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Mobile Financial Services on May 24th

Join us for a Mobile Monday discussion about financial services and mobile.

Hosted by Bank of America, you’ll hear from financial services leaders about the intersection of the mobile and financial worlds.

Panelists include:

Marc  B. Keller – Senior Vice President of Consumer Banking Transformation, Bank of America

In addition to his Banking Transformation capacity at Bank of America, Marc B. Keller acts as an Executive-in-Residence at MIT’s Center for Future Banking. He works on business development and strategy to determine Bank of America’s new business models and strategic approaches to consumer finance across the BAC enterprise, including emerging payments and mobile commerce initiatives. At MIT, Marc also advises the Next Billion effort to expand financial services via mobile telephony to the underserved both in the US and in the developing world.

Matt Calman – Senior Vice President and R&D Executive, Bank of America

Also a member of the Innovation team at Bank of America, Matt Calman leads the Center for Future Banking, a joint venture between the bank and the MIT Media Lab focused on rethinking the human financial experience. His organization also includes the Gateway Innovation Lab and the Innovation Enablement Team. Calman joined the bank in 1986 in Corporate Trust and has led teams in information technology, strategy, and process design. He founded several industry workgroups focused on business and technical standards for emerging image transaction processes. In his current role, Calman brings together cutting-edge research at MIT with strategies and innovation capabilities across the enterprise. He also leads an innovation team for China Construction Bank, building innovation labs and teams in China. Calman has authored more than 30 U.S. and foreign patents and was named Bank of America’s first Inventor of the Year in 2008.

Chris Musto – General Manager Financial Services, Keynote Competitive Research, Keynote Systems Inc.

Chris leads the Keynote Competitive Research program.  In this role, Chris oversees two dozen annual competitive benchmarking studies in North America and Europe covering over 35,000 user sessions and technical monitoring of roughly 1 million task simulations across 200 leading financial services, retail, search, travel and other sites annually.  In addition, Chris oversees Keynote Scorecards for Financial Services, a fact-based competitive benchmarking service. Chris joined Keynote in 2005 with the acquisition of the Watchfire benchmarking and website assessment services business unit.  His areas of focus include best practices in online customer experience, identifying the online interactions that drive successful sales and service outcomes, and the integration of the Internet into an overall delivery strategy. He has been cited in leading media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Bill Hartman – Director of Research, Essential

Senior consultant leading Essential’s research efforts in product and service discovery and definition, Bill Hartman maps strategy opportunities and drives development agendas. Expert in the translation of user and channel inputs into design requirements for hardware, software, web interaction, device interaction, and service development projects.  Bill consults to clients in a wide range of industries but most recently led a multi-nation, ethnographic study including the use of mobile in financial transactions. He also led a co-creation study among young adults to develop a strategy for LifeTuner, an online community sponsored by the AARP to increase financial literacy.

Aaron MacPherson –Practice Director with IDC Financial Insights

Aaron McPherson is a practice director with IDC Financial Insights, responsible for the strategic direction of research in payments and security.    With the onset of mobile technology his research has grown to encompass mobile and he brings the insight of many conversations with industry leaders to our community.  Previously, Mr. McPherson was a principal in the Consumer Financial Services Group at American Management Systems (AMS), a leading technology strategy and implementation firm. While there, Mr. McPherson developed implementation strategies for CRM initiatives at a top-ten North American bank as well as a leading online bank. Before joining AMS, Mr. McPherson served as a financial analyst in the Executive Office of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

When:  Monday, May 24th from 6 to 9 pm

Where: Bank of America auditorium at the first floor of 100 Federal Street, Boston, MA.

    Accessible by the Red Line (South Station or Downtown Crossing) and Orange Line (State Street), as well as several buses (link). This location is wheel-chair accessible. Parking is available at Post Office Square and other public lots in the surrounding area.

Register now to reserve your spot

Note:  Registration closes at noon on Friday May 21 so we can clear all participants with security.

Cost: Free

Many thanks to event organizers Dave Micalizzi of KMDM Inc and Lisa Handalian of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch who are our Mobile Monday ambassadors to the financial world.

Refreshments are compliments of Essential Design.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Mobile Camp Sessions (Sat, April 3rd)

    Mobile Camp Boston keeps getting bigger and better.  Every day we’re getting amazing new volunteer speakers and attendance is at record levels.

    Sign up to reserve your spot at Mobile Camp!  It’s free to attend and free to present.

    Here’s a sampling of the sessions you can expect:

    Joel Angiolillo of Verizon Wireless:  Mobile User Interface Standards and Guidelines: Are they a good idea?

    Anthony Hand of Motorola:  MOTOBLUR and Android UI.

    Heather Menery of Jumptap:  Targeting ads in mobile through geo-targeting and demographic-targeting.

