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The new year never really sinks in until the AT&T Developer Summit and CES come along. The WIP team was in charge of FUN at the AT&T Registration Reception this year and with close to 600 in attendance, it was a great night with developers and other mobile ecosystem members choosing 3 or 4 buttons that reflected who they are to pin onto their lanyards. With equal number of each button available, the Android one was the first to run out reflecting the large number of Android developers at the Summit. Beer Drinkers, Wine Drinkers, Apple Developers, Cocktail Drinkers Buttons were not far behind. If there's any takeaways from this informal exercise, it's that developers like Android and drinking.

The Buttons allowed for identification of like minded people and provided entry to various activities based on the pins during the evening: Frequent Fliers designed and threw paper airplanes, Red Wine Drinkers received an exclusive wine at the bar, and Music Lovers used their rap skills...

As WIP is the co-organizer of Droidcon London to take place on the 6-7 of October, we'll be sharing a few blog from Droidcon to give you a flavour of what will happen! We hope to see you there!

This is the second installment of our Speaker Friday where every Friday we'll be announcing new speakers at Droidcon.

This week we're keeping with the holiday mood with our  "Play Hard"  theme!! Announcing 2 Android games developers!

Yosi Taguri 

The maker of the game Pah! 

Haven't heard of it?  That is quite surprising, there is an entire (noisy) youtube channel dedicated to the game ! 350,000 downloads on iPhone and just arrived on Android Market (or any Andoid appstore you use!) 

Yosi will be talking about Pah! (obviously) and how he's been using Bluevia's Android SDK to find new innovative ways to interact with users and generate revenues. He'll also touch on porting from iPhone to Android and succeeding in the mobile games business!

Find out more on Yosi

Mustafa K....

We’ve know for a while that that apps are the key driver in the mobile industry today, driving the demand for devices and network time.  The big players in the industry recognize that too, so are constantly on the lookout for new mobile applications that meet the requirements and imagination of their customers.

There are a variety of entry points to get you and your app noticed, including the AT&T Open Call Contest whose deadline for entry is Tuesday, March 8, 2011.  Get your app in now so you don’t miss out on this opportunity.  

Here’s why we like this contest. Not only is it a great way to get noticed in front of the right decision makers at AT&T, they and some of their partners who participate in the judging (I was a judge last year and will be  again this year), offer alot of advice and connections.  So even just getting a judging/pitch time is a big win!  There are over 100 spots open – so lots of opportunity!

We had an opportunity to speak with Andrea Morton the...

You might think :

"Who has time to read this newsletter when there's so much to do before Mobile World Congress? "

And you might even utter:

 "Who has time to write a newsletter... don't you have a WIPJam to prepare? "

And a rack of tee shirts to line up! "

Yes I do and  many more things, too!! 

• Get the logistics sorted out with the WIP tips and SIM cards tips  and find new chairs as WIPJam is going XL with 100 additional seats available.
• Download the WIP Survival Guide to Mobile World Congress or even better get the mobile app version with the WIPJam app for Android,  Nokia and iPhone (visit your favourite store in the coming days and look for WIPJam)
• Sign up for some of the "cliffhanger" developer events:
  • What will Nokia announce at it's Nokia developer day on Monday ?
  • What's going to happen on the Meego front at Intel Appup Application Labs on Wednesday?
• Get my name in all the cool parties in town, using one of the zillion...

Happy New year from all of us at WIP - Carlo, Harper, Teresa, Thibaut and me - all the best for a stellar 2011! 

We look forward to working with you and meeting you online or around the world at the many events we all attend. 

First up is CES in Las Vegas, starting with the AT&T Developer Summit on Wednesday, January 5.  We are hosting the very cool WIP Connector Lego Challenge - guaranteed fun, good networking and of course prizes!!   Carlo, Teresa and I will be there.   You'll find Thibaut at MIDEM, January 22 - 26th in Cannes for this big industry music show.  There seems to be alot of Contest Deadlines up in January, so be sure to check them out in our Mobile Community Calendar.

If you haven't yet, check out our Predictions - all of them.  Our team of five, plus one from my interview with Ed Schmidt from ATT give you six pieces of sage advice to help you plan for 2011!

- Caroline's:  Growth, Expectations and Upsets
- Harper's: A Look Ahead at 2011
- Teresa's:  App...

