
• in a proper mobile world, everybody here in the room would be communicating with each other, rather than just panel broadcasting out with no feedback
  • that was kind of happening with the twitter backchannel, but it wasn’t reaching the panel very well
  • Josie said she would have liked the twitter stream on the projector

Brian

• have to develop peer-to-peer architectures and decentralised payment solutions
• otherwise 3 billion devices will overwhelm the services

Graham

• “only two industries in the world that call their customers ‘users’… the mobile industry and crack dealers!”
• mobile social media is not relevant for youth - just want to look good and get laid :-)
• driven by:
  1. need to belong
  2. need to be significant
• go and see what red bull is doing with red bull music academy

Q&A

What about people over 35?

• Steve: most of my audience are over 30
• Graham: youth are future customers
  • mobile social media is not the sales channel
  • it’s about building the relationship in order to increase the sales opportunities
  • so youth are the future market (like banks)
• Simon Rockman: only successful phone aimed at older people was Emporio(?) in Austria
• Steve: “proposed twitter to my Mum — terminology was the barrier”
  • “as soon as I explained that it was like texting me and my brother at the same time, she wanted me to sign her up straight away”
  • “now if I tweet and text at the same time, she returns the tweet first”

What about privacy?

• Paul: we seem to have all agreed to become performers
• Josie involved with schools looking at use of mobile
  • looking at addressing behavioural issues such as happy slapping
  • rights and responsibilities

Terence Eden: is it a danger that there’ll be too much focus on iPhone when everybody use RAZRs?

• Steve: ok to target 10% if they can distribute to others — make content “tearable”

2nd Panel: Industry Perspectives

Panel

• Chair: Dan Appelquist — Vodafone/Mobile Monday
• Andrew Scott — Founder of Rummble
• Sean Kane — Head of Mobile for Bebo
• Priya Prakash — Flirtomatic
• Jennifer Grenz — Shozu
• Christophe Hocquet — Moblr/BuddyMob
  • have seen average session times of 3 hours!

What impact is flat rate having?

• Priya: one user came along to user testing with 6 different SIM cards and was swapping in and out as needed and for best rate…
  • as long as they can access the service, they will do what it takes
• Jen: big change for Shozu is roaming to wifi
• Sean: lot of bebo users are under 24, but are spending a lot
  • 30% of traffic on a lot of operators is going to mobile social networking

How many of your users are roaming? Is that impacting?

• Andrew: mobile by definition is something you travel with
• Sean: see a lot of users switching to roam-able services like text messaging

On deck/off deck

• Sean: need to be both off and on deck
  • starting today, wouldn’t bother with on deck
  • “all the friction is on deck” — you have to work with lots of awkward operator people
• Priya: if you could get rid of all those noisy banners operators should be able to make a fantastic personalised experience…
• Jen: non-operator driven discoverability is on the rise, compared to operator-driven
• Sean: haven’t figured out how to make mobile experiences viral — how do you share?
• Dan: Obama iPhone app — download and it examines your address book and tells you to call people in swing states
• Priya: need to have a contextual “share with a friend” — share a social object. It’s a challenge to find something suitable to send
• Jen: “this service is more exciting to me if you join”
• Andrew: released iPhone app, not Java, since 99% sure that it will be a good experience
• Priya: how many people in audience have sent something to a friend via a mobile internet site? answer: about 30-40%
• Sean: SMSs are not a long term strategy, but are good as a one off to bring people in to the network

How do you inform users of potential costs?

• Dan: maybe there’s a place for a mobile social network as a support group for those suffering from bill shock :-)

Privacy settings for location-based services?

