Mobile Monday Barcelona

Image © SENSEable city lab MIT - wikicity rome

The next MobileMonday Barcelona event on December 3 covers Location-Based Services. Since Nokia introduced the Nseries N95 with built in GPS, Location-Based Services are becoming exciting again. Google Maps API and flickr’s geotagged photo function show we’re heading to really interesting services build on the location of the user. Next Monday, we’ll have a closer look on what’s in the labs and coming in this area.

Speakers this time include Fabien Girardin - who will present WikiCity a MIT affiliated project that features innovative ways to understand and communicate the dynamics of the city; Börkur Sigurbjörnsson - who will talk about two research prototypes from Yahoo! Research Berkeley: ZoneTag and TagMaps; Andres Ribera of Spanish startup Hipoqih, a Google Maps mashup that aims to create a mobile social network with GPS geolocation and Ilja Goossens, of yoMedia (Netherlands), who will talk about their video content delivery platform linked to outdoor advertising. Don’t hesitate to register and/or confirm your presence for this event, only 150 seats available.

Speakers:

Fabien Girardin - Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science and Digital Communication in the Interactive Technologies Group (Department of Informmation and Communication Technologies) at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.

Fabien is also affiliated with the Senseable City Lab (Department of Urban Studies and Planning) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA. His current investigation explores the integration of ubiquitous technologies in the everyday urban environments. More specifically, he studies the design of location-aware applications that take into account the limitations of technologies. In his talk he will present WikiCity a project that features innovative ways to understand and communicate the dynamics of the city. This work draws implications the design of future location-based services.

Andres Ribera, CEO of Hipoqih (Spain)

hipoqih.com is a web 2.0 project and Google Maps mashup that aims to create a mobile social network with GPS geolocation. Its killer app is “Follow me”. It’s a web-based program that provides the ability to quickly share your position and where you are going. hipoqih.com uses positioning systems like GPS that allows to record geolocated alerts and to receive them in mobile terminals. The hipoqih.com plugins are free and available for PDA with Windows Mobile, Smartphone and PC with Windows XP, but will soon branch out and include Nokia N95, and GNU-Linux. You can read their User Guide at http://www.hipoqih.com/downloads/hipoqih.User_guide_v0.2.pdf.

Börkur Sigurbjörnsson, researcher at Yahoo! Research in Barcelona

Börkur’s research areas are Search Technologies and Media Experiences. Börkur received his PhD from the Informatics Institute of the University of Amsterdam in 2006. He will talk about two research prototypes from Yahoo! Research Berkeley: ZoneTag and TagMaps. Zonetag is a tool for uploading photos from moblie phones to Flickr. It can tag the photos with the location in which they were taken and suggest additional tags for the photos. TagMaps is a toolkit to visualize tags geographically on a map. I will present a prototype where TagsMaps are used to geographically browse ZoneTag photos, and other geotagged photos.

Ilja Goossens, co-Founder yoMedia (Netherlands)

yoMedia provides a platform that enables clients and consumers to easily aggregate content and to automatically convert and distribute video, audio and images to multiple platforms with a strong focus on mobile devices. The company’s focus is on how to integrate mobile devices and services into the total media mix that covers platforms like TV, outdoor advertising, internet and of course mobile phones. Ilja worked as a lead Flash Developer and Interaction Designer at Endemol Interactive, where he was responsible for projects like the online game engine for ‘Deal or no Deal’ and the mobile version of ‘Fear Factor’. He combines his creative skills with an entrepreneurial spirit to build innovative and successful products with a focus on upcoming, international markets.

Networking
As usual, a networking party will follow the conference where participants will enjoy a glass of cava while sharing experiences about life and work. Attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaybarcelona.com/subscribe/ to reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

• 19h00 Registration and Pre-Networking
• 19h30 Location-Based Services speaker sessions & discussion
• 20h45 Cocktail and Networking Party
• 21h30 End

Venue: Auditorium University of Pompeu Fabra - França Building (Edifici França), Passeig de Circumval·lació, 8 - Barcelona 08003

Location and Directions here at Google Maps.

MobileMonday is a community of mobile professionals organised around local networking events in almost 40 cities around the world. This open community promotes the mobile industry and fosters cooperation and networking among industry people and their companies by providing opportunities for personal and virtual contacts.

MobileMonday Barcelona is organised by Rudy De Waele, Carles Ferreiro and Barcelona Media.

Our Partners
Our thanks to our partners Telefónica Movistar, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, MyStrands and Agora 22@ for their invaluable support.

Andres Ribera, Börkur Sigurbjörnsson, cities, city, Fabien Girardin, flickr, geotagging, google, googlemaps, Hipoqih, ilja goossens, lbs, location, location based, maps, mit, mobile 2.0, Mobile Startups, mobilemonday, MobileMonday Spain, research, Senseable City, TagMaps, WikiCity, yahoo, yomedia, ZoneTag

For our next MobileMonday Barcelona event on Monday, May 7, we invited some of the most important international players in Mobile Search to present and discuss the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead, this event promises to be one of our best editions so far.

Since Google introduced it’s easy to use Search Engine in 1998, a lot of things have changed in the internet business, very few people could imagine the impact of simple search as we know it now. With even more mobile devices connected to the internet than there are computers globally, Mobile Search is one of the key area’s in mobile development to satisfy the demands of the consumer… A mobile search request has to be easy and relevant and needs to be available in the right context. Organising all existing online data to be displayed correctly on a small screen is one of the biggest challenges laying ahead for the industry the coming years. Search news, locations, people, products, tourist and travel information, music and video files, all that data is already accessible on the last generation of mobile phone, a lot of companies are positioning in this interesting and lucrative market space.

