The Future of Mobile conference in London was a fascinating day out as there were a variety of views held by speakers about where the future of mobile lies.
While everyone seemed in agreement that the iPhone has radically changed the future of mobile devices, the debate around whether the iPhone or Android will win was left unresolved. I did note that Google's Rich Miner was there giving an impressive in-depth presentation about Android while Apple was conspicuous in its absence.
The majority of speakers believe, of course, that mobile is the future. They produced a large array of facts and figures to prove it. It was the panel of 6 bloggers who stole the morning show though, with Helen Keegan bravely exclaiming that "there is no future to mobile". Once everyone in the crowd had regained their composure she went on to give her very rational and reasonable 6 points on why this is the case.
The afternoon's highlights were two speakers who really got the room thinking. Tomi Ahonen made some fascinating observations about the current mobile market and discussed how mobile is being used in Japan. He gave examples of new forms of advertising, like the snack food company Tohato's World's Worst War Game and ways in which mobile is being incorporated with interactive TV.
Jonathan MacDonald of Ogilvy One then discussed the idea that brands in the new world are facilitators and that people are advertisers, He believes businesses that create an emotional connection are the businesses of the future - creating armies of fanatics is the most cost effective way to advertise. Check out Jonathan's presentation and his new book.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the day was the constant and all-pervasive use of Twitter. Sitting on a comfy chair in his own office (and far from the expense of the conference) Alan Patrick pieced together an alarmingly accurate review of the conference. He did this by following those twittering from the event, using #FOM and his Twitterstream. This could be something conference organisers should worry about when considering the future of conferences.
This was the most used presentation slide (it appeared 3 times!) so I guess it's a good summation of the day.
As all good conferences should the day ended in true British fashion with a party down at the local pub where the networking (well, ok.... 'socialising') continued ;-).
