DIGITAL. TRENDS. FUTURE.

09
Jun

Open Sessions at DLD Women Conference

The World Economic Forum is known for its “Open Forum” as part of the annual meeting in Davos. Today Steffi, Co-Chair of DLD and DLD Women, told me that at the inaugural DLD Women Conference they will integrate an Open Session, too.

So, here is your invitation. Feel free to share and forward!

DLD Women Conference 2010 - Invitation

01
Jun

Live from the catastrophe

BP’s live video stream of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is simultaneously tragic and hypnotic. With each passing second, more gallons of crude oil and natural gas escape into the ocean.

Beside watching this live video from the catastrophe, I recommend reading the ironic (not official) BP Twitter channel @BPglobalPR.

For BP, Obama and the whole USA it has turned from a pure catastrophe for nature into a catastrophe in public relations and reputation.

07
May
17
Apr

Volcano Info Graphic

I am still enjoying my “Volcano Weekend” in United Kingdom, as I got stuck in London right after the Skoll World Forum which was held in Oxford. Here is a helpful Info Graphic about the Volcano and the Cloud.

Volcano Info Graphic

17
Apr
08
Apr

Apple is Re-Thinking Mobile Advertising

Apple is entering the mobile advertising business and aims at high emotional and interactive ads. Here is a great example of an iAd of Toy Story. After a click on the small banner within an iPhone App you won’t leave the app directing you to a website. The user experiences a smooth change to a branded environment, the iAd. It opens like a regular app, but due to the new multitasking you can still keep the other app open.

The Toy Story iAd then shows an overview with several options and buttons. One option is to watch a few in-ad videos, play in-ad games or open the in-ad shop and buy the product right away. This might redefine mobile advertising and opens completely new ways to market products on a mobile devices.

Apple iAd - Mobile Advertising Example with Toy Story

08
Apr

Apple is reshaping the mobile advertising market

Today Apple announced key features of the new Apple iPhone OS 4 which will come out in Summer 2010. During that presentation Steve Jobs announced that Apple is entering the mobile marketing business with iAd.

The average user spends over 30 minutes every day using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’s 10 ads per device per day. That would be 1 billion advertising opportunities per day.

Steve Jobs: “There are many free or reasonably priced apps… the developers are putting ads into apps, and we think most of this kind of advertising sucks!”. He added: “Search is not happening on phones; people are using apps. And this is where the opportunity is to deliver advertising is. You know the ads on the web — they’re eye catching and interactive, but they don’t deliver emotion. What we want to do with iAds is deliver interaction and emotion.

It’s about motion plus interactivity. The ads keep you in your app. Today when you click on a banner ad, it yanks you out of your app and throws you onto the advertisers web page. So people don’t click on the ads.

Because iAd is in the iPhone OS itself, we have figured out how to do interactive and video content without ever taking you out of the app. For developers to add this to their apps is really simple. They can do it in an afternoon. Apple is going to sell and host the ads, and we’re going to do a 60/40 split.”

60% of Advertising Revenues will be for the Developers. Apple will earn 40% of the mobile advertising market in the future.

08
Apr

Apple iPhone OS 4.0 Event on April 8th 2010

Looking forward to the Apple presentation today.

Apple iPhone OS 4.0 April 8th 2010

Here are the start times of the event:
07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow

MobileCrunch is reporting live from the event.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/04/08/apple-iphone-os-4-live-blog/

07
Apr

Apple will present iPhone OS 4.0 on April 8th 2010

Apple has begun sending email invitations to select members of the media inviting them to a “sneak peek of the next generation of iPhone OS software.” The invitation features a large graphic with a large “4” shadow spread across a blue background, with “Get a sneak peek into the future of iPhone OS” overlaid in white text. The event will be held on Apple’s Cupertino, CA campus and will begin at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 8.

06
Apr
01
Apr

Finally iPad Unpacking

Easter Time 2010 is time for iPad unpacking!

30
Mar

Samir Arora, Founder & CEO of Glam Media

Samir Arora, Founder & CEO of Glam Media took part at a panel about the future of branding at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010. Right after the discussion I met talked him about his key issues.

Glam Media is a distributed media network comprised of both Glam-owned-and-operated properties and a publisher network of 450+ lifestyle websites and blogs. Glam Media aims to bring high-quality print content to the online medium, instead of the usual online trend of having print magazine-lite content. The Glam Media network also includes a slew of fashion websites, blogs and magazines.

