So far, there is a great panel of experts confirmed for this session including:

• Larry Berkin, Head of Global Alliances, Symbian Foundation
• Tyler Lessard, Vice President, Global Alliances and Developer Relations, RIM
• Asokan Thiyagarajan, Director – Platforms & Technology Strategy, Samsung Telecommunications America
• Patrick Mork, Vice President, Marketing, GetJar, Inc.
• Jai Jaisimha, CEO, Open Mobile Solutions, Inc.

Rumor has it that additional experts may be added to this esteemed panel in the coming days… I’ll update this post if/when that happens.

I’m pleased that Open Mobile Solutions (OMS) asked me to moderate this panel*. As I type, Mobile developers are applying online for an opportunity to pitch and demo their product to panels of experts at CTIA.  If you’d like to pitch your product to this panel, you can apply here.  The original “Distribution” panel that was organized (Panel A) proved so popular that a second session was added: “Gaining Distribution Panel B.”  In this session, pre-selected developers will pitch and demo their product for 5 minutes in front of a panel of experts on distribution (OEMs, major operators, etc.). The experts will provide feedback to the chosen developers in front of a live audience.

It should be an interesting event. I hope to see you there.

*Last week, I officially became an Advisor to OMS, which is in private beta.  It will soon launch publicly as THE place to find qualified mobile app development resources via a competitive, bidded marketplace.

• Flixter is looking for a #mobile product manager… Looks like a great opportunity for the right person: http://ow.ly/1cR8z #
• If you want to pitch at the #Developer Pitch Sessions at #CTIA there’s a new application link (last 1 didn’t work well): http://ow.ly/1cRbJ #
• Today’s the last day to enter AT&T’s annual mobile app contest: http://ow.ly/1cSDx #mobile #developer #att #
• Heading to the UKTI UK Delegates Mission reception in SF. Anyone else going? #
• Congratulations to @anandc and the other 2010 Young Global Leaders Honourees, which were just announced today http://ow.ly/1dNHE (.pdf list) #
• Intertek/NSTL’s @tederf is looking for a sales person in SF/Seattle/LA to sell testing services to OEMs, Ops & Devs. http://ow.ly/1eeXL #
• Great article from @rich_wong in today’s @techrunch with advice for #developers on how to deal with #mobile fragmentation http://ow.ly/1epEB #
• Just ordered new mini business cards from @Overheardatmoo. Loved the new US order process and ability to upload logos. #
• If you’re friends w/ the blond I saw driving a #Tesla #Roadster in slow lane on 280S, pls tell her that’s unacceptable behavior in that car. #
• Having trouble working from “work”? Tips for staying productive in the office when you can’t WFH (SocializeMobilize): http://ow.ly/1eQV3 #in #
• Just booked my tickets to Las Vegas for #CTIA 22-25th. Are you going? #

Don’t get me wrong, working in a traditional office has it’s perks, but a tranquil and productive working environment usually isn’t one of them.  I say this having worked in plenty of of cube farms, where it seemed people couldn’t pass each others’ cubes without saying a friendly hello or starting a conversation for fear of being impolite.  Another challenge of the conventional work environment is “meeting culture.” At conventional offices, meetings are usually scheduled in hour-long slots – even when a full hour isn’t needed. People spend their days running around from meeting to meeting (often meeting different people to discuss the same topic), unable to get much done in between. Working from home, I only schedule meetings when I’m confident that they’ll be more beneficial than a phone call or an email. I still see and/or talk to plenty of people during the day, but I try to schedule my activities in chunks (i.e. meetings clustered together with time set aside for email, etc.), which makes it more productive.

Jason Fried, CEO of 37 Signals, which makes web-based productivity software for businesses, recently expressed similar sentiment:

One of the things Jason mentions in the above video is the importance of coming to a common understanding with your colleagues about how to interact with each other in the office.  Successful management teams make an effort to minimize workplace distraction while fostering a friendly, comfortable, team-oriented working environment.  Here are a few things that I’ve found can enhance team productivity when working in a shared office:

• Before scheduling a meeting or sending someone a message, ask yourself what the most efficient way is to get things done. Is it a meeting, or will a quick call or email suffice?
• If you need to have a meeting, provide a structured agenda and key decision points to all of the participants in advance.  If key participants can’t attend the meeting, either reschedule it, or find a way to move the conversation forward by getting their input by email before the meeting, to ensure that there are meaningful outputs by the end of the meeting.
• Think twice before interrupting your colleagues at work:
  • Minimize “cube-drive-by” conversations in favor of arranging social time over lunch, ascheduled coffee break, or happy hour.  If you walk past someone’s cube without saying hello or stopping to chat, and they’re working, they won’t think badly of you for it, if you’ve suggested that you meet them later for lunch, coffee, or happy hour.
  • If you’ve got a quick question for a colleague in the middle of the day, and it’s not urgent, park the question until the end of the day. By that point, you may have found the answer or come up with other questions that you need their help with.
  • If you’ve got a quick question that’s urgent, ping your colleague via IM and let them know it’s important. They’ll respond to you as quickly as they can (i.e. when they’re not on a call or in a meeting).  If they’re not on IM, call them on the phone.

