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What's Inside
Letter from ED
So that's what a Wireless Summit is!
Putting on a major, 3-day conference on short notice is no picnic. Who knew there were so many details! Since this was the first ever Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit, we had nothing to build on except our vision of creating a meaningful, regional event around ideas, innovation and investment. More here: www.pnwsummit.com
We wanted to create a summit where leaders can meet and have open discussions about "the tsunami of change" - in Judy Bishop's own words - in this region and the rest of the world. We wanted to produce a conference where every delegate, speaker, exhibitor or sponsor felt like an important participant in the dialogue that took place over the three day event. We wanted the event to feel West Coast in spirit and we wanted people who visited Vancouver to go back an tell their friends about our summit. We wanted it to be open, relevant, intense and interactive
Producing the summit felt like a start-up. And, like any successful start-up, it wasn't about the IDEA, but about EXECUTION and TRACTION. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing we didn't have a lot of time to think about what we were doing – putting on a major conference is a daunting, complex job. Although the summit had been in the works for many months, it was only in the 8 – 10 weeks preceding it that we actually got to focus and work on it. And, judging by the casual, anecdotal feedback, we pulled it off JUST IN TIME.
Of course, we couldn't have succeeded without the support of more than 200 delegates, keynote speakers, panel members, exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers, and the board of WINBC. So, thanks to all of YOU! Turnout for the conference was great, given the short run-up to it. We hope even more of you will come to our 2009 Summit – planning is already underway!
- Michael Bidu, Executive Director, WINBC
Renew Your WINBC Membership Today
Our recent Summit was all about participation and collaboration. And the more of us there are participating and collaborating, the more we can accomplish. That's why it's so important for you to renew your membership promptly.
Here’s a reminder of some of the benefits you enjoy as a WINBC member:
- You get an opportunity to influence the development of the emerging wireless technology cluster and business strategy in BC, Canada and internationally.
- You enjoy increased exposure to potential customers, the investment community, suppliers, and a variety of products and services.
- You're entitled to free access to Mobile Monday events and enjoy preferred rates to other WINBC events and workshops.
- You have membership privileges at wavefront (formerly known as WINLAB), the centre for accelerated commercialization.
To review all membership benefits and fees, click here: http://www.winbc.org/Membership/
On February 4, the WINBC Board of Directors is meeting to discuss a number of issues... among them, improving member benefits. The board is currently reviewing options for offering members an extended health care plan. Such a plan would be a huge benefit, especially for small and medium sized companies who will be able to offer affordable extended health care to their employees. It's a great way to conserve capital while still offering an incentive that will help you attract and keep talented people.
You'll be glad to hear the board has decided to hold the line on membership fees – it won't cost you any more in 2008 than it did last year.
Next week we'll be sending out renewal notices and invoices. But don't let that stop you from renewing today. You can get all the information you need here: CLICK TO RENEW YOUR WINBC Membership
If you enjoy the events WINBC puts on over the course of the year – the MoMoVans, the Face_Time, SPIF, the Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit, and more – then show your support by renewing your membership.
If you are reading this and you aren't already a member, then please join us. If you are a member and know somebody who isn’t, but should be, urge them to join – or let us know and we'll reach out to them. Specifically, we're looking for wireless companies and organizations in such verticals as entertainment, media, transportation, health and tourism – whether local, US-based or international.
We hope we provided good value in 2007 and look forward to welcoming all our members back for 2008.
BC wireless industry poised for rapid growth
We're putting the data collected in our 2007 Wireless Industry Survey into a downloadable PDF. Among the gems in this survey: BC companies expect total wireless industry revenues to rise 50% over the next 12 months. Until the full report is ready, click here for a quick summary of what the survey found.
PNWS Summit stresses leadership, innovation and investment for wireless
By splitting the Summit into three separate parts, on separate days, we were able to pinpoint the three areas that are most vital to building up our industry: Leadership, Innovation, and Investment.
Day 1: Great start made at Leadership Summit
The Leadership Summit, was almost over capacity. We invited 42 leaders of wireless companies or organizations, expected 25 to attend and ended up with 36 industry leaders. That's an 85.7% response rate! Clearly, industry leaders felt it was important to attend. Those leaders were joined by Steve Thomson, of Steve Thomson Consulting, Brian Krieger, Director of the 2010 Commerce Centre and Colin Hansen, Minister of Economic Development and his assistant who joined us at different moments throughout the day, to share opinions about innovation, talent, global markets and commercialization.