Founder Samir Arora wants to gear the site’s online advertising towards the female market in the same way that traditional print has. Glam Media is working with publishers, content owners and media companies to reach readers in effective ways. Glam officially launched in September 2005 at Fashion Week, New York and quickly grew from there. After signing a partnership with AOL in October, Glam created the Glam Network consisting of style websites and blogs later that year. Since then, Glam has partnered with the women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, signed a content syndication deal with the Hearst Corporation, and completed a multi-year advertising deal with Google. With more than 53 million unique monthly visitors, Glam Media, Inc. is clearly proving itself as a leader in the online industry for women’s lifestyle and fashion.

30
Mar

Edward Borgerding, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Company

The Abu Dhabi Media Company hosted the inaugural Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010. I talked to Edward Borgerding, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Media Company during the exclusive event.

The Abu Dhabi Media Company is a media company with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi with over 2.500 employees. It is one of the fastest growing, multi-platform media organizations in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi Media Company owns and operates a range of television channels (Abu Dhabi Al Oula, Abu Dhabi Al Emarat, Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya, Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya 2, Abu Dhabi +1 and National Geographic Abu Dhabi) and a network of radio stations (Abu Dhabi FM, Emarat FM, Star FM, Holy Quran FM, and Abu Dhabi Classic FM), as well as number of publications (Al Ittihad newspaper, The National newspaper, Zahrat Al Khaleej magazine and Majid magazine), and a number of other media related businesses, including Imagenation Abu Dhabi that develops, finances and produces full length feature films and digital content for Arabic and international markets; LIVE which owns a fleet of outdoor HD broadcast vans; and United Printing Press, a state of the art printing press. ADMC’s Digital Group operates several digital assets including Getmo Arabia, goalarabia.com, and super.ae. In 2009 it formed two significant partnerships: VEVO, the online music video platform with Universal Music Group and Sony Music, and a first in the region MMOG joint-venture with Gazillion Entertainment.

29
Mar

First offer of Micro SIM Card for iPads in Germany

The German MVNO simyo today announced that they will offer a special data plan including Micro SIM Cards for all Apple iPad Users. (Via iPadSim.de)

For the launch of the iPhone Apple has introduced exclusive deals with mobile operators in each country. In Germany the iPhone was launched in teamwork with T-Mobile. With the upcoming iPad Apple opened the competition and did not deal up exclusively with mobile operators. But there’s a catch, instead of the normal Mini SIM Cards they introduced a new standard of SIM Cards, the so called Micro SIM Cards. These SIM Cards are smaller than the regular ones. So you need a Micro SIM for your Apple iPad 3G.

simyo is the first mobile operator in Germany who has announced such a Micro SIM Card. With already very low rates of 24 Euro Cents per MB and 9,90 Euro for 1GB of data (for 30 days), simyo can definitely offer a competitive iPad Sim in the market.

Here is a picture how it could look like:
simyo iPad Micro SIM Karte

29
Mar

Christian Magel, CMO of simyo, reviews the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010

At the last day of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010 Christian and I did the ultimate desert experience and went on a desert safari. It was a good time to reflect on the conference and the people we met. Christian Magel, Chief Marketing Officer of the MVNO simyo, was impressed by the high quality of C-Level executives attending the conference. Many CEOs and Chairman of major media companies attended the event, including Eric Schmidt, Ruper Murdoch, Tim Armstrong, Hartmut Ostrowski, Hans Vestberg, Edward Borgerding and many more.

In my Interview we talked about “building empires in the desert”.

29
Mar

Jonney Shih, Chairman ASUS, about the future of mobile computing

Cloud Computing was one major topic of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010. I talked with Jonney Shih, Chairman ASUS, about his perspective, trends and predictions for mobile computing. ASUS is best know for the EEE PC Netbook but also produced an own tablet computer. Mr Shih said that “there will be a slow shift from desktop computing to cloud computing” but ASUS believes that Cloud Computing is driving the markt at the moment.