And, when all else fails, there’s always headphones.

• Ev Williams, Co-founder and CEO of Twitter
• Marissa Mayer, Vice-President, Search Product and User Experience at Google
• Anand Chandrasekaran, Director, Products at Openwave Systems Inc.
• George Hu, Executive Vice-President, Marketing and Alliances, Salesforce.com

The wider group of YGLs meet several times of year for summits and other events that promote community building, generating insight and undertaking collective action. The summits, which take place all over the world including places like Zermatt, Vancouver, Dalian, Tianjin and the Dead Sea, provide an opportunity for the YGL group to come together to learn from each other.  This year’s summit is in May in Dar es Salaam, Tazania.

Collectively, past YGL honourees band together to do a variety of things for the greater good.  Past achievements include addressing hunger and health concerns in the developing world and working with children in schools on things like spreading principles of dignity and encouraging mass deworming of students affected by parasitic worms.  I’ll be interested to see what emerges from the group this year.

• Heading back to SF from London on Tuesday afternoon. It’s been a great trip! #
• @tomiahonen That’s interesting… Especially since they created MOTOMAGIX (sp?) & it didn’t last. Differentiating is tough on both HW & SW. in reply to tomiahonen #
• Check out these 3 great panels at #CTIA for #mobile #developers: 1) VC funding 2) Gaining Distribution 3) Monetizing http://ow.ly/1aOYF #
• Want a free pass to #CTIA Use the code “OMS4CTIA” & sign up for the Developer Pitch Sessions by Open Mobile Solutions: http://ow.ly/1aPEP #
• Daily traffic on SocializeMobilize.com nearly 1/2ed after #MWC10 My MWC party list was a hit! Trying to come up w/ a good replacement post. #
• Any developers out there looking for speaking opps at #CTIA If so, ping me. I’m looking developers with stories of mobile monetization. #
• If you missed the #mwc10 daily magazines, you can get them free online: http://ow.ly/1bdCo #
• @CPeterC Great! You can apply for the #ctia pitch sessions here: http://ow.ly/1bgSL. I’d also be happy to introduce you to the organizer. in reply to CPeterC #
• Bad news from @palm recapped by Fierce Wireless: http://ow.ly/1bjx7 IMHO: Palm needs to make a HUGE push to developers now more than ever. #
• @tnkgrl That would help too. in reply to tnkgrl #
• Can you recommend a savvy social media agency in London? I’m looking for 1 that’s familiar w/ how to legally market gambling svs in the UK. #
• @vangeest I’d love to, but I’ve got a busy afternoon. Thanks for the invite though. Next time! in reply to vangeest #
• @Atul_S I did a quick recap in a post last week, which you can find here:http://ow.ly/1bmlN. I don’t think the session was filmed though. in reply to Atul_S #
• @Atul_S Happy to help! in reply to Atul_S #
• hey @venmo, can I get an invite? #
• If your admin isn’t particularly good at taking (or prompt to deliver) your phone messages, check out @Phonesheet. Looks like a good app. #

• Raising Money – a panel featuring Venture Capitalists specializing in mobile.
• Gaining Distribution – a  panel featuring various mobile distribution channels.
• Monetization – a panel of key decision makers in the mobile advertising space – agencies, brands and networks

The Open Mobile Solutions Marketplace is currently in stealth mode, but you can learn more here.  In the meantime, why not take advantage of the great panel sessions they’re organizing at CTIA and the opportunity for a free pass?