Brian Krieger, our generous host, outlined the tremendous business opportunities posed by the 2010 Olympic Games, including the upcoming BC Tech Week in Beijing, May 19-24, coinciding with the official opening of the BC Canada Pavilion. More than 400,000 Chinese are expected to visit our pavilion from May to September.
Our presenters were all well-prepared. Moderators, such as Judy Bishop, managing partner at Bishop + Company, and Pat Watson, VP HR at Sierra Wireless, were outstanding at directing traffic, asking questions and making provocative statements.
"There's a tsunami of innovation and change sweeping the global wireless industry," said Bishop, "and here we are, asleep at the switch, hardly aware of what's really happening."
Pat Watson shared the important lessons Sierra Wireless has learned about attracting and keeping talented people, including starting with the "steak" and finishing with the "sizzle" by making employees feel they are important parts of a winning team.
Steve Thomson gave us the results of the 2007 BC Wireless Industry Survey he conducted last June, which found that our industry is at the "inflection point" -- poised for rapid growth, ready-to-export and in need of $133 million in financing over the next 24 months.
Wireless leaders from Alberta and Washington reaffirmed the healthy status of their regions, but noted an urgent need for more well-qualified people in marketing and sales, and for more commercialization in research and testing.
We're putting together a downloadable "PNWS Leadership Report" detailing the main action items that arose from the summit:
- Creating the right environment for innovation
- Attracting world-class talent
- Accelerating commercialization
- Gaining broader access to world markets
Jim Maynard, President of Wavefront and Teri Nizolla from EDC had key things to present about the need for accelerated commercialization for developer communities, and for access to serious capital when competing in global markets.
Provincial economic development minister Colin Hansen closed the day noting that, among our success stories, BC's high tech sector now employs more people than forestry, fishing and mining combined.
The after the summit party at The Ocean Club in West Vancouver was a hit with all invitees. The food prepared exclusively from BC ingredients by executive chef Sarah Rumley was exquisite. The wines from the Okanagan were excellent and the special chocolate-raspberry cake created by Thomas Haas with the blue PNWS logo on it was a delicious surprise. We'll post pictures on our website.
Day 2: Panels, Keynotes, Surprise Guest from Stanford... and more
What was the big buzz of the day? Was it LBS? Was it social networking? Was it the "Death of Distance?" No. The big buzz was mobile entertainment – in the two-legged form of Jennifer Aniston, who was at the Hyatt to film scenes from her new movie, Traveling (and, incidentally, disrupting our exhibit space and washroom facilities).
During the conference, delegates participated whole-heartedly, keynote speakers gave informative and entertaining talks, and our panels were impressive in their depth of knowledge and willingness to lead the dialogue in the room.
Everyone liked the ample opportunities for networking and the livevote™ session set up for us by John Boxall of Handi Mobility, to collect delegates votes for "Best Exhibit", "Best Keynote" and "Best Panel"... and the winners were: Webtech Wireless, Fred Ghahramani, and Mobile Entertainment and Social Networking.
Day 2 of PNWS was all about great content, showcasing, networking, new business opportunities and potential deals. At dinner, we asked how many new business contacts had been made. Fully 100% said 3, about 70% said 4, 50% said they made 5 new contacts and 20% made more than five. Many delegates say they expect to do business with their newfound business partners within the next 3-6 months.
Day 3: The SPIF (Service Providers Investment Forum)
Last year we went through 40 entries to come up with 10 companies to present at the SPIF. This year, due to lack of time, we focused on quality, not quantity. Consequently, though we only reviewed 14 entries, we still found 10 worthy presenters -- a testament to the talent and growing maturity of our industry.
The SPIF-ers, themselves, came from all over the world and were highly impressed with the diversity and calibre of the presentations they saw, and with showcase opportunity given to presenters at the offices of McCarthy Tétrault.
Presenters came from both consumer and enterprise-oriented wireless companies and got an unbeatable opportunity to show off what they have to some of the most influential wireless companies in the world. They also made the most of the showcase area and the separate, 1-to-1 sessions they were able to schedule with specific SPIF-ers.
