The Carnival of the Mobilists decided to go monthly. From now on, you will get your burst of the best of mobile blogging on a monthly basis, hopefully culminating in even juicier, fresher, more wholesome and all round fantastic contributions. I am honoured to make the start, so here goes:

  • MSearchGroove, one of the most influential blogs looks at the (true) power of personalization across digital platforms, which is the social twist on things (and couldn’t I agree more…!).
  • MobiThinking looks at what they call vanity apps, and how true this is: they point out that many companies still commission apps only because the CEO has an iPhone… Look at your target demographic before spending money, folks…
  • Deeper into the smart device space, Tam Hanna looks at the Galaxy Tablet and why it might be a trailblazer for devices to come;
  • Stat geek and Consultant Extraordinaire Chetan Sharma treats us with a write-up of his last 2010 iteration of his Breakfast series, sharing a wealth of outlooks to 2011;
  • Bending the rule of no double submissions, here’s MobiThinking’s report on three different opinions on, what the heck, exemplifies Mobile 2.0 (did we not all wonder? ;-));
  • The WAP Review offers their take on the (arguably) best eBook reader apps for the N8;
  • Finally, here’s a real goodie for you. They didn’t formally submit but I doubt they’ll oppose their inclusion: The formidable Tomi Ahonen wrote a post on Symbian goodness, which triggered a reply by the – no less formidable, if in different ways – Robert Scoble (to which Tomi of course duly replied). I have offered my own humble take on it here.

I hope you enjoy the reads.

If you would like to contribute to future iterations of the Carnival, please let us know by sending us a link to the Carnival e-mail centre of goodness. The Carnival (of course) also tweets. You can follow it under @COTMobilists.

Finally, let me point out two must-attend events for the new year:

On the Sunday before Mobile World Congress, Rudy de Waele runs his traditional Mobile Sunday Barcelona, which is – in his own words – an unofficial, informal and generally cool and funky gathering of mobile bloggers and their chums, and is thoroughly enjoyable!

And then, during MWC, there will be the annual Mobile Premier Awards, which again is something I would urge you to turn your attention to: it awards the best stuff on mobile from around the globe. Submissions are being sourced from a number of networks (Mobile Monday, the MMA, etc) and it is a fantastic showcase of the best of the best in mobile innovation today! Follow them on Twitter, too. The handle is @mobilepremier.

And, now, enjoy the festivities of the coming period (if you’re so inclined) and behave… 🙂