With six major conference events over 5 days in Toronto, this year’s Mobile Innovation Week is looking solid. Head on over to the official MIW site for more info on each of the events and to pick up tickets.
Great to see this kind of though leadership in mobile coming together in Canada. Recommended.
Hang on to your hats, we have not one, but two great event deals for you today:
WirelessNorth.ca is proud to partner with Interactive Ontario for the Toronto iP3 Forum June 21. The WirelessNorth community receives a 30% discount off registration.
Join 200+ executives, entrepreneurs, developers, designers, engineers, marketers, and other members of the mobile and digital industries June 21 for Interactive Ontario’s first-ever one-day Forum devoted specifically to the business and technological impacts of Apple’s Touch Platform.
Keynote speaker Ajit Jaokar, Founder of futuretext, UK, will kick-start the day with a mind-expanding talk titled “Invisible Touch: The Invisible Impact of Apple’s Platform” where he will tell us what the real opportunities are for designers, developers and business thinkers; those opportunities that we’re just not getting yet.
LINKS: iP3 Event Info – iP3 Registration
WirelessNorth.ca is an advisor to Jumpwire Media the presenters of CrossMedia TO, a half-day session happening on July 21, 2010, at MaRSDD in downtown Toronto. Use Registration Code: WIRELESS2010 to get 15% off.
Here’s the scoop on this event:
Cross Media TO 2010 features an all-star line-up of industry executives and technology experts. Our goal is to bridge the gap between the different media sectors in order share information and find new opportunities. We want the gaming people to meet the TV people, the publishing people to meet the web video people, and everyone to meet the advertising people but let’s be honest, in the end, it’s all about the money. Headline speakers include Lisa Charters – SVP Director Digital for Random House of Canada, Sabrina Geremia Head of Agency Relations for Google Canada, Pete Watson – Senior Business Development Manager for RIM and Steve Pratt – CBC’s Director of Digital Music. Other special guests include Chris Van Noy – Akamai’s Chief Strategist, and Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn – Transmedia Consultant.
LINK: Crossmedia info and registration
Get to it. I am expecting you all to be mobile media geniuses before the leaves hit the ground.
With all the attention around certain robot and fruit themed mobile gadgets these days, let’s not forget Canada’s own Research In Motion. RIM pretty much invented the smartphone. Currently RIM continues to pile on marketshare relative to all comers thanks in large part to a laser-like focus on solid mobile experience design.
So we’re really excited that the MEIC* has landed two top experience designers from RIM to speak at this month’s MEIC event. If you are in Toronto, highly recommended. Here are the details.:
MEIC 7
OCAD Auditorium
100 McCaul St
Friday, May 28 at 4:00 pmDESIGNING THE BLACKBERRY EXPERIENCE
Join Research In Motion’s Joey Benedek and Wesley Yun as they talk about the growing importance of the user experience at RIM — and the challenge of finding the right talent to fuel ongoing growth.
DEMOs: MEIC Research + Prototyping Presentations
- Mark Green, UOIT, Educational Apps for the iPhone: Initial Design Explorations
- Jim Brown, Admeris
- C. Alex De Freitas, University of Auckland, NZ; Gabe Sawhney, EchoMobile
- Denis Coyne, Nightingale Creative; Adam Clare, WeroCreative
- Vivek Shivhare, University of Waterloo; Ted Brunt, marblemedia
Tickets are free but limited, register here
We here at WirelessNorth are super stoked to be partnering with Interactive Ontario to bring you a brand new event, the iP3 Forum in Toronto this June.
Toronto iP3 Forum — a one-day event that will explore the changing mobile landscape and the business opportunities associated with Apple’s Touch Platform (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch), as business models adapt to a market where people are always connected.
The forum will feature keynote presentations by industry leaders as well as concurrent technical and business sessions throughout the day. Technical Sessions will provide a deeper understanding of how to design and develop for Apple’s Touch Platform. Business Sessions will offer information and insights on how to leverage the Platform’s market potential. The day will conclude with a networking reception.