• http://shozu.com/t/chi – I thought Barcelona was supposed to be warmer than SF…#mwc10 #
• http://shozu.com/t/chp – Microsoft is talking about Windows Phone 7 Series at #mwc10 I’m cautiously optimistic. #
• Heading to the Mobile Premier Awards dinner shortly. Anyone else? #MWC10 #
• I saw an interesting beta device at #mwc10 A ruggedized, dishwasher-safe tablet w/ ereader-like screen 4 enterprise/ field force automation #
• http://shozu.com/t/cjk – Garmin Asus has a very cool car in their booth- a classic Isetta #mwc10 #
• http://shozu.com/t/cjl – Hall 8 at lunchtime #mwc10 #
• http://shozu.com/t/cjm – Garmin Asus’ Nuvi Phone with Windows Mobile #
• Heading to the Women in Mobile Devices lunch at #mwc10 #
• @alextootchie Interestingly, its got to be supported by your carrier to work, though. #mwc10 in reply to alextootchie #
• ZTE says it wants to deliver 100 million devices w/in 5 years #mwc10 #
• VC Money for Mobile, Windows Phone 7 Series Launch & More! Highlights from Mobile World Congress so far: http://ow.ly/1852l #MWC10 #
• If you’ve sent me an email in the last 3 days to my socializemobilize address, please re-send. My host was apparently experiencing problems. #
• @evansolomon yeah yeah yeah. I know. I manage my email through gmail, but I’m hosted elsewhere. Thinking I’ll change that now. in reply to evansolomon #
• good news- looks like my email has only been down for 40 hours – less than I originally thought. sigh. #
• http://shozu.com/t/cmm – Wowza! Here’s a pic of the cheapest phone in the world by Vodafone- just $15! #
• @mwiththeat Definitely genius! I really enjoyed seeing mpesa & those two inexpensive phones in action w/ @seat2d at #MWC10 earlier today. in reply to mwiththeat #
• The @wipjam party is heaving! Looking forward to the jam tomorrow at 9am #mwc10 #
• #imatwipjam The #mwc10 @wipjam just kicked off in Hall 7! #
• Talking about #wac at #imatwipjam wholesale application community- debating if it will work #mwc10 #
• Panelists at #imatwipjam say stickiness is most important when developing an app (opposed to spready) #
• Great points by @flirtomark re why viral is broken in mobile. User has to pay for sms, which is key to virality. #imatwipjam #mwc10 #
• Rapid iteration & response to customers and A/B tests is key to creating virality and stickiness in mobile #imatwipjam #mwc10 #
• @joshuahaynes I agree. That $19 Vodafone mobile w/ fmradio, flashlight & color screen is better than many feature phones I’ve owned. #mwc10 in reply to joshuahaynes #
• @jebbrilliant- you just missed winning something at #imatwipjam Had to be present to win. #
• I’m pulling into BCN after a great week at #mwc10 #
• Wow. @jebbrilliant wasn’t kidding when he said lines at BCN were bad. I literally had to run to my gate after security. On plane now. #mwc10 #

Pre-MWC: I started the pre-MWC whirlwind with The NAVTEQ awards party, in which the EMEA winners of the Global LBS Challenge were announced.  It was a good event.  A handful of promising companies showcased their LBS-enhanced mobile products.  From there, I went to MobileSunday, which was, as usual packed with a great crowd of mobile enthusiasts bracing for the week ahead.  After that, I hit the town with the team from Skyhook Wireless (whose wi-fi location-based technology is embedded in the iPhone and millions of others worldwide) and a few of their 3rd party developer partners – all of whom are working on things that would set any mobile enthusiast’s heart racing… I’d tell you more, but that’d be like ruining a good surprise, and that’s no fun.

Day 1: I kicked off Monday by moderating a couple of panels in the “Mobile Applications – Innovation Vs Fragmentation” stream.  The first was “Attracting investment to the apps market – Identifying the key success factors,” and the panelists were fantastic:

• Rich Wong, Partner, Accel Partners
• Bob Borchers, Partner, Opus Capital
• David Weiden, Partner, Khosla Ventures

Thanks to Rich, Bob and David, we had a honest and productive conversation about the state of the mobile start-up ecosystem.  The general consensus was that while 2009 was a difficult year for many technology start-ups (with the National Venture Capital Association in the US saying that in 2008, venture capital funding in the telecommunications sector declined to just $558.7 million, down more than double from $1.67 billion in 2008), the future is looking bright for the mobile developer community. All three VCs were bullish on investments for both “picks and shovels” mobile start-ups (i.e. those that provide developer tools and software that supports the mobile application development and distribution ecosystem) and mobile app developers.

Rich, Bob, and David all pointed out that VC investment isn’t right for all mobile start-ups. Many mobile start-ups- especially small mobile application shops that don’t envision growing to become worth hundreds of millions of dollars are usually better off bootstrapping or taking small investments from friends, family, and angels.  However, for app developers that have the potential to grow and evolve – becoming much more than a one hit wonder while driving very strong and consistent long term revenues, VC funding makes sense. One app developer company that’s done particularly well according to the panelists is Tapulous (one of Weiden’s investments through Khosla), which makes social apps for iPhone like Tap Tap Revenge.  Other ’success stories’ mentioned in the panel were AdMob, the ad network which was recently acquired by Google, and GetJar, which is the world’s largest cross platform mobile application store.