Since 2005, a lot of new companies have been starting to position their service. Projects like Wapedia, Mobilicio.us, 4INFO, Technorati Mobile, mInfo in China, and more recently mowser are some of the interesting projects here. This year seems to be a breakthrough year in Mobile Search now that the more established internet brands are starting to position in mobile and are doing major deals with operators, we invited some of the most important players for this event:

Speakers Program:

Jeff Pedigo, Director, Business Development at Yahoo! Inc. (UK)
Steve Ives, Founder & CEO Taptu.com (UK)
Philip Gontier, Sales Director EMEA, JumpTap, Inc. (USA)
Anat S. Amir, Senior Mobile Marketing Manager, EMEA, Google (UK)

Bio Speakers:

Jeff Pedigo, Director, Business Development at Yahoo! Inc. (UK)
Jeff Pedigo will attend Mobile Monday in Barcelona on May 7, to take you through the latest developments within Yahoo!’s Connected Life mobile division. Jeff is a Solutions Architect in Yahoo!’s Connected Life division, which focuses on delivering Yahoo! services in the mobile, broadband, and digital home arenas. In this role, he interfaces closely with Yahoo!’s partners to design and deliver solutions that leverage Yahoo!’s assets in content, technology, audience, and search and advertising expertise. Jeff plays an instrumental role in delivering mobile search, advertising, and client solutions across Europe.

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo!’s mission is to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the world’s knowledge.

Earlier this year, Yahoo! introduced oneSearch, an entirely new search service designed to give consumers exactly what they want on their mobile device — instant answers. oneSearch leverages Yahoo!’s deep experience, investment and expertise in search on the desktop as well as relationships with leading content providers to deliver an unmatched mobile search experience for consumers. oneSearch is live in the US both on the mobile web and through Yahoo!’s revolutionary mobile product, Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0

Steve Ives, Founder & CEO Taptu.com (UK)
Steve is a UK serial entrepreneur with extensive business growth and technical experience. Previously, Steve was the founder and CEO of Trigenix, a 3i-backed business which was acquired by Qualcomm Inc in 2004. He worked for Qualcomm Europe as VP Business Development and then VP Strategic Marketing until mid- 2005.

Steve graduated in Biochemistry from Cambridge University, holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvannia, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London. He also serves as non-executive Chairman and director of Teamstudio Inc, a software tools company with operations in the USA, UK and Japan.

During his period as CEO, Trigenix won the 2003 3GSM Award for Best Wireless Application Developer, and the 2003 Sunday Times Fasttrack 100 Award for Best Management Team. Steve has presented at several major industry events, including 3GSM in Cannes and the GSMA General Plenary. Past media coverage includes Britain’s Financial Times and the Sunday Times.

Steve is married with four children and enjoys tennis, skiing and cycling. During a summer sabbatical in 2000, he raised $100,000 for UNICEF by cycling 7000 miles from San Francisco to Istanbul, crossing 2 deserts, 4 mountain ranges & 10 countries.

Philip Gontier, Sales Director EMEA, JumpTap, Inc. (USA)
Philip has over 12+ years of sales, sales management & business development experience for telecom / wireless/ enterprise solutions across EMEA. Philip’s primary focus is on Mobile Search & Advertising solutions for mobile operators.

Founded in 2004, JumpTap, Inc. provides wireless carriers with an end-to-end, carrier-branded mobile search solution that drives third-party revenue for mobile operators while providing a quick, easy and fun mobile search experience for subscribers. JumpTap’s comprehensive solution couples an intuitive user interface and mobile-specific search engine with a search marketing model that pays carriers for search success. JumpTap provides carriers, advertisers and subscribers with the industry’s most complete, easy-to-use and rewarding mobile search environment. For more information on JumpTap, please visit:

Anat S. Amir, Senior Mobile Marketing Manager, EMEA, Google (UK)
Anat heads the mobile marketing and mobile product launch activities for Google in Europe, Africa and the Middle East . She has many years’ experience in the mobile space recently joining from O2 where she was Head of Product Experience and Research, contributing to the company’s leadership in data services. Anat led the user experience stream at OMTP an operator-sponsored forum that serves the needs of each and every link in the mobile phone value chain by gathering and driving mobile terminal requirements.

Anat has an MBA from the Ben Gurion University in Israel and began her career as a financial analyst before moving on to usability consultancy and product design. A native of Israel, Anat has for the past 4 years lived in the UK.

Networking
As usual, a networking party will follow the conference where participants will enjoy a glass of cava while sharing experiences about life and work. Attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaybarcelona.com/subscribe/ to reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

* 19h00 Registration and Pre-Networking
* 19h30 Mobile Search speaker sessions & discussion
* 21h30 Cocktail and Networking Party
* 22h30 End

Venue: Auditorium University of Pompeu Fabra - França Building (Edifici França), Passeig de Circumval·lació, 8 - Barcelona 08003

Location and Directions here at Google Maps.

MobileMonday is a community of mobile professionals organised around local networking events in almost 40 cities around the world. This open community promotes the mobile industry and fosters cooperation and networking among industry people and their companies by providing opportunities for personal and virtual contacts.

MobileMonday Barcelona is organised by Rudy De Waele, Carles Ferreiro and Barcelona Media.

Our Partners
Our thanks to our partners Telefónica Movistar, 22@Barcelona, Alcatel-Lucent, Ajuntament de Barcelona, CIDEM (Centre d’Innovació i Desenvolupament Empresarial of the Generalitat de Catalunya) and Agora 22@ for their invaluable support.

google, jumptap, mobile search, mobilemonday, MobileMonday Spain, taptu, yahoo