    Erica Pierantozzi of the Travel Channel:  Developing mobile as a brand and best practices for acquiring mobile users.

    Jeremy Halpern, Managing Director of Evolution Advisors LLC – How to finance your startup.

    Doug Levin of CE Fusion Center:  All about Venture Funding.

    Ramesh Kumar of 2ergo:  Future of mobile coupons and mobile commerce.

    Noah Tye:  Programming for Android in Scala.

    Richard Kasperowski: Control UI and Scrum/Agile for mobile development.

    Raj Aggarwal of Localytics:   How to measure your app with mobile analytics.

    Laurie Cutts:  Best practices for marketing and promoting mobile applications.

    Heather Sears of Mobile Synergies: How mobile technology is transforming the urban experience.

    Riche Zamor of Social Contxt:  Mobile strategies and applications for nonprofits.

    Mobile Camp is free thanks to a generous sponsorship from Verizon Wireless.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Mobile Monday free events at CTIA

    Mobile Monday free events at @ CTIA

    Mobile Monday CTIA party

    Cocktail Reception at the Hard Rock 5.30pm at 3/24

    Mobile Monday Cocktail Reception on March 24th

    Mobile Monday is holding a Cocktail Reception at one of Vegas’s top venues, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  The reception will be Wednesday, March 24, 2010 from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the Body English nightclub.

    Platinum sponsor:

    Mobile Monday Nokia

    Additional sponsors:

    Mobile Monday GetJar

    Mobile Monday CTIA show floor

    Mobile Monday CTIA Lounge

    Mobile Monday lounge and stage at CTIA

    On the show floor, March 23rd and 24th from 3 to 4pm, at the Las Vegas Convention Center − Exhibits Innovation Stage, North Hall.

    Click here for more information on Mobile Monday CTIA.

    Mobile Monday takes the stage at CTIA – literally.  For the first time Mobile Monday will host live interactive programs on the showfloor. Executives, visionaries and developers will share insights on emerging technology, trends and opportunities in the mobile industry.

    Come here how Mobile technology changes how we live, work and play.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • March’s Mobile Monday Boston (#momobo) featured nine startups from both the Boston area and the UK, as UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) promoted its Mobile Technologies Mission to Boston campaign. The firms that presented included:

    Fluent Mobile

    Micah Adler, CEO led off by positioning UK-based Fluent Mobile as a firm focusing on app store optimization (ASO), marketing mobile apps to ensure they’re discovered within the app store, with interaction between the app store, search and discovery, and mobile advertising.  The company’s also developed its own app, Fluent News, to aggregate your news feeds.

    Textaurant

    Joshua Bob, founder and President of Boston-based Textaurant described the startup as an application provider focused on reducing your wait time at upscale casual restaurants, and eliminating the need for restaurants to use expensive pager-based systems. Their waiting list management solution extends table occupancy rates, and the firm hopes to tap into the more than 140,000 upscale casual restaurants in the US such as Chili’s and Olive Garden.

    i-Migo

    UK-based i-Migo, led by Saban Demirbasa, is a mobile security solution for mobile devices. Utilizing the Bluetooth 2.0 stack with EDR, i-Migo creates an audible alarm if you become separated from your mobile device within a certain range. The monitoring device is located on the person, can back up personal information on your mobile device, and monitors the location it over the air (OTA). If you mobile phone or laptop is out of range, it creates an audible alarm on the device, can put the device into lock down mode, and can send an OTA signal to the service provider as well to identify the theft.

    Apollo Mobile

    Rolfe Swinton, co-founder of UK-based Apollo Mobile presenting the firm’s Re4ctor mobile application platform that focuses on unlocking the potential of the 4.5 billion mobile phones around the world, 65% of which are not smartphones, but basic feature phones with web browsers. Apollo Mobile offers services such as data analytics, mobile commerce and payments, social media, video and audio synchronization, and targeted advertising to a full range of feature and basic mobile phones.

    hello vino

    Rick Breslin, CEO of Boston-based hello vino presented his Boston-area firm as a mobile wine recommendation engine for both consumers and wine industry establishments. The application’s  available on iPhone, other smartphones, and as a text-based app for feature phones, and includes 4 million brand recommendations for wine and food pairings. It also works with wineries to get their varietals discovered by consumers.

    Celtra

    According to Mihael Mikek, CEO, Celtra’s focus is on improving the mobile advertising experience going forward, to make it more immersive, interactive, and fun! It has developed a mobile marketing platform behind the ad itself, and standards-based, cross-play, media-rich, native-capable, preloaded, and easy to create and reliable cross-platform mobile advertising content. Celtra supports iPhone and Android, and soon BlackBerry smartphones.