Aside from discussing mobile application developers, the panelists also weighed in on some of the relevant mobile topics of the moment.  In particular, the consensus was that the chances of the recently announced Wholesale Application Community, which we jokingly and universally now refer to as “WAC”, working are slim at best.  And, Rich mentioned that he’s not particularly optimistic (in fact the contrary) about the prospects for Samsung’s new Bada OS.  (Having not seen Bada in action yet, I’m reserving judgment, but I’m unconvinced at this point that the world needs another OS… According the rumor mill, Bada looks “okay”. One person even told me it’s “kind of neat”… Frankly, none of the feedback I’ve gotten so far has been positive enough that I’d felt compelled to re-arrange my schedule to see it…. Maybe I’ll see it tomorrow.)

The second panel I moderated also yielded good food for thought.  It was on “Unlocking application revenue – billing and payments”.  The panelists included:

• Tyler Lessard, Vice President of Global Alliances & Developer Relations, RIM
• Yves Tyrode, Executive Vice President, Technocentre, Orange
• Gerard Grech from  Nokia
• Eric Duprat, General Manager, Mobile, PayPal

We discussed the complexity of the in-app mobile billing and payments ecosystem, the potential for positive uptake and change, the relevance of virtual goods and currencies, among other things.  While we covered a wide range of topics within the mobile billing and payments realm, unlike the mobile investment panel, I left the billing and payments panel with more questions than answers.  In app billing and payment seems just a bit too new to have yielded any major success stories from mobile app developers (if you’ve got any to share- I’d love to hear them).

Gerard agreed with me that Flirtomatic appears to be a good case study in the use of viral optimization and the use of virtual goods and currency within mobile apps, but aside from Flirtomatic, the panelists couldn’t think of any other major companies that have excelled in a similar way.  Eric from Paypal mentioned that Shutterfly is using both Paypal’s web and mobile API.  Aside from these very limited examples, consensus was that there don’t seem to be a lot of companies that are publicizing their ability to drive revenue through in-app billing and payments.

After moderating panels on Monday, I spent the rest of my day in meetings, and there were some productive ones… I’ll skip the really juicy bits for which I’m sworn to secrecy (except to say that among many other things, I’m really looking forward to trying MePlease when it launches) and instead mention just a few of the highlights…

Microsoft announced it’s new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series.  I got my hands on a forthcoming device, which looks – and I’m not exaggerating – awesome. It was in a beta build, but it was a lightning fast, feature rich (especially with social networking and photo features), responsive touch-screen device with a 5 megapicsel camera, and if this build is anything to will hopefully be worth the wait. Windows is definitely trying to bring sexy back, and so far, it’s working.

Qualcomm’s chip group wants to see developers take advantage of some of it’s most powerful capabilities like enhanced 3D gaming graphics and gesturing capabilities. Expect to hear more from them in the coming months, and come meet Liat, who is leading these efforts in the developer community at Thursday’s WIP Jam at MWC (she’ll be presenting with me and Patric from Idevio in the session on what makes addictive applications).

I also met up with my old friends from the now newly re-independent Astraware (which spun back off from Handmark), and they’ve got some fun new mobile games stuff up their sleeves… Well worth checking them out if you’re looking for some good entertainment on your device.

I also saw an early prototype version of a new ruggedized, waterproof, interactive tablet device that runs HTML5 with an e-reader-like screen from Visionect, which could prove to be an interesting device for the hospitality industry if it takes off when it launches. The idea is that restaurants, hotels, etc. and other businesses will develop apps in HTML 5 which can be rendered on this durable tablet device and used for field force automation efforts (order taking, employee checklists, etc.).  Apparently, you can drop it frequently, put it in the dishwasher, and forget to charge it for 9 months, and it’ll still work. If true, it sounds like it’ll be worth checking out when it’s live (date TBA).

As for today, it was a day full of meetings, checking out the new Motorola Phones, going to the Women in Mobile Devices lunch, attending the GoMo News Blender event, and having dinner with great folks courtesy of one of mobile’s most innovative VCs.  Oh, and there was also Eric Schmidt’s keynote… Google’s CEO, Schmidt talked about the future of mobile, which looks bright. In three years or less, Schmidt expects mobile devices to outsell PCs. There’s a great summary of his keynote here. It was good to see Google making an appearance at Mobile World Congress.

There’s so much more that I learned over the last two days that I’d love to be able to tell you about, but again, good secrets are worth keeping… and I’ve got to be up again in less than 5 hours for another day of excitement.  With that, I’ll close by saying that for those of you who are sitting at home or in your cubicle wondering whether it’ll be worth making the trip to Mobile World Congress in 2011, the answer is yes.  There’s a lot going on in mobile, and it’s only getting better.