At the next Mobile Monday Barcelona we’re going to explore the magic about Mobile Widgets. The event will be held on April 20 in the Sony Room of Barcelona Activa.

Mobile widgets are mini applications that sit on a handset and can be personalised to retrieve relevant information from the web. They provide ‘always on’ services based on the information users want to receive, and are a new touch point for how consumers use the mobile internet. Widgets are based on web code rather than on specialist programming language, which makes it possible for both professional and amateur developers to tap into their potential.

We invited some of the most active and knowledgeable experts working in the Mobile Widgets area including Paco Marín Garcia, Vodafone; Jure Sustersic, Forum Nokia; Marc Rougier, Goojet and Ricardo Varela, Yahoo! Mobile.

During this event, we want to offer YOU, the widget developers, the opportunity to demo your widgets in partnership with the Betavine Mobile Widget Competition. In order to present your widget at the event, just show up between 18H30 and 19H the day of the event and we’ll get you on stage.

As you may know Betavine, a Vodafone Group R&D lab, is offering mobile developers a chance to win £20,000 in a new mobile widget competition. The Betavine Widget Competition is designed to encourage developers to unleash their creativity and experiment with the technology, competing with their peers for a first prize of £20,000 – check the website for competition details and how to participate. All developers submitting widgets will also have an opportunity to make their entries available through the Vodafone Widget Manager Beta application, which is currently being rolled out across a range of 10 popular S60 handsets in Germany, Italy, South Africa, Spain and the UK.

Speakers:

Paco Marín Garcia – Senior Manager Vodafone Widgets
Paco Marin is a Telecommunication Engineer – Polithecnic University of Valencia-. He started his profesional carrer in 1997 as a consultant. He joined Airtel (currently Vodafone Spain) in 1999 and he worked on Telecommunication Network Services; firstly, in the operational area of design and deployment of Intelligent Network Services, and then researching in Next Generation Intelligent Networks. He formally joined the R&D branch of Vodafone in 2004. He has led teams that have researched on topics related to Identity Management, Advertising, Widgets Applications, and Social Networks. This year, he is seconded at the Vodafone Spain Consumer Marketing Business Unit, and leads the business and technical deployment of the Vodafone Widgets strategy in Spain.

Jure Sustersic – Business Development Manager at Forum Nokia
Operating from Espoo, Finland, Jure manages business development activities in the Nokia developer ecosystem and specializes in Location Based Services, Utilities and Near Field Communication. His history with Nokia and developers began as a developer product manager for the S60 platform. Before settling at Nokia he was involved in several internet technology related projects and startups. He holds and MBA in High Technology management at Helsinki School of Economics.

Marc Rougier – President and co-founder of Goojet
Marc’s background in the telecommunication and IT industries spans over 20 years. Prior to founding Goojet, Marc has worked with IBM, Meiosys (a start-up he co-founded) and Thales, involved in international business development and innovative product development in all continents. Goojet is a mobile social media. It offers a personal, rich and interactive web experience to mobile users. Goojet manages web content in the form of widgets, offering two values to the user: easy access to content through a personal space of selected widgets; and discovery of relevant content shared by the community and by the system. Goojet enables social search, peer recommendation and viral distribution of web content across mobile users. You can join Goojet freely at www.goojet.com and m.goojet.com.

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 Widgets presentations and discussion
• 20h45 Cocktail and Networking Party
• 21h30 End

Venue:

Barcelona Activa – Sony Room
Llacuna 162, 08018 Barcelona
T. 93 401 97 77
barcelonactiva@barcelonactiva.cat
Metro: L1 (Glòries)
Bus: 7, 56, 60, 92, B21

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.

Our Partners

Our thanks to our partners Vodafone, Yahoo!, Barcelona Activa and Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona for their invaluable support.

MobileMonday Barcelona is organised by dotopen and Barcelona Media.