    Tattu Mobile

    Andy Press, COO of UK-based Tattu positioned its mobile division as a provider of mobile hardware solutions, providing products for mobile operators and major brands for over five years. He specifically highlighted the firm’s line of mobile phones with solar charging capabilities for emerging markets in Africa and the Caribbean, its mobile health solutions, and Android-based tablets.

    Fluid Pixel

    Stuart Varrall, Director at Fluid Pixel described the UK startup is a company focusing on mobile games and application development, coming from a rich history of work on gaming consoles. The firm specializes in working with brands that don’t have an in-house iPhone development team. Fluid Pixel’s also done work with Adobe on its Flash-based Animentals viral pets game that is cross-platform (web, mobile, desktop), and with IGT to develop its Cleopatra Million 21 game.

    USTWO

    Julian Ehrhardt, described London and Malmo, Sweden-based USTWO as a user interface design agency that can take the user experience from concept to design to implementation. The company works across a wide variety of mobile device platforms including mobile phones, digital cameras, sat nav, digital photo frames, in-car entertainment, laptops, mobile TV, and M-health applications.

    Mobile Monday Boston had a very rich set of companies this month, to compare and contrast some of the development work being done on both sides of the Atlantic, and to highlight the work of UK Trade and Investment. Additional commentary on the evening’s presenters can be found at NewDigitalCafé.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Boston’s Mobile Investment Report 2009

    Today, Mobile Monday Boston published a report evaluating the 100 Massachusetts mobile and wireless companies that saw activity in venture capital funding and acquisitions in 2009. The data reveals that mobile has now been billion-dollar a year sector in Massachusetts for the last two years, despite recent drops in venture funding fueled by the current economic climate. Read the report here:

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • UK vs. US Mobile Demos

    On Monday, March 8, Mobile Monday Boston and our generous sponsor UK Trade and Investment are hosting a demo night for the hottest mobile companies from the UK and Boston. It will be a fun event where you’ll get to interact with some cool companies in mobile you might not otherwise get to meet.

    Think of how much fun we’ll have coming up with amusing cultural differences! Will I embarrassingly imitate an English accent on stage? You’ll just have to come to find out.

    Registration is required.

    Monday, March 8
    Doors at 6:30, event starts at 7:00pm
    Intercontinental Hotel Boston, 510 Atlantic Ave.

    UK Companies

    Apollo Mobile
    Apollo has developed a cutting-edge mobile content management platform RE4CTOR which uniquely enables real-time user interaction with most types of content (audio, video text and image).

    Tattu Mobile
    Tattu creates, develops, manufactures, and supplies niche consumer electronic products.

    i-migo
    Compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled phone with SyncML, i-migo is a portable device which backs up all data on the phone, and notifies the user if their phone goes out of a 10m range of the i-migo. This prevents the phone being left unattended and at risk of being lost or stolen.

    Rummble
    Rummble makes it easy to find people and places nearby you’ll love. Rummbles enables users to find personalized recommendations for a location very quickly. Instead of a traditional search, Rummble uses an algorithm that creates a personal ‘trust network’ for each user by calculating who they trust for different types of content.

    ustwo
    ustwo is a creative design studio based in London and Malmo specialising in pioneering graphical user interfaces that drive the services and products of some of the world’s leading brands.

    Boston Companies

    Textaurant
    Textaurant aims to create a dialogue between restaurants and patrons through the use of technology. Beginning with text messages that update patrons waiting for a table, and extending both before and after the meal, Textaurant connects restaurants with their customers for a more satisfying experience.

    Fluent Mobile
    Fluent Mobile, a pioneer in mobile content organization and delivery, develops applications that bring the speed, reliability and convenience of desktop Web browsing to handheld devices. The creators of Fluent News.

    Celtra
    Celtra’s “software-as-a-service” provides a web-based, easy-to-use, on-demand platform for integrated mobile marketing. Celtra gives clients a wide range of creative flexibility, improved mobile distribution, and world-class optimization and analytics tools. Celtra offers managed services in addition to their SaaS platform for agencies and brands that need a deeper contribution for their mobile marketing campaigns.

    BarMax
    A start-up company bringing bar exam prep to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Creators of the famous $1k iPhone app.

    Hello Vino
    Available on any mobile device, Hello Vino is a free wine pairing and recommendation guide that assists the beginner wine consumer with advice in the store or restaurant. Using a simple, step-by-step question and answer process, Hello Vino delivers wine recommendations based on your meal, an occasion, favorite tastes and flavors, or a country and region. Hello Vino will provide a specific brand recommendation for the perfect bottle of wine – anywhere, anytime. www.hellovino.com

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Announcing Mobile Camp 3 on April 3rd

    We’re pleased to announce that MobileCampBoston3 will be held at the MIT Tang Center (E51) on April 3, 2010 (9:00AM – 5:00PM). MobileCamp Boston is an un-conference dedicated to the mobile industry. Instead of having an agenda planned out ahead of time, you and other attendees decide what will be presented and discussed.

