Speaking at FITC: Toronto!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Podcast from 360|iDev

I was down at 360|iDev at the beginning of March, and Rob Toole from the Boston Adobe Mobile User Group got me, Emmanuelle Cipollini from Barefoot Software and Dave Yang of swfoo to talk about some things that are happening in the mobile space.

You can get the podcast here.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Mobile Developers & Designers of Toronto

After much deliberation, I have decided to start up a group in Toronto called the "Mobile Developers and Designers of Toronto". Mobile development is on the uprise, and I believe that a group like this is needed right about now.

It will be a monthly meeting with presentations by other developers and designers, with lots of opportunity for learning and networking.

How is this group different than Mobile Monday Toronto? MoMoTo has been around for almost three years now, and I am a regular attendee (when I can make it). They get a large turnout, and have recently moved their meetings to the facilities at MaRS. Jim and Alex have done a great job putting this group together and get some large draws for the presenters.

What MoMoTo does not do all that well is give presentations that address the needs of developers and designers. It doesn't talk about the technical and creative challenges presented to the teams that are in charge of actually building the various mobile applications.

So, look it up on Facebook, and join the group. Come on out to the meetings (our first is April 8th). If you would like to present something, please drop me a line!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Mobile Connect: Canceled

There was a mobile conference called "Mobile Connect" that was schedule for March 10-14 in Santa Clara. This conference was recently canceled for unspecified reasons. I should say that it has been "postponed", but in my opinion, when you postpone an event with no new scheduled date, then it's really just canceled.

Here's a link to the conference details: http://mobileconnectevent.com/

This does bring some concern to me, as FITC:Mobile is still moving ahead for September. Clearly, there are many reasons why a conference such as this may fail.

I tried to find out the cost of this conference, but since it's been postponed, the only pricing information left on their site is that if you need to cancel your registration, there is a $150.00 USD administration fee that is non-refundable. This is already more than the Super Early Bird and Early Bird prices for FITC:Mobile.

Another thing I noticed is the types of sessions that were at Mobile Connect. The topics seem to be extremely technically oriented, specializing in very niche topics. While the sessions for FITC:Mobile are far from being finalized, it should be recognized that there have not been very many conferences targeting mobile developers, and as a result it is safe to assume that most developers are not long time mobile veterns, but rather they are developers who are slowly getting into developing for mobile. FITC:Mobile will have sessions that target all levels of developers, encouraging those who don't know to learn, and for those who do know to share.

Overall, it's unfortunate that Mobile Connect has been postponed. The mobile industry as a whole needs to have more successes than failures if it is to succeed.

FITC: Toronto has been a major succes for 8 years now, and it is hoped that the Toronto location will help spur the success of FITC: Mobile.