Schedule

OPENING REMARKS

The Future Speaks: Smartphone Interaction Beyond Siri

As the consumer uses multiple apps and multiple devices, Siri has the potential to tie them all together with just once voice command, changing the way in which we interact not only with our smartphones, but all of our connected devices. We'll soon be able to organize our lives via a virtual assistant, but will interaction with our smartphones evolve beyond voice commands and touch? Will devices smell, see or feel? Sensors and user interface technologies are being developed for a number of different applications and vertical markets. We'll explore whether the mobile device is where we want to tie them all altogether and how we can keep these interfaces simple and intuitive.

The Identity Singularity: Before and After - Unifying the Fragmented User Identity

The paradox: Just as mobile broadband has become an integral part of our lives, we are becoming less dependent on our service providers. Our personal identity is disappearing and is being replaced by a fragmented self, split amongst devices, email accounts, social networks, accounts, apps and even phone numbers due to Google Voice and Skype. What is the next step beyond replicating the antiquated phone network inside the web? One can argue that we have more control over our privacy settings and contacts on our social networks than with phone numbers or email. This session discusses the challenges and implications of having a voice service that is linked to or sits on top of a social network. In this scenario, how can companies and public services be contactable? Can we get to the point where we have a single, phone numberless identity on the Internet and will we still need service providers to provide it?

10:45 AM - Webtrends Sponsor Workshop

TBA

Apponomics - The Patterns That Are Making Money

Some apps are making vast amounts of money and some are not. Using the latest behavioural research, insight by the numbers, user acquisition patterns, stats on in-app purchases, panelists will discuss monetization trend, whether there is a recipe for a successful, profitable app as well as techniques for optimizing the revenue per user. Panelists will also debate whether the 30% revenue share stranglehold by Apple is harmful for the industry and if it will last, how developers can overcome the app discovery challenge and how important third party platforms to help design mobile apps will be.

LUNCH

(Optional Sponsored Workshops - Located on Level 2)

Sprint's 4G Vision

Hidden Opportunities: Ethnography in Mobile

Focus groups and surveys can only tell you so much. Companies and startups in the mobile business also need to know the right problems to solve, which involves understanding people's implicit needs and unknown desires. This session takes an in-depth look at ethnography and what happens out in the field with social scientists, through techniques such as conversation analysis and the monitoring of social groups. How can individuals, companies and investors use ethnography to detect (and filter) emerging trends in mobile? Can ethnography identify unmet need and develop compelling mobile products and services quickly and successfully?

The Business Model for Mobile Wellness

Even though informed consumers are shifting the healthcare paradigm away from the current physician led system, mobile health apps tend not to make it to the top of the asking in app stores. However, download revenue, plus advertisement sales, plus device sales make a compelling business model. Health monitor functions combined with easy-to-use interfaces and options for direct data sharing have driven adoption and have also proven to be the best way of marketing a mobile healthcare device. Mobile health app developers are also well positioned as collectors of vast amounts of medical data for their users, ideal for personalizing recommendations for improving health but also recommending new products. How are mHealth companies utilizing the data they collect?

LAUNCHPAD

COCKTAIL RECEPTION

OPENING REMARKS

Taking a Bite From The Apple: Disrupting the App Distribution Model

Savvy developers are skirting app stores by hurtling towards the freemium-focused business model and monetizing in-app purchases instead. Distribution alternatives are also emerging -- developers are finding new channels and ways to increase app discovery, especially if they serve a niche market and a direct distribution model is more effective. We talk to some of the disrupters and new players entering the app space. With everyone courting developers, what are their best bets for selling more apps?

TBA

Device Manufacturers: The Next MVNOs?

Device manufacturers are not only selling devices direct to the consumer, they have also started to sell connectivity, the Amazon Kindle being an example of this. Through wholesale deals with different carriers in different countries, device manufacturers have the opportunity to create global MVNOs. This panel analyses the profound implications on the mobile ecosystem - from carriers to app developers to consumers. Given the appetite for wholesale business models before the implosion of LightSquared, is this the second chance for wholesale business models in the US?

TBA

LUNCH

(Optional Sponsored Workshops - Located on Level 2)

A Unified Platform for Personalized Learning

Digitizing educational content has the potential to transform the way we learn and change the way in which teachers and students interact. Given that cost is a major barrier to adoption for students, content producers will need to transform the way in which they create and distribute material in order to increase uptake. The greatest challenge for digital publishing may actually lie in getting students to adapt their own learning styles, to re-train teachers and getting the education system to adapt. What sort of content will lead to a more personalized learning experience and how do the needs of university departments differ? In this fragmented market, what new ways will emerge to distribute content online and what can we learn from other models being adopted in other industries?

The Multi-Device, Multi-Screen Connected Home

Always on complex devices and sensors, all produced by different manufacturers, connecting via different broadband technologies now all need to interact with one another to serve needs for security, home automation and entertainment. What will the user interface look like that will control and manage all of these devices both in home and on the road? With the potential for a lot of noise coming out of a lot of devices, how the different devices communicate and coordinate with one another and what information is relayed to the user becomes significant. Seamless access of content and multimedia has further challenges due to different platform and form factors. Can one platform run everything?

TBA

COCKTAIL RECEPTION