 What do you get when you put mobilists in a bar from Australia, Belize, Cambodia, Canada, China, Finland, France,  Germany, Hong Kong, India,  Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Japan, jordon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan,Thailand,  UK , USA, Vietnam and a Bull Dog??

A WIP Connector party of course!

We hosted 'THE' Developer party @ MAC (Mobile Asia Congress), last week, on Tuesday, November 16th at Bull Dog's pub in Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong.  We had a great turnout of over 175 people that kept the room buzzing and the beer flowing. 

Thanks so much to all of you who came out and enjoyed yourself.  A big shout out to Bull Dog's who were so great to work with, especially helping to retrieve my phone that was left behind in a taxi.  Thankfully it was returned   Thanks also to our marketing partners:  Mobile Alliance of Singapore, Mobile Monday Hong Kong, The Code Project, HKWDC, Mobile Future in Stockholm, StartUps Hong Kong, HKWTIA, and...

My next exercise in "event moderation"   will be at the app-tly named Planet of the Apps which would surely call for some singerie from the so-called moderator.

While the role of panel moderator is fairly well documented  and respected activity the "whole day moderator" at a conference tends to be seen as a mix between a water-boy and  a linkedin profile reader.

Refusing to be either of them, I gave go at putting the job in the spotlight it deserves, by listing the duties of he moderator:

• Keep a straight line: Every event sometimes feels like a hazardous stumbling walk through presentations of various flavors, styles and topics. That's why the moderator helps connect the dots to give the event a sense of completeness and cohesion.
• Be a good companion: It's always annoying to see a good mate's best story wasted because the audience is left asleep by a lunch, scattered by a break, dreaming from a presentation or simply muted in the expectation of the closing beers. This...

Simon Lucas from Enough Software won a ticket for Nokia's annual developer conference Nokia Developer Summit (Thanks to Nokia!).

As a Thank you note he proposed to share his thoughts about the summit!, and especially on the stream he attended dedicated to Qt development and development in Qt :D 

Seat down and go through the content of the 2 days of conference seating comfortably in front  of your computer!

Nokia Developer Summit 2010 – Technical Stream 1: Qt SDK

“Nokia is back” was the message Nokia spread at the opening key notes of the Nokia World and Nokia Developer Summit (NDS) 2010 in London. But this statement not only referred to the new devices Nokia introduced to the public in the last couple of months and of course the brand new ones they presented here at the Nokia World. A big deal of this statement also referred to Nokia's new Qt SDK which Nokia branded under a well known credo only put in different words: “Code less, create more, deploy anywhere”.

In...

August was a quite month on the travel front for the WIP team, and we can't say we didn't enjoy the break! But we are dusting off our suitcases and warming up our frequent-flyer cards, and are getting ready to head out on another round of travel to mobile events (as you may have seen in our last newsletter). What makes going to these events fun is getting to meet up with people like you, the WIP community, so if you're going to be at any of these events below, be sure to say hi.

And as always, while we're at events, Twitter is a great way to keep up with us:

• Caroline: @CarolineWIP
• Thibaut: @thibautR
• Carlo: @caaarlo

Where we are over the next few weeks:

• Sept 10-11, Over The Air, London (Thibaut) 
• Sept 13-14, AppNation, San Francisco (Carlo speaking)
• Sept 14, Nokia Developer Summit, London, (Thibaut)
• Sept 15, DEMO, Santa Clara (Carlo)
• Sept 15, Saskatchewan ICT Forum, Regina (Caroline speaking)
• Sept 15-17, Mobile Innovation Week, Toronto...

While the SXSW Interactive Festival isn't until March, the process of picking panels and speakers has already begun! SXSW relies on attendees and others to help determine the content they feature, and WIP and several of its pals have submitted panel ideas and need your help! It's simple -- all you have to do is follow the links below and give a thumbs up to the panel ideas you like, and add a comment in support if you're so inclined.

First up is a panel I (Carlo) submitted, titled User Experience and Cross-Platform App Development. It's going to take a look at developing for different device types and form factors, such as phones, tablets, netbooks, TVs and other connected devices. I've got several great panelists lined up to cover this important and interesting topic.

Ben Jacobsen from Mobspot submitted Driving App Discovery In An Overcrowded Marketplace, which will delve into the pressing developer issue of making sure people can find your app. As an added bonus, he asked me...