More info to come, but for now head to Interactive Ontario for the goods.
Link: More info, program, registration, speaker applications here
Some great events coming up in the Toronto mobile calendar:
FEB 24, 3pm
Now the sixth event in the amazing series put together by the Mobile Experience Innovation Center (MEIC) An afternoon conference discussing the future of mobile content, services and experiences, MEIC6 will be held on February 24, 2010, from 3-7pm in the Central Hall at 100 McCaul St.
Speakers will include Gerald Karam, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Labs – Research, and he will be speaking about: iLoveIt: Riding the accelerating adoption of Smartphones
RSVP is encouraged, click here. The event is free but given that game-day is today there may only be a few left.
FEB 27, 10am
Toronto’s first Augmented Reality Unconference!
The MEIC and OCAD are pleased to be partnering with Winvolve, the Discovery Channel and other leading sponsors in Augmented Reality Developer Camp. ARDevCamp will feature a variety of speakers as well as the traditional “Open” format of unconferences, where participants drive the content.
This event is open to the public, and takes place Saturday February 27, 2010 from 10am-5pm at OCAD.
Further information and registration can be found here: http://artoronto.eventbrite.com/
March 1, 2010 6pm, MaRS
Mobile Monday’s ever-popular venture pitch night is this Monday. Come on out and watch as WirelessNorth.ca ourselves helps to moderate an all-star panel of mobile investors as they judge pitches from Canadian mobile startups. We promise to give them a good grilling.
Come join WirelessNorth (and many other great speakers) at the this year’s FITC Mobile event in Toronto. WirelessNorth will be on the stage Monday, leading a discussion on the state of wireless in Canada.
And what an interesting state it is too. In just a few short years this country has gone from offering some of the worst levels of devices/services in global market at far and away the worst prices to… on par with the best wireless services (iPhones! Androids! all sorts of blackberries! Fast HSPA! Rocket sticks galore!) in the world… at on par with the highest pricing in the world. But even more change is coming fast, new competition on HSPA, new competition from new entrants, and even another spectrum auction on the horizon.
Come out to hear us talk about our predictions for the years ahead and contribute to the conversation.
Oh and there’s also the whole rest of the conference program. Moar:
Jam packed with information as well as a massive networking opportunity, FITC Mobile 2009 consists of presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions, and is one of the only events in the world covering all aspects of mobile content. With some of the most interesting and engaging presenters from around the world, it’s 2 days and nights that will leave you inspired, energized and awed!
* 2 full days of presentations, plus one optional day of pre-conference workshops
* Covering iPhone, Flash Lite, Android, Windows Mobile, SMS, Palm, Blackberry, and other relevant topics in the Mobile world
* Over 30 presentations and panels covering all aspects of mobile development
* Includes not only presentations on the technical aspects of development but also will cover marketing, funding, and other business aspects of mobile development
* Between 300-400 attendees anticipated from around the world
* Over 30 presenters from the mobile world
Link and ticket info: FITC Mobile 2009 Toronto
UPDATE: Thanks to Shawn Pucknell and the crew at FITC, we are happy to pass on a discount code for readers of WirelessNorth.ca just use the code “WirelessNorth” when registering.
There’s a lot going on this week in the world of mobile.
#Canada 3.0 Conference is on right now and tomorrow, and already is featuring a big emphasis on mobile, and did we hear someone said Canada needs an ICT strategy? WirelessNorth.ca will be at 3.0 tomorrow taking about augmented reality, teh future, and how mobile will reshape business and the public/private sectors. But you don’t have to wait for that, already the twitter stream for #can30 is fantastic, you might tune-in and add a few new followers here.
#Tonight is mobile monday in Toronto at MaRS, there are a couple seats left…. West coasties might want to catch the next momovan event later on the 22nd.