The 20 finalists to compete for the Mobile Peer Awards in Barcelona on February 16 have been selected by an international jury of industry experts, thanks to all of them for taking the time to review and make the final selection out of many great candidates. So here are the finalists, divided in two categories:

EARLY-STAGE STARTUPS

Addict Digital Media – Mobile Monday Buenos Aires
aka-aki networks GmbH – MobileMonday Berlin
Babajob.com – MobileMonday Bangalore
Big in Japan Inc. – MobileMonday Dallas
bioLocate – MobileMonday Jakarta
Dial2Do – MobileMonday Dublin
Fortumo – MobileMonday Estonia
Mob4Hire – MobileMonday Vancouver
Orbster GmbH – MobileMonday Munich
Oxynade – MobileMonday Brussels
Tellmewhere – MobileMonday Paris
Xumii – MobileMonday Sydney

EMERGING STARTUPS

Aradiom – MobileMonday Istanbul
fring – MobileMonday Tel Aviv
Getjar Networks – MobileMonday Lithuania
Keynetik – MobileMonday Washington DC
Mobintech A/S – MobileMonday Copenhagen
PopCatcher AB – MobileMonday Sweden
Soonr – MobileMonday Silicon Valley
Unkasoft Advergaming – MobileMonday Madrid

The registration to attend is now also open.

163 startups participated and 42 nominees were selected by their respective MobileMonday chapters. This week, an international Jury will select the 20 finalists to present at the Peer Awards event in Barcelona. The finalists will be announced on January 26.

The startups nominated by the MobileMonday chapters to compete for the Mobile Peer Awards in Barcelona are:

• 7syntax – MobileMonday Portugal
• Addict Digital Media – Mobile Monday Buenos Aires
• aka-aki networks GmbH – MobileMonday Berlin
• Anaeko – MobileMonday Belfast
• Aradiom – MobileMonday Istanbul
• Babajob.com – MobileMonday Bangalore
• Beabloo – MobileMonday Barcelona
• Big in Japan Inc. – MobileMonday Dallas
• bioLocate – MobileMonday Jakarta
• CIDWAY – MobileMonday Geneva
• Cirius Technologies, Inc. – MobileMonday Los Angeles
• Crave Mobile – MobileMonday Philadelphia
• Creador Estudio Interactivo C.A. – MobileMonday Caracas
• Dial2Do – MobileMonday Dublin
• Dialy – Mobile Monday Maroc
• DPGroup >> Product: SINDYK – MobileMonday Bogota
• Fortumo – MobileMonday Estonia
• fring – MobileMonday Tel Aviv
• Getjar Networks – MobileMonday Lithuania
• iKen Solutions – MobileMonday Mumbai
• Keynetik – MobileMonday Washington DC
• Liquid Air Lab GmbH / adplace.com – MobileMonday Frankfurt
• Mob4Hire – MobileMonday Vancouver
• Mobintech A/S – MobileMonday Copenhagen
• mobiSiteGalore – MobileMonday Chennai
• MocoSpace – Mobile Monday Boston
• Nimbuzz B.V. – Mobile Monday Amsterdam
• Orbster GmbH – MobileMonday Munich
• Oxynade – MobileMonday Brussels
• Palringo – MobileMonday London
• rmbrME – MobileMonday New York
• Secusmart GmbH – MobileMonday Dusseldorf
• Smaato Inc. – MobileMonday Hamburg
• Soonr – MobileMonday Silicon Valley
• Tellmewhere – MobileMonday Paris
• Unkasoft Advergaming – MobileMonday Madrid
• Wapalta – MobileMonday St. Petersburg
• Wapja.net – MobileMonday Sao Paulo
• WorldMate, Inc. – MobileMonday Atlanta
• Xumii – MobileMonday Sydney

* NOTE Helsinki and Stockholm nominations pending.