• Andrew: you need to provide it, but you’ll probably find that no one uses that feature
  • What’s the minimum age? We copied what facebook do: 13
  • But it depends on the context of the network
• Priya: have to provide a social fuzzy location — otherwise it seems too freaky
• Jen: in terms of photos, people want to upload exact location but keep it private
• facebook privacy settings are quite granular, but possibly too detailed for anyone to understand
  • Josie: facebook ran into problems with data protection as it wasn’t clear that young people could understand the various settings — still an ongoing case
• if you support fireeagle, you have to support specific levels of granularity of location — cannot release data that is too detailed

Metrics — what’s the most important thing that you’re measuring that shows the health of your business

• Andrew: engagement, rummbling a place, rating a POI
  • iPhone app is 3-4 times higher than online
• Sean: how many more people using this week?
  • figuring out ways to use virality
• Priya: number of flirtograms
  • all about getting people from first use through to first paid item
• Jen: churn, defined by active use and returning users, month on month, year on year
• Christophe: click through rate, love

Setting up a working group to share location amongst mobile social networks

• Andrew: not sure what the name is yet, but have been talking to 5 or 6 other network — about 20 million users in total

Combining social networks with serious applications

• Andrew: 37% on a social network in US; Korea has 87% — waiting for critical mass
• Priya: working with BBC mobile
• Sean: causes, e.g tsunami-related, etc.
  • not quite at the phase on mobile where you can start to open platform — still fighting over getting users
• Met Office have just launched a Mobile TV channel, ad-funded

Summing up

• Jen: choice
• Priya: friends are overrated :-)

Next event

• next event probably second Monday in January
• also opportunities to sponsor the podcast…

Future of Mobile 08: 6x6 UK Bloggers Perspectives

6 UK mobile-related bloggers stood up to give their perspective on the industry at the moment. The general consensus seemed to be “it’s sh*t”! This session is when the conference really started to come alive.

Andrew Grill (london calling)

• Permission, Privacy, Preference
• Gigafone: permission and preference-based ads when incoming calls received
• I’m not convinced how many people will fill in preference profile unless they’re offered long-term monetary rewards like Blyk…

Vero Pepperrell (thatcanadiangirl)

Why Community Matters

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: futureofmobile fom)

• Make community into your evangelists
• Respect
  • Let your staff be a part of your brand
  • Take your time
  • Let your users talk
• Responsibility
  • Be willing to educate, not dictate your users’ choices
  • Honesty & transparency
• Reputation
  • Virtuous circle
• Your users will be talking about you somewhere — listen to them
• Ensure your support email doesn’t fall on deaf ears
• Feedback is sometimes great but sometimes hurts — you have to be able to listen

Helen Keegan (technokitten)

• Why there is no future to mobile…
• Must change the way that we’re going
  • Stop talking about technology
    • It doesn’t matter — needs to reliable, fast, affordable, relevant
    • Rowntree foundation: Mobile phone is essential to modern living
  • Stop silly data tariffs
    • Where is the 1p a minute tariff (up to max of £12.99 a month)
    • Having no contract is a big deal
  • Stop making apps for geeks & promobs
    • My sister has just about changed her ringtone on Nokia 3310
    • My brother has a RAZR — it’s a huge embarrassment to me
    • My dad has sent me an SMS once and it was empty
    • My nieces love their mobiles but they don’t have a contract
  • Stop the culture gap
    • web / mobile
    • operators / mobile developers
    • Mobile internet is here today — not worth less ‘cos it’s not full fat
  • Stop being obsessed with Western world
    • Most users will not be in US, UK or even in Europe
  • Don’t forget that the phone is primarily a communication device
    • Personal, precious
    • Our access to the outside world, friends, families, colleagues
    • Don’t abuse it
    • Make it simple

James Whatley (whatleydude)

• Hired by mippin as Product Manager / Customer Champion for a year
• Learnt that there wasn’t enough customer testing
• Must consider hiring people straight out of university
  • They know how to do stuff on their mobiles without even thinking
• 29 on Friday and he’s the youngest person at SpinVox
• “Give something back and they will give a hell of lot back to you”

Jemima Kiss (Guardian)

• Impatient for mobile
• Sort out bill shock — it’s really boring

Ewen MacLeod (mobile industry review)

• Changed SMS Text News to Mobile Industry Review
• Got a new Nokia N95 8Gb from T-Mobile as an upgrade
  • Does not connect to data!! What’s the point!
• Wanted to show off Google Maps on Blackberry when arriving at Gare du Nord
  • Fail! Did not connect
  • (Don’t mind about paying roaming charges)