#Tonight is SaveOurNet.ca sponsored Internet town hall meeting at the Gladstone in Toronto. WN will be there too. this is of course just one part of…
#NetChangeWeek so get out there, and add your voice, your energy and your brains towards making Canada the connected, innovative innovative we could be.
Did we leave anything out?
This being the first Monday of the month, a few mobile monday events are happening. Out west:
MoMoVan May 4th – Focus on Mobile Health The next Mobile Monday Vancouver (MoMoVan) will take place on May 4th at the Granville Island Brewery (6-8pm). We are going to focus on Mobile Health and will be bringing in speakers and panelists to tell you about what is going on in the space locally and what the implications are for healthcare. Stay tuned. Details coming next week.
psst: if there’s anyone interested in covering the event in Vancouver for WirelessNorth.ca let us know.
Meanwhile in Toronto another momoto event is coming up under the (rather improbable?) title of Toronto: The Epicentre of Global Mobile Internet Innovation and Economic Growth with some local folks from the .mobi advisory group.
For both events, tickets are the right price, free.
If you have, or are about to spontaneously organize, any mobile event this monday in your hometown let us know. We’ll help spread the word.
In which Michele introduces the The Hammer Metric, WirelessNorth.ca’s new method for evaluating mobile devices.
The Hammer Metric is measured by the strength of one’s desire to smash any designed tool (device, machine, system, etc) with a hammer in relation to particular aspects of design, functionality or use, especially as said usage relates to feelings of epic frustration or FAIL. As such, a low rating is desired, as it reflects a minimal urge for destruction based on what could be construed as user-centric antagonization on the part of the designer/maker.
Today we’ll be aiming our hammers at the newish Nokia E71 (now available on Rogers). This is Nokia’s fastest, sleekest, priciest, contender for the title of BlackBerry killer. This is a hybrid work/play device, for both the creation and consumption of content, whither image, video, web, office, email (yes, this is content) or music. Overall we’re going to give it 3 out of 10 hammers. This is pretty good.
The biggest value of this device is that it does a LOT OF STUFF and there is SO MUCH STUFF*, and that one can personalize almost every single aspect of functionality. However, the raw capabilities of the device are minimally hampered in the carrier-bound edition of the phone. More on that later.
The Good
Crystal-clear sound – while walking down a busy urban street, the loudspeaker quality = remarkably good conversation from both sides. Also the headphone/mic adapter is v v good. (1/10 hammers)
Connectivity for the E71 is the peppy 3G GSM, as well as the great option for WLAN when available (note: the author subscribes to Rogers’ 6GB plan, and with extended media streaming + normal use, I haven’t come close to the limit). (1/10)
The battery life is incredible, even with extended use of rich media applications, data, voice, email, etc – it lasts for days. (1/10)
The E71 has a pretty substantial memory of up to 8GB with MicroSD, 110MB internal memory, and the form factor is glorious, with the exception of the keyboard (comments below). Slim, substantial, the stainless steel back and trim are bonuses for grip and style. (2/10)
QuickOffice lets you create word docs, spreadsheets and presentations on the fly, and while formatting is a bit limited it’s still pretty damn good for sketching ideas out on mobile. The PDF reader is a pretty sweet addition as well. (3/10)
The GPS works well, with Nokia’s Maps application enabling navigation, positioning, trip distance, etc. (3/10)
Media tools include: voice recorder, video/image recording with a good suite of format/style settings, 2 music players (that would be one more than necessary thanks to the pretty terrible Rogers-branded player), podcast subscriber, a barcode reader, radio players, flash player (could use improvement), etc. Media transfer is enabled via Bluetooth, infrared or USB, and is simplified via a drag&drop protocol. Also, if you’re connected to the OVI platform you can save your content to the cloud and access/sync/share to your heart’s content. (Cool but E-series apps are sparse. Ovi may be much improved when the App Store launches in May 09) (3/10)
