First Mobile Monday Mumbai - Event Report

July 9th, 2006

The inaugural Mobile Monday Mumbai event took place on July 3rd at the office of Netcore Solutions.

Incessant rains lashed Mumbai during the four days starting Sunday (July 2nd) and continuing till Wednesday. Amidst media warnings to return home ASAP, the mobile minds braved rains - determined to meet.

More than 100 people had registered for the event and nearly 65 were sent confirmations. There were around 20 cancellations due to the rains.

About 40 mobile industry professionals from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad came for the event.

The meet began with Veer Bothra introducing Mobile Monday and outlining the agenda for the evening. The theme was “Mobile Internet - Beyond ringtones, wallpapers and games”.

The Presenters - Rajesh Jain and Pankaj Sethi (Photo taken by Vinu)

First to present on this topic was Rajesh Jain, MD, Netcore Solutions. He talked about mobile internet and its importance in emerging markets.

For users, it bridges the information gap in the absence of personal computers and broadband. For operators, it can be the next Ringbacktone in terms of generating Rs 30 per month via download charges.

Pankaj Sethi, VP-VAS, Tata Teleservices was the next presenter. He provided an operator’s perspective on the topic, talking about the oppotunities, threats and challenges mobile internet presents.

Would Search be the killer app on mobiles too? Will mobile search be different considering the pecularities of the mobile device and user behaviour. Who will control the mobile advertising dollars and will it be search-driven like it is on PC-internet or will it be application-driven like Email, IM or blogs.

The discussions that followed the presentations were the highlights of the day. The diversity of companies and backgrounds of participants added to the richness of the discussions. A significant portion of the event was dedicated to discussions, which forms the core of its segments viz. presentations, discussions and networking.

Rajan, co-founder of Hyderabad-based mobile startup Advetta, has an extensive write up capturing the salient points that were discussed.

Have put up the presentations, pictures, audio and video of the event in this post. In the true spirit of Mobile Monday, all experiential elements of the event were captured on a mobile (Nokia N70) lent by Girish Nair of Netcore for this purpose. Martin Selva of Contests2win chipped in with is handycam to record the event.

On behalf of all the participants, the organising committee of Mobile Monday Mumbai would like to sincerely thank Netcore Solutions for hosting the event. And many thanks to Jari Tammisto, CEO of Mobile Monday, Finland and Benjamin Joffe, co-founder of MoMo Beijing and CEO of Plus Eight Star for all their help and tips in getting it off the ground.

Mobile Monday is an industry event and is driven by the community, whose suggestions and co-operation makes it all possible. Would appreciate feedback on the event from those who attended and any ideas on topics and venue of future Mondays. I’m pleased to announce that two companies have agreed to host Mobile Mondays in August and October.

Looking forward to the great times at Mobile Monday in August!

Entry Filed under: General