The second annual Integrated Marketing Communications Conference is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa on June 6-7, 2011.  Presenting the latest trends in global media and innovative marketing to industry leaders this conference is where South Africa’s leading communication voices are.

Over 200 people from various fields including public relations, digital media, marketing, advertising and communications are gathering in a Sandton hotel to figure out ways brands can develop an open ear to its consumers.  The opening keynote speaker was Vice President of Africa for InMobi, Isis N’yongo the world’s largest mobile advertising network spoke about the rapid growth of mobile technology on the African continent.  With 489 million mobile phone subscribers Africa is without a doubt a market segment that can no longer be ignored. “This continent has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world.  If you combine this with the fact that more Africans access the Internet from mobiles than any other platform, it means the market for mobile advertising is set for strong levels of growth.”

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It is a jungle out there in mobile communications. The mobile application markets are particularly chaotic. How do you know which Sudoku app is right for you when there are literally thousands of Sudoku apps out there? Thousands on each mobile platform: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile 7. Thousands.

With every seemingly insurmountable online/mobile/content challenge that has emerged over the last two decades, smart entrepreneurs have recognized a corresponding opportunity. Google? Google emerged out of a need to sift through and evaluate the deluge of internet content developed during Web 1.0.

AppStoreHQ homepage

In mobile applications this is where market research, filtering technology and social networking come in. Instead of an anonymous algorithm, researchers are turning to your social networks for inspiration–finding out what works from people in your network that you trust. It seems like a natural and healthy progression. In an age when consumers are increasingly leery of advertising and have many channels to turn to in avoiding commercials, these consumers are also increasingly connected to each other.

This is the third article in a series exploring social network trends in online commerce and how some Seattle companies are navigating the landscape. Read more…

Despite my position as the head of a graduate program in digital media, I’ve always held on to a plethora of print (a.k.a. “dead tree”) newspaper and magazine subscriptions. They’re usually much cheaper than their digital counterparts, and I liked the often serendipitous browsing experience — not to mention the disconnected zen of knowledge absorption.

However, as my affection continues to grow for the ergonomics, usability and convenience of my iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom, I’m resorting increasingly to the excellent tablet versions of The Economist and The New York Times. But this morning clinched it for the tablets. The headline on the rolled up, thrown-at-my-porch edition of The Wall Street Journal read: “Osama Bin Laden, Terror Mastermind Is Reported Dead” (in the smallest middle third above-the-fold of the front page no less).

Hmmm. Hadn’t I received my first notice of Bin Laden’s death last night around 7:15 p.m. Seattle time? I was preparing to view the latest Doctor Who episode (streaming it from iPad to TV set) when the New York Times alert popped up on my tablet screen. I went to Twitter for confirmation. Then I opened up my handy dandy White House iPad application (tellingly, I categorize in under “News” along with my BBC, WSJ, NYT, USA Today, Financial Times, Al Jazeera Live etc. apps), and saw that a live announcement from the President was forthcoming. I popped open CNN on the tablet, but the live stream just wasn’t kicking in. Read more…

Every manufacturer and OS developer out there seems to want a share of the next huge thing in consumer technology – and everyone seems to think that the next revolution is the tablet. Of course, the Apple iPad was the first to put the tablets in the hands of consumers. Accordingly, Apple pretty much defined the industry standard and currently “owns” the market.

Will every other tablet – Android or other – just become a “me too” product in a world defined by Apple? Read more…

The role played by digital media in the recent political upheavals in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Arab World dominated conversations at this year’s Abu Dhabi Media Summit, held last month in the United Arab Emirates. However, the entrepreneurs, publishers and organizers with whom I met there and at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair were equally eager to speak about the overall evolution of Arabic digital media, publishing and mobile technologies.

Recent reports, surveys and other research point to a common international trend that is being echoed in the growth of digital media adaptation in the Middle East–mainly that digital media is being driven by a very young, growing and better educated population. These young people also connect to digital media via mobile devices and ferociously embrace social networking. Needless to say, both publishers and policy-makers are hurrying to try to stay in step with this rapidly growing mobile and interactive population. Read more…

“More than 90 percent of the population lives within reach of a cell phone tower,” Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami pointed out during Thursday’s Four Peak Salon “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Markets: What’s Good for Them, Is Good for Us.” And it is exactly the reach of coverage that makes simple mobile technology a feasible avenue for development. For comparison, only 2 billion people have access to broadband and with more than 6 billion people on the planet, most of the developing world has limited or no access to data.

Rothenberg-Aalami is a coauthor of “Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets,” and was invited to the April edition of the MCDM Four Peaks Salon to discuss the changing nature of the global technology business and the influence of emerging markets on technology providers.

Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami (left) with moderator Anita Verna Crofts, MCDM Associate Director.

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Did you know that the UW has its own mobile website and apps?

In 2009, the UW launched the mobile website m.UW and mobile apps for iPhone and Blackberry to provide news, references, maps, events, and other campus information. I studied the University’s mobile strategy for my “Mobile Media and Communications” class, and talked to David Morton, Director of Mobile Communication Strategies at the UW. What I found was that the UW mobile services are gaining recognition among diverse academic community but rapid change of mobile technologies requires their constant improvement and adaptation to users’ demand.

Although iPhone dominates the smartphone usage in the University now, it’s expected that in 2011 and Android app will follow.

* Data from Freshly Mobile

The UW mobile app has important LBS (Location Based Service) feature, which lets you locate departments, centers, buildings on campus on the go. But the feature is not interactive enough. The “Maps” have limited capabilities with non-optimized results. For example, users can only find a spot on a static map but no routes of direction to guide them between different buildings in Campus. Users also complained that information is uncompleted. For instance, one user left a review at the Blackberry AppWorld (UW, 2009): “I go to the Tacoma campus and they offered no information about that campus.”

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This is the third and final blog post of a three part series about my experiences as a presenter with fellow MCDM student Katherine Turner during the 2011 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. See the second post Monday, February 28th, 2011, “Easy Like Sunday Morning.”

Crowdsourcing

I had kept word that I was attending the conference from my parents. I also had to block my sisters from my Facebook updates about the trip to Puerto Rico. I had known for months. My plan was to surprise my mother at the mall, grocery store, or where ever she might be.

Everyone’s reaction to my plan – that’s a bad idea. Even the taxi driver on the way to Condado from Fajardo turned back while driving and looked at me square in the eyes and said, “Mijo, la vas a matar.” He was not the only local who concurred that I was going to give my mother a heart attack. So, I called my mother that afternoon. “Guess where I am?” A few seconds of silence goes by followed by “Get the **** out of here! How can that be?” Said a very stunned Señora, or as she will very happily point out to you, Señorita.

Whenever Katherine and I talked about presenting at an oceanography conference it always seemed strange. People would reply, “I thought you were into video or photography.”

Yes, we are into video. No, we aren’t oceanographers. “So, why are you presenting at an oceanography conference?”

My mother grew more confused and perplexed when I explained the reasons why I was in San Juan presenting at an International Oceanography Conference.

Carlos Miguel Sanchez & Julia Rodriguez (Dad and Mom)

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