AKQA » mobilegroove

UPDATE: Today is the last day to register and get one of my specially discounted VIP passes.

Here’s a link that will take you straight there: https://www.openmobilesummit.com/lon/register/step1.aspx?dc=MSEARCHVIP

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Now in its second year the Open Mobile Summit (May 26-27, London) covers all the bases to again set the bar. I attended and spoke at this exceptional event last June and was struck by to things: the sold-out crowd and the balanced mix of speakers and authorities from companies and organizations across the entire ecosystem.

This month was marked by a string of good news stories that speak volumes about the state of mobile marketing and advertising. From the milestone acquisition of AdMob by Google for a cool $750 million in stock, to the news that Millennial Media had raised nearly $16 million in growth capital, to the milestone statement from

In brief: Events where you can network with MSearchGroove (Peggy Anne Salz) and Mobile Groove (Inma Martinez). A chance for you to register for Mobilize, a path-breaking mobile industry event organized by GigaOM and a call for companies attending Mobile Marketing Forum Europe (MMF) in Berlin to schedule an interview with bnetTV. Only a few weeks since I teamed up with Inma Martinez - a leading digital media strategist and advisor to venture capitalists who has been referred to as a "free radical" by Red Herring and Fast Company – to co-host Mobile Groove. The overwhelming positive response to our no-holds-barred monthly podcast (which speaks out on developments impacting the mobile industry/investment community at all levels) is encouraging and we are gearing up for our September podcast, a program sure to showcase the highlights of the events and exclusive interviews/briefings/chats Inma and I experience first-hand over the next weeks. Inma has been invited to attend Mobilize in San Francisco (September 10), a conference that explores the industry vision for the future of wireless and also offers 10 cool startups a platform as part of the Launchpad. As review of these companies (which include: Pageonce, mataio, Waze, Toktumi Line2, Glympse, Ondeego, Square Connect, Locle, IQ Engines and Distimo) shows: the real innovation is in the mix-ups and mash-ups at the intersection of content and context. Inma and I will integrate her observations and first-hand encounters with entrepreneurs into the next in the Mobile Groove series, so be sure to connect with her during the show. To meet up or catch up, email her directly at imartinez AT stradbrokeadvisors DOTcom. While I won't make the trip, I have teamed up with the organizers to promote this and all GigaOM events going forward. All have assembled world class speakers and all will be prominently featured on MSearchGroove. (For example, this week's conference features keynotes by Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola and Cole Brodman, CTO of T-Mobile, presentations that anchor a stellar line up of telecoms and web industry speakers including Andy Rubin, co-Founder of Android and Len Lauer, COO of Qualcomm.) Thanks to Surj Patel MSearchGroove readers can register for a special $100 discount on the ticket price. Please click here to take advantage of this offer (standard: $545), and be sure to enter the discount code: MPSALZ100.

The realization that mobile advertising is ripe for a re-think (and the stark possibility that traditional advertising inventory may be dead on the mobile platform, as Alan Moore, author luminary and founder of the communication consultancy SMLXL, suggests) forces operators, brands, enablers and agencies to focus on what many are calling engagement marketing. At the other end of the spectrum, this shift in mindset also turns up the pressure on mobile search providers to develop services that are (likewise) more useful, engaging and personal. Indeed, improving the mobile search user experience is at the center of a sustainable and successful mobile search and advertising strategy. Users are encouraged to explore the wealth of content and applications at their fingertips, and their urge to discover leads to more queries and more opportunities to deliver paid search advertising. It's not quite the fixed Internet all over again, but there are similarities. The outcome is a virtuous cycle where useful search results and targeted advertising convince users that mobile search is a useful way to find content and applications that matter to them. What's more, the advance of app stores (similar to the excitement the industry experienced when content portals were the rage) underlines the critical importance of a better interplay between search and advertising moving forward. I am therefore encouraged by improvements (from companies such as Yahoo), and excited by the increasing popularity of new mobile search paradigms, ranging from multimodal search (which has received a much-needed boost thanks to the iPhone); to approaches that integrate human input/judgment to deliver search results we're much more likely to appreciate.