Following on the recent relaunch of mobilejones, it’s great to be back hosting the Carnival of the Mobilists (CoM), and once again, be part of this astute group of mobile technology and industry columnists. It’s been 18 months since I first hosted a CoM, and the effort has gone through a number of changes and improvements.
The CoM launched it’s own website, acquired a sponsor and brought new voices into the RSS readers of a wide audience. Originated from Mobhappy, CoM has transitioned to the stewardship ofSmart Mobs contributor and mobile technology in education thought leader, Judy Breck. I’d like to thank Judy for keeping the lights on and the welcome mat out for we longtime mobile commentators, the newer entrants into the fray of mobility’s future and for the large audience that each CoM draws together from highly successful mobile blogs.
The CoM is currently seeking additional hosts. You can participate in moving the tradition forward and making your own mark with the best writing on mobile. The details can be found in the CoM hostFAQ, and of course, if you’d like to consider sponsorship opportunities with CoM contact Judy directly.
Now, on with the show.
Mobile Applications
Dennis, WAP Review, continues to deliver the best mobile application reviews on the web. This week News Alloy, a mobile feed reader, gets the WAP Review treatment in News Alloy – Mobile RSS Reader.
Ewan Spence, All About Symbian, delivers an in-depth review of Nokia’s Lifeblog. Simply titled,LifeBlog, the review is complete with screenshots and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of both the mobile client and the PC client pieces. Spence points out that the application has improved since it’s debut, and is “…an invaluable tool as you use your smartphone to capture more pictures, more video, and more of your life.” Everything you need to know about LifeBlog and why you need to know it.
David Harper, Different Things, announces and teases a new Winksite release in Winksite Releasing Major Upgrade July6th, Love the Mobile Web. I’m a big fan of the platform and the founder at Winksite. Congrats David! We’ll be watching Friday.
iPhone
Judy Beck, Golden Swamp, provides a refreshing look at the iPhone. iPhone Review Confirms the Future of Learning highlights the features of the iPhone and its novel UI which “will help kids learn.”
In iPhone, first impressions, industry impact and lessons learned, C. Enrique Ortiz provides a personal view of the device and a caution for himself that extends to us all, “…a lesson or reminder of all the artificial boundaries and barriers that we all create, or have created over time, but that we don’t have to.” Wise words.
And last, but not least, Darla Mack shares CNBC’s quizzing of Nokia’s Bill Plummer, VP Multimedia, North America, on the iPhone versus the N95. Don’t miss the video link beneath the photo.
Mobile Advertising
Tim Trent, Marketing by Permission, molls over the question of Bluetooth marketing in Bluetooth: good or bad for marketing? asking his readers, ‘The question I am throwing open is “What safeguards are needed, and how should they be implemented?“‘ This question summarized another way, Will Bluetooth marketing merely become a new form of spam?
Ajit Jaokar, Open Gardens, offers a frenetic post promoting Nokia’s ad service. Crossing the chasm with the long tail: Mobile web 2.0, mobile advertising and user generated content extolls as virtuous “the mobile web,” “mobile advertising,””the long tail” and “user generated content” – sort of in that order. While promoting Nokia’s ad service, Jaokar mentions admob and screentonic. Nokia’s ad service is limited to S60 devices and targeted at large publishers.
Mobile Politics
Judy Breck, Smartmobs, summarizes a WaPo article on the use of text messaging in the US Presidential race for 2008. Text-Friendly Hopefuls… quotes the original article, ‘”The way I think about it is, if we can support our ‘American Idol’ contestants by texting, why not our presidential candidates?“‘ The original article reviews the use and relative success of text messaging campaigns among the Democratic front-runners, and includes quotes from previous CoM contributor and host, Justin Oberman, MoPocket. SMS based political action is an emerging theme at Smartmobs, so check out the other coverage of this trend, as well as, Howard Rheingold’s new initiative, National Caucus – smartmobbing democracy.
Mobile Industry
Paul Ruppert’s Mobile Point View, presents a thorough analysis of the impact of mobile technologies on growth in developing countries, and in particular, Vietnam. Ruppert leads us through some compelling statistics and the confluence of political and socio-economic factors in Vietnam, today, to the conclusion, “As Vietnam climbs from the village to the villa, mobile phones will lead the way.” Don’t miss the opportunity to follow this verbal logic footpath in Upwardly Mobile in Vietnam. As with most good stories, the pleasure is in the journey.
Pseudonymic blogger, raddedas of Techype offers a critical analysis of a story from Reuters UK on mobile banking, in general, and the company Monitize, in particular. Read about the reality of mobile banking at Montise To Demand Urgent Correction to Misquote?
Malcolm Lithgow, Smart Dreaming, takes on the familiar argument of thin versus thick client in his,Why Web 2.0 won’t work on smartphones, Part III of Smartphone or Mobile Browser. This final installment of Lithgow’s provocative three part series insists that web apps – he only considersGoogle Gears and Blogger – are inferior to smartphone native applications.
Alan Moore, Communities Dominate Brands, informs us through his post, What do Cyworld, the iPhone, blyk, Admob, MyNuMo, Artists first and Moblog UK have in common? They are all part of the 7th Mass Media: Mobile. “Gutenberg brought us the first mass media – Print, then we had Recordings, Cinema, Radio, Televsion, the Internet and now the 7th Mobile.”
Rudy De Waele, m-trends, treats us to another edition of his revealing series titled, Women in Mobile. The 20th profile in De Waele’s series features Katie Lips, a social media strategist. This series should be in the feed reader for all conference organizers who complain that finding women speakers on these subjects is difficult. The next time I hear such a comment, I’ll shake Rudy’s finger at you, Mr. Conference Organizer – you know who you are. *wink*
I’ve enjoyed hosting this week’s CoM, and I know you’ll enjoy reading it. Don’t forget to watch for next week’s carnival from Cairo at Symbiano-TeK. …next time.