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated (ASUS) (traditional Chinese: ??????????; pinyin: Huáshuo Diànna? Gufen Y?uxiàn G?ngs?), is a multinational corporation centered in Taiwan, produces computer products: motherboards, laptops, servers, mobile phones and others. Commonly called by its brand name ASUS, the company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ASKD) and the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE: 2357). As of 26 November 2009, 29.2% of PCs sold in the previous 12 months worldwide came with an ASUS motherboard. The company’s 2009 revenues reached US$21.2 billion. The headquarters is located in Beitou District, Taipei.

28
Mar

A Digital Business Card for Events

Would you use a digital business card? The participants at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010 did. During the two day conference the participants where getting used to connect their digital business cards, called “Poken”, instead of exchanging printed address cards. In the following interview Stéphane Doutriaux, founder of the innovative Social Business Card company, explains the technology and gives you some insights about the company.

Poken is a technology that utilizes a proprietary Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to allow the exchange of online social networking data between two keychain accessories. It is a perfect tool for Events and Conferences. Each person involved in the exchange must have his or her own poken. The primary information exchanged via the poken is a ‘social business card’, a digital replacement for a physical business card. By touching two devices together, a unique ID is exchanged that links to contact information on the Poken website. Contact information acquired by use of the poken can be uploaded to the poken website using a built-in USB connector.

In addition to the contact information found on a typical business card, links to users’ social networks can also be added. Examples include Twitter, Facebook, StudiVZ, LinkedIn and 40+ other social networks. Users of the Poken website can use a ‘social dashboard’ to manage, and interact with their contacts. Pokens are used for social networking, personal identification and as a device for loyalty programs. Bloggers and social media addicts have taken it up for networking event such as tweet-ups. Corporations such as BMW and IBM use pokens at their conferences, to enhance interaction with the conference attendees and to facilitate business networking.

27
Mar

The Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Peter Scarlet is an inspiring, well connected person and the man behind the scene of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. At the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010 he explained to me why the Festival in the United Arab Emirates is becoming more and more important for the film industry. The Award will take place at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi and will give away prices worth over one Million US Dollars.

The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) was established in 2007 and is presented annually in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). MEIFF’s mission is to affirm the key place Abu Dhabi holds as an emerging cultural center and to foster the growth of its local film community. The Festival celebrates cinema in all its forms by creating a vibrant forum for storytellers from the Middle East and around the world.

26
Mar

Understanding the “Mobile First” Strategy of Google

During the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010 Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google Inc. hold a keynote and talked about the key strategy of Google “Mobile First”.

Here are some of his key statements during his speech:
United Arab Emirates & the middle east is the region with the fastest growing internet penetration with our 100% per year. One third of the population is under the age of 14 years, so five years from now they will play a major role for the digital industry.

When Google recently launched new social products the most relevant and interesting elements and features were on the mobile version. Our smartest engineers, who are building our applications, are starting with the mobile part of the application rather than the desktop part. Google calls this trend “Mobile First”. That’s a huge shift for our generation, executives and corporations.

Mobile Web adoption is growing eight times faster then the adoption of the desktop internet ten years ago. So it is not even bigger, the change is even quicker. There are more smartphones right now than there are personal computers. Half of the internet connection are on mobile devices. And in many countries Mobile is the primary way to access Google, e.g. Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria.

26
Mar

Would you start a printed Newspaper today? “The National” did two years ago in UAE.

Hassan Fattah is Chief Editor of “The National” in Abu Dhabi. I met Hassan Fattah at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2010 and I asked him how to build up a Newspaper from scratch during these turbulent times. The newspaper was started in 2008. Hassan Fattah said: “Print still counts in this part of the world and that’s why we have started a printed Newspaper first and now expand in digital media formats.” Print is also the biggest driver for the Newspaper – “Print is King” as Mr. Fattah said in this video interview:

The NationalAbout “The National” www.thenational.ae:
The National is a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi. The editor-in-chief since June 8, 2009 has been Hassan Fattah. Mubadala Development Company, an investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government and royal family, owns the paper. The National has built its staff of 250 from newspapers around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph of Britain. Martin Newland was editor of the Daily Telegraph from 2003-2005 and he took with him many former Telegraph employees, most notably Colin Randall (former Telegraph executive news editor), Sue Ryan (former managing editor) and senior photographer Stephen Lock (who covered domestic and foreign news and the international fashion circuit during 20 years on the Daily Telegraph). The National is one of a few English-language newspapers produced in the United Arab Emirates, and is the only one produced in Abu Dhabi.