Developer World

APPNATION 2010, Day 1

I recently had to opportunity to attend the APPNATION Conference in San Francisco, CA, USA on Sept 13-14. My main purpose for going was to provide general media coverage on behalf of the Sony Ericsson Developer World for this two-day event. The show was comprised of over 1,000 app developers, media companies, mobile ad networks, venture capitalists and other players in the app ecosystem. One interesting estimate came from Drew Ianni, chairman and founder of APPNATION, who reported recent research that there will be one million mobile apps available for download by the year 2010.

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A couple of days ago I got into a plane heading for Tokyo Game Show 2010. For all of you who are not attending this amazing event, I thought I should share my impressions after the first 2 days here.

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Mobile Monday in Malmö, Sweden, took place this week and it was a really nice event with inspiring presentations from several different speakers, including Troed Sångberg from Sony Ericsson. The main theme was the Future of Openness (in Mobile), and a lot of people were very interested in how Sony Ericsson is working with openness and Android.

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This Saturday, retro gaming was in focus at the Hackathon developer event in Stockholm. I got a hold of Peter Svensson, organiser of the event, to find out how it went.

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Find the services you need in the new Developer Services section in Developer World.

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In the mobile business it’s common to hear statements like “smartphone adoption happening faster than predicted”. In that specific case the fallacy is likely that of mistaking Internet devices and smartphones for the same thing, but the shift in itself is interesting. Consumers are moving en masse from devices that could mostly only do one or a few things well to open devices that satisfy our needs to connect.

I predict the same thing happening not only to the small screens in our pockets, but our big screens hanging on our walls. The thing we still call “TV”, which even with the latest sets that can connect to specific Internet services, is pretty non-smart.

Depending on where you live (and if you’re an early adopter), you’ve either upgraded once or twice over the last ten years. One move to flat screens and one to HDTV, or both upgrades at the same time. The industry is at the moment in the startup phase of another upgrade, to 3D.

I claim that 3D is not the next must-have feature, the one that will get consumers to upgrade their sets again. I claim openness – the same disruptive shift that is currently happening in the mobile industry – is about to happen to the TV industry as well. 3D will tag along, the actual device tech is not that much more expensive if you’re going through the early adopters once again, but it will not be in the driver’s seat.

Disruptive shifts are hard to predict, and they cause havoc in the market place. Established truths and important players might get switched around, and existing predictions get thrown off the mark. That is, the exact same thing as we’re currently seeing in what’s – in error – called the “smartphone bloodbath” by Tomi Ahonen (who is otherwise my first stop when I need numbers!).

Current predictions of the potential size of the 3D TV market are based on consumers reacting to the 3D proposition itself. If you throw complete openness in to the mix, where the big screens on our walls become as intelligent as the small screens in our pockets are becoming, I’d claim the size of that market – as well as the speed of its creation – is severely underestimated.

Openness will fuel the next TV upgrade cycle. It will, as usual, be quite disruptive.

PS: Don’t miss out on the additional discussion seen in the comments below!

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Take the opportunity to meet representatives from the Sony Ericsson Developer program and listen to interesting speakers at Mobile Monday Malmö, 13th of September 4 pm – 7pm.

Troed Sångberg, Sony Ericsson, will talk about the Future of Openness (in Mobile) – what does the democratization of creation mean for developers and companies, both inside corporate structures as well as outside. Troed will also talk about how to handle what we would traditionally call requirements, innovation and end user satisfaction.

The event will take place at Minc, Anckargripsgatan 3 in Malmö. Please register no later than the 9th of September at Mobile Monday Malmö’s web site.

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Live wallpapers are fun and eye-catching, but an incorrect implementation of a live wallpaper can quickly drain the battery of any powerful Android™ phone. This tutorial will explain how big this problem can be, what the reasons are and show you a code example on how you can avoid this happening to your live wallpapers.

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8-16 bit only games is the focus for the 11^th of September Android Hackathon in Stockholm where retro gaming is the theme for the day. The developers that create the best games will win a Sony Ericsson X10 mini or X10 mini pro. Click here to register for this free event.

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I would like to announce thatSony Ericsson is planning to attend the first ever APPNATION 2010 event this September. The APPNATION conference and expo will be held at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA from September 13 to 14.

Sheana Hogan.

Our very own Sheana Hogan, Business Development Manager at Sony Ericsson, will be attending both days of the conference. Sheana, by the way, is responsible for defining partnership opportunities, driving developer ecosystems, and building strategic alliances with operators and independent software vendors. If you see her, please say hello and exchange a business card.

The theme for this year’s event – Show Me the Money – makes perfect sense when considering the lineup of conference schedule topics, which range from Entrepreneur’s Workshop Series: Where the Investment Dollars Will Flow in the Next 12 Months to Monetization Tactics: Monetizing on Android to App Business Models: How Do You Value Your Product and (What) Should You Charge for It?.

Drew Ianni.

I had the fortunate opportunity to have a quick Q&A session on August 27 with Drew Ianni, the founderof APPNATION, to ask him about the event:

What can attendees expect to get out of going to the APPNATION conference?

- Attendees will be immersed in engaging and informative dialogue surrounding the business of apps and the emerging app economy. Developers of all shapes-and-sizes, media and advertising executives, investors, hardware and infrastructure companies, and the broader app community will be mashed up and learn from one another about discoverability, monetization, new media business models, advertising and marketing strategies, product road maps and innovations, and consumer insights and analytics.

What is this year’s theme – Show Me the Money – all about?

- {The theme} is fundamentally about helping all companies in the app economy learn how to monetize, especially small-and-medium-sized developers.

Not only did I get an exclusive interview with Drew, he graciously provided Sony Ericsson with a super-secret, personal discount of 50% off the registration cost for an all-access, full conference pass. SCORE! Just use the promotion code DIFC50 on the APPNATION Conference online registration page.

Sony Ericsson hopes that you’re as excited to attend APPNATION 2010 as much as we are!

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