Our next Mobile Monday Barcelona on May 5, 2008 in collaboration with Forum Nokia covers Mobile Development and will explore the mobile developer’s ecosystem. The session will include speakers from Forum Nokia, the Yahoo! Mobile Developer Platform, and will include presentations from the CEO’s of Device Anywhere (USA) and Mobile Distillery (France) and IDEAN from Finland. If you’re interested in the next tips & tricks in mobile development, don’t miss this one!

Nokia’s global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.

Speakers:

Jarkko Tolvi, Business Development Manager, Forum Nokia EMEA (Finland)

Ricardo Varela, Yahoo! Mobile Developer Platform (UK)

Vincent Berge, Co-Founder and General Manager, Mobile Distillery (France)

Mikko-Pekka Hanski, Director, Business Development, IDEAN (Finland)

NOTE: Faraz Syed from Device Anywhere had to cancel his participation this time, he’ll be back in one of our forthcoming events.

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 Development sessions and 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.

Our Partners
Our thanks to our partners Telefónica Movistar, Vodafone, Forum Nokia, Bango and MyStrands for their invaluable support.

MobileMonday Barcelona is organised by dotopen and Barcelona Media.

The next MobileMonday Barcelona event on November 5 covers Mobile Web Applications. The last 2 months the action and debate on web & mobile convergence has been intenser than ever. Rudy De Waele from mTrends will do an introduction on this topic. We’ll have a closer look on popular mobile web applications such as WidSets and the recentlly launched Mippin. Raquel Navarro from Barcelona Media – Innovation Centre will talk about the challenges of innovative interfaces for mobile applications.

Speakers:

Tuomo Sihvola – Head of Communities and Inventor, WidSets – Nokia Emerging Business Unit

Tuomo Sihvola is one of the inventors of WidSets, and currently leading WidSets’ user and developer community activies. Tuomo joined Nokia in 1992 and since then, he has been working in various positions in Research and Development, Sales & Marketing and Corporate innovations globally. WidSets – mobile widgets that enable anyone to create, publish and share internet content to be accessed on their mobile phones. www.widsets.com and for developers www.developer.widsets.com

Prashant Agarwal – VP of Product Management at Refresh Mobile.

Prashant will introduce their new service called Mippin. Mippin is the exciting new way to get your favourite internet content on your mobile phone from Refresh Mobile. Mippin delivers the latest news, blogs, and other web content in the perfect format for your phone – giving you the control to discover and share what you want. Prior to joining Refresh Mobile, Prashant held a number of senior positions with Yahoo! including European Product Manager for Mail and Messenger. He also launched Yahoo!’s first official Series 60 IM application and its official FIFA World Cup 2006 mobile application.

Rudy De Waele – mTrends / co-founder of MobileMonday Barcelona and MobileMonday Madrid
Besides organizing MobileMondays in Barcelona and Madrid, Rudy consults start-ups and established brands on next generation mobile services strategies with dotopen. Rudy has been very active in researching and reporting on web & mobile convergence on his blog mTrends. His Understanding Mobile 2.0 article he wrote for Read/WriteWeb is a reference in capturing the essence of this convergence. mTrends was selected in 2006 among the TOP 20 Fierce Wireless Industry blogs and won the Host of the Year 2006 Award from the Carnival of the Mobilists community. He is also part of the Mobile 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.

Raquel Navarro – Director of the User Centered Interaction Lab at Barcelona Media – Innovation Centre.
Raquel has over 12 years of experience in user studies for ICT design, especially for multi-platform multimedia applications. She has participated in numerous research and knowledge transfer projects at an international scale as an expert in usability and experience optimization methodologies. In the past, Raquel has worked at Apple, HP and Motorola Labs. She has a PhD. in Experimental Psychology. The mission of the Fundació Barcelona Media UPF is to contribute to the improvement in competitiveness on the communication companies, including both technology and content. To this end, Barcelona Media performs research, innovation and training for the industry.

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 Web Applications speaker sessions & discussion
• 21h00 Cocktail and Networking Party
• 22h00 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.