Aaaannnd speaking of apps, there’s a wide variety available via the Download Catalog as well as various other places on the web – it takes a bit more work to find them but there is an incredibly rich array of applications and services available. (4/10)
The Meh
The UI, while effective enough to use, still feels very much like a desktop… I feel like the practicality of this device came to the forefront, and while simplicity and accessibility is the +++ for the E71, a part of me wants a bit of playful glam. Where’s my mobile experience? While I don’t feel like I need to be an engineer in order to use it (a la Blackberry), I am hoping that the next iteration of the S60 OS will be a wee bit less desktop-centric.(5/10)
The Rogers branded web platform is… not very useful, and feels like it is getting in the way of what is already a great but potentially awesome smartphone. Thankfully the personalization workarounds that Nokia has developed allow you to bypass most of this. (5/10)
Web browsing is also at times a bit kludgey, and I’ve had the darn thing crash multiple times while browsing, precipitating a total restart. (5/10)
The camera, while bumped up to 3.2 megapixels, could use a better sensor and a WAY better flash, if only to prevent your subjects from appearing like pale, crazed vampirical maniacs. Given enough light though, video shot with the device looks and sounds *great* (try that on your iphone).(6/10)
The Ugly
No connectivity to the N-Gage platform, of yet (it’s primarily for the N-series phones…) Boo! The games that are pre-loaded are shadows of what is possible. (7/10)
The keyboard is no BlackBerry – straight rows of keys makes for somewhat awkward typing, also the QAZ keys are aligned with the far left edge, and the zero is found not below the number grid (that would be the space bar) but to the right. Little quibbles, as after a few hours of use typos are almost non-existent. Wish I could say the same for my laptop. (8/10)
Also, you can not tether the E71 to your other devices to share your 3G over wifi or bluetooth (haven’t tried the infrared). The Nokia fully enables it, but the carrier has fully locked out the capability on their version of the E71 (9/10).
Full Specs: http://europe.nokia.com/A41146123
This device is a nice balance between work and play. It doesn’t have the jellybelly sweetness of the iPhone, but it holds its own based on a quality platform, powerful hardware and specs, rich media and hyper-localized personalization. 3/10 hammers!
The E71 is 99.99 from Rogers on a 3year term, $399 on no term. Full retail and unlocked $569 at ncix.com. The later is less of a bad deal than you might think. There is little in the carrier platform of the phone that adds value. Rather more the opposite… Le sigh.
*or other words that rhyme with stuff
WirelessNorth.ca will be participating in an Interactive Ontario iLunch event this Friday and we’re looking forward to it:
If you dream of creating the next “killer app” for mobile phones consider this: the iPhone app fund rejects 99.8% of applicants. In a six-month period over 2,700 plans were received. Out of that group, only five companies were funded.
According to a recent Jupiterresearch/Forrester research report, mobile TV adoption is now at just 1%, and interest in all types of mobile TV is just over half what it was in 2006.
And Yahoo tech reported that a wave of economic gloom is set to hit mobile phone buyers (in 2009), with a growing number of analysts expecting the once-buoyant market to shrink for the first time since the 2001 crash.
But against this backdrop of doom and gloom, content creators gain ground as mobile technology continues to flourish, while carriers and other traditional gatekeepers of mobile content give way to new distribution opportunities.
Drawing on the experience of each of our panelists, iLunch 7.03 will explore:
- the types of mobile content that have been most successful to-date
- the best businesses to be in: mobile content creation, platforms or distribution
- distribution methods, partnerships and monetization strategies that have been most successful in this space
- the role of private investors or venture capitalistsPanelists for this session include:
• Simon Foster, Vice President, Business Development, GlassBOX Television Inc
• David Bazak, Sr. Relationship Manager, Media & Entertainment, RBC Royal Bank of Canada
• Mark Hyland, VP, Marketing, QuickPlay Media
• McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves, CEO/Founder, The Nimble CompanyModerated by: Thomas Purves, Tech Strategist and blogger
And hope to see you there.
