As per usual, another week, another carnival (if things were only like this in real life, too…). This week’s edition of the Carnival of the Mobilists is being hosted by the formidable Antoine RJ Wright, and it is full of goodies. He is featuring:
- Not one but two posts on BlackBerry (and I have no involvement in either; cf. my About Me page for disclaimers), one looking at its (apparently) impending death and offering advice on how to fix it and one looking at its (apparently) robust health despite recent dips.
- A very interesting post on how handset UX affects testing.
- A book review on HTML5 and the mobile web.
- A report on mobile in the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) region.
- My own little piece on the mobile component of Facebook’s IPO (hint: there is none).
- An interview with one of GigaOm’s mavens.
- Plus about 10 or so more incredibly worthwhile reads including by singularity rockstar Ray Kurzweil, mobile influencer #1 Tomi Ahonen (not my but Forbes’ words) and, and, and…
Go, get a coffee (or green tea, or whatever you feel inclined towards) and allow yourself half an hour of good reading on all things mobile over here. And, if you would like to participate in the carnival yourself, you can: to submit a post, just e-mail mobilists@gmail.com. If you want to host, check out the Mobilists website for processes etc.
This week’s Carnival of the Mobilists comes to you from Kansas, more specifically from Steven Hoober, and here’s what he has in stock for you:
- Will larger screens lead to poorer mobile web sites?
- Do apps beat browsing?
- What will be the best mobile advertising networks 2012?
- Do QR codes work? Someone had a look at TfL’s (better known as the operator of the London Tube) numbers.
- What can advertisers expect from the Kindle Fire?
- Would you close your business for two days per week? A look at retailers and the benefits of mobile-optimized websites.
- Will Windows Phone 7 be cutting it?
- Android and Apple have not won the smartphone war.
- Have you ever heard of a “wearable computing equation”? Check it out!
- What is the spectrum/bandwith crunch in Boise, Idaho?
- My little piece on the revolutionary (well, perhaps, “only” disruptive) French operator Free.
- Image processing in Generation M
The carnival is live here. Go read! 
A new year, a new carnival (which will returned to weekly editions now, too). This week’s edition is hosted by Mark Bridges over at thefonecast.com, and he includes posts, such as:
- Lots of reminiscing on the past year (on mobile marketing, the greater scope of the mobile landscape and – albeit in Spanish – a reminder of a joke from all the way back in 2004 when someone suggested in April Fools’ fashion that Apple – hold your breath – might launch a phone bypassing traditional network operators).
- Of course some predictions (general ones as well as a look on where mobile development specifically might go) and Tomi Ahonen’s latest on why all roads lead to Mobile (as in tech, not as in Alabama).
- A couple of posts on what might or might not happen to WebOS following HP’s open-sourcing announcement (comparisons to Symbian’s fate included).
- More on dying platforms with a piece on mobile flash.
- Ad performance benchmarking (Admob vs mobfox).
- A call to prepare for the (presumed) ascent of the Kindle Fire.
- And, finally, a nod to my two posts on Angry Birds and my take on the dubious assertion that “social lost its sizzle“.
The carnival is here! Go, read it! And if you’re a blogger wanting to participate, head over to the Carnival’s revamped homepage where you will find everything you need to know about submitting entries and even hosting one on your own blog if you are so inclined.
In the frantic run-up to Christmas, I missed this (which is nearly unforgivable of course): the last Carnival of the Mobilists of the year, this time hosted by Peggy herself on Mobile Groove (something for you to read regularly anyway!).
This version (which you will find here) brings the wrap-up of the best and brightest in mobile-related blogging from the past month and it is well, well worth a read. You’ll get:
- Chetan Sharma’s recount of his latest Mobile Breakfast event. Trends and predictions galore.
- Martin Wilson’s guest blogger Tina de Souza on retail and mobile (one of the more exciting dichotomies to solve).
- Tomi Ahonen has one of his usual brief (not) posts on Nokia.
- WIP Connect’s Carlo Longino interviews Touchtype.
- James Cameron of Camerjam fame interviews Daniel Appelquist from BlueVia (and many things before that…).
- Antoine Wright casts a critical eye on UX for mobile services.
- and, and, and…
Go read it! You know you need it after those few days offline. Perfect snacking.
And, if I don’t speak to you before: have a great 2012 and remember to live life to the fullest – if or if not it turns out to be the end of the world!
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Remember one of the most wonderful resources for mobile bloggers? yes, it is the Carnival of the Mobilists and this month’s version is live now! It is a best of digest of May’s mobile-related blogs. This month, there are some real goodies! You will find:
- GoSub60′s Sean Thompson musing the question of whether to “go free”;
- James Coops from MobyAffiliates looking at the commercial opportunities of – you may have guessed – mobile affiliate marketing;
- Mobile marketing veteran Russell Buckley looks at mobile couponing as the next billion dollar market (mobile Groupon anyone?);
- Industry thinker and Futuretext founder Ajit Jaokar looking at whether the “two-sided market” model may not actually apply to carriers (and I tend to agree; here’s another blog post…
); - Our very own Peggy Anne Salz of MobileGroove (f/k/a MSearchGroove) focuses on marketing to digital natives;
- The Fonecast’s James Rosewell makes a case for Microsoft to buy Nokia (the rumour of which has just been refuted by Mr Elop himself though);
- Dennis Bournique of the WAP Review looks at where MeeGo is at these days;
- Richard Monson-Haefel looks at “omni-mobility”; and
- finally, my own bit on the evolving role of publishers also found a mention.
Go now and read it over here on Francisco Kattan’s blog and have a great time!
Oh, and if you want to be part of this, make sure to look up the Carnival online and follow them on Twitter (@COTMobilists).
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…