    Over the past 2 years, MobileCamp has grown from a local affair to a mobile web conference that has attracted participants from Europe and Asia. This year will be our biggest yet.

    To register, go to the website at http://barcamp.org/MobileCampBoston3. You can follow updates concerning MobileCamp on twitter @mobicampbos. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Keith Erskine at keith.erskine@padpaw.net.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Apple Event Live Blogging

    Hi-

    Randy Giusto here! I’ll be liveblogging today’s Apple Event here. The event’s set for 1:00 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT/6:00 p.m. GMT. My tweet stream will flow into this post as I curate the event (sorry, we couldn’t get TwitterLiveBlog to work w/the latest WordPress upgrade). It will also flow to my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages if you follow me, and to my blog NewDigitalCafé .

    If curious— I’ve 3 screens set up (1 iMac/1 Win7). I’m watching feeds – Gizmodo, Huffington Post, Technologizer, and TheStreet (for financial POV).  On PeopleBrowser I’ve a column of trusted industry friends, one of tech news contacts, and one of mobile developers to scan reactions.

    Hopefully Twitter stays up! If not, I’ll switch to manual post updates! I will follow up later this afternoon with a summary post of the event!

    -Randy

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • Join Mobile Monday, MassMobile, and DrinksOnTap for a mobile developer’s meetup on Jan 25th.  We’ll meet at Jillian’s near Fenway.  If you have a mobile app you’d like to demo, bring it along.

    Date: January 25th, 2010.  Time: From 6 to 8pm +

    Place: The ‘Tequila Rain’ Floor at Jillian’s Boston (near Fenway)  145 Ipswich Street, Boston, MA 02215 (map)

    Cost: $0.  Cash bar.

    This event is organized by:  Mobile Monday,  MassMobile,  Drinks On Tap

    Please register now so we know you’re coming.

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  • Filed under: Mobile
  • A view on the Quattro Wireless acquisition

    Jeff is a guest blogger for Mobile Monday. He is the former CEO of m-Qube and Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures.

    Of course the Apple acquisition of Quattro Wireless is fantastic news for the Quattro team and its investors, but behind the headlines there is more worth noting. Over the past 5 years there have been countless number of mobile marketing/ mobile advertising companies created but few have been nearly as successful as Quattro. While there is always a bit of luck involved, Quattro had the team to be successful.

    It always starts with team, and the Quattro folks are a super high quality bunch. Yes, the founders Eswar Priyadarshan, Andy Miller and Lars Albright are each rock star entrepreneurs, but it goes much deeper. A great senior team is able to recruit amazing talent all around them and the Quattro group is first rate across the board. From engineering to operations, from marketing and sales to product management to administration, the team is deep on domain expertise, driven to succeed and knows their disciplines. Together they knew the wireless ecosystem, had relationships to make progress quickly and equally importantly were skilled at executing in an entrepreneurial fashion.

    Great teams are able to shake and bake, move left and right and find the opportunity. Like many successful startups, the final recipe for success is not usually where the company started. Quattro began with an idea to help carriers monetize their inventory with mobile advertising and quickly realized that serving the needs of tier one publishers with a combination of technology and sales would be a better model. The team had their eyes wide open, and like a good running back, saw a hole on the playing field and ran through it.

    Being good is not enough, entrepreneurs need to be aggressive. I had the pleasure of working with many of the Quattro team during their previous successful business at m-Qube. These guys know how to get it done and go hard at making it happen. There has been great personal sacrifice made in the name of business accomplishment. In this competitive world, there is always competition ready to step up if you let your guard down. The Quattro team took the lead and never looked backed. They ran harder and smarter then the competition and deserve the victory that they achieved.

    Cheers to the Quattro team! Congratulations to its investors who deserve much credit for believing early in the Quattro team and giving them the financial and board support needed to win. And congratulations to another successful wireless win for Boston. Quattro joins the ranks of companies like Starent, Airvana, Third Screen, Enpocket, m-Qube and of course many others. Let’s lift a glass to the Quattro gang for helping to keep Boston a hot spot for emerging wireless businesses. Hopefully companies like JumpTap, uLocate, Rave and Skyhook Wireless and others are right behind them.

    Jeff Glass is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures where he focuses on early stage internet and wireless investments. He previously served as President & CEO of m-Qube, where he was responsible for the $250 million acquisition of m-Qube by VeriSign in 2006. Jeff has been voted Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” in New England and named to Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40″ list. Prior to m-Qube, Jeff was the co-founder of a number of other successful companies across internet, media and direct marketing. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Amherst College.

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  • Filed under: Mobile

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