Hope you all had a fine Mardi Gras. Now it’s time to get down to business. Mobile business.
Yes, Mobile Madness 2011 is happening this afternoon, over at Microsoft NERD in Kendall Square (the program starts at 1:00 pm). We’ve helped assemble some of the top names in the mobile industry from New England and beyond, so bring your tough questions (we’ve got ours here and here, from emcee Wade Roush), and let’s have it.
We’re looking forward to a provocative, entertaining, and (we’re happy to say) unpredictable afternoon. Who knows, maybe 4G is just a big myth, our phones are making us dumber instead of smarter, and mobile commerce and enterprise apps are still stuck in 2005 (like my BlackBerry). Perhaps Stephen Wolfram will prove that the universe is actually an iPhone app (or is it Android?). And during the “location smackdown,” we might all discover that our lives are just an elaborate SCVNGR challenge, being orchestrated by Seth Priebatsch from his bunker on Second Street.
But seriously, mobile is everywhere. It has become a redundant term. And a lot of that actually comes from Boston companies. Ted Morgan from Skyhook Wireless (who’s part of the location smackdown) recently reminded me that the iPhone’s original location-finding technology, voice recognition system, and ad-serving platform all came from Boston-area teams. What’s more, at least five of the biggest mobile acquisitions of the past few years were from Boston—m-Qube, Quattro Wireless, Third Screen Media, Airvana, and Starent Networks.
“We’re living through one of the most explosive times in the tech industry,” Morgan says. “There’s a huge platform war going on for the mobile platform. Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google are looking to carve up the world.”
Help us get the Mobile Madness conversation going on Twitter using the hashtag #xmobmad. See you at NERD!