The faces of PNWS '08
We had a excellent group of panelists and keynote speakers – 37 to be exact. Among them:
Peter Howley, from Success Generation Systems, a self-described serial entrepreneur opened the day with a provicative question: "Is this a good idea?" Terry Hughes, CEO of Redwood Industries told us of the lessons he learned as a small startup raising capital. Fred Ghahramani, co-founder of airG wanted to know: Why aren't we rich yet? He spoke about the current state of mobile advertisng in North America. Dr. "Sue" Abu-Hakima, CEO of Amika Mobile, told us about the use of artificial intelligence in creating timely, relevant mobile content. Joseph Verschueren, CEO of Formotus gave his insights into enterprise markets.
Howard Rheingold, author of best-selling Smart Mobs (www.smartmobs.com) was the surprise guest. He dropped in digitally from Stanford University to entertain us after dinner with a talk on the disruptive powers of wireless communications.
If you'd like to see pictures of some of our speakers, click on this link: http://www.pnwsummit.com/speakers_2008.html
Next MoMoVan March 3
Things don't always go as planned. We had hoped to hold a Mobile Monday in February, but there simply isn't enough time. Instead, the next one will be held on Monday, March 3. This is a very important MoMoVan meeting. It's topic is Financing, and we'll be meeting at Fasken Martineau's new office at Bentall 5. We'll be sending out a couple of reminders. It's very important that you:
- Don't miss this March 3 MoMoVan on "Money for Local Wireless and New Media Companies."
- RSVP early, because space is limited to 75 people.
¡Viva EspaÑa – vamos a Barcelona!
That's right; we're heading to Barcelona, February 11 to 14, for the GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly the 3GSMA World Congress).
As the 2007 BC Wireless Industry Survey shows, Western Europe is the fourth largest market for our local industry. WINBC member companies such as Sierra Wireless, Transeo, Vecima Networks and others will exhibit at the Congress, while organizations such as WINBC, Wavefront, WIP will be there to promote BC as a centre of wireless excellence. Specifically, WINBC’s goals for the Congress are:
- Promote BC's wireless industry to an international audience
- Identify customers and strategic business opportunities for our member companies
- Attract talent and investment to our wireless cluster.
- Participate in the MobileMonday Peer Awards 2008.
This is the world's largest international wireless conference and exhibition, with more than 55,000 attendees, 1,400 exhibitors and 250 speakers. It's a showcase for the latest in wireless from around the world and is dedicated to helping the industry develop and evolve in ways that meet consumer needs. More info: www.mobileworldcongress.com
The conference features The GSMA Global Mobile Awards for companies and organizations across the mobile value chain, plus the Mobile Innovation Global Awards which give innovators in small, young companies the opportunity to present their ideas to leading industry investors and mobile operators (similar to our SPIF).
Keynote speakers for this congress include:
- John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems
- Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and CEO, China Mobile Ltd.
- Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia
- Phuthuma Nhleko, CEO, Mobile Telephone Networks
- Arun Sarin, CEO, Vodafone
It's going to be an exciting event, and I'm sure we'll bring back many great ideas for BC's wireless industry.
Nothing so-so about Mososo
According to a recent article in CustomerThink (link below), there are currently some 225 million people world-wide who engage on just three social networks: MySpace (110 million), Google's Orkut (67 million) and Facebook (48 million). Add to that the millions of others who interact on LinkedIn, Classmates, Flickr, Friendster and others, and the total goes to well over one billion. True, those aren’t all unique users -- most social networkers typically belong to three or more networks – but it's still a vast global group. And it’s clear that social networking is becoming crucially important to marketers, advertisers, cios, software developers – really, almost anybody in business today.
Mososo (mobile social software) adds proximity and timeliness to the shared interests of social networking ("I'm here now. Want to play?") as well as the ability to use mobile devices to keep in touch from anywhere in the world, without prohibitive wireless costs.
Greater Vancouver is home to at least two companies in the mobile social networking space – airG (www.airg.com) and EQO (www.eqo.com) – both of whom will be at our conference, along with Yahoo! Mobile (www.mobile.yahoo.com).
With 20,000,000 members and 100+ mobile networks in its orbit, airG claims the "largest inter-operator mobile community in the world." EQO provides inexpensive mobile VOIP, IM and text messaging, while Yahoo! Mobile brings mobile browsing, search and email to you, no matter where you are.
Here’s a link for you: Social Networking Word of Mouth
Chetan's Crystal Ball looks at 2008
Chetan Sharma, from Issaquah, Washington, is one of the leading thinkers and consultants in wireless. He is also the author of several books and many articles on wireless. His newest book, due to be released in February, is Mobile Advertising: Supercharge your brand in the exploding wireless market. He was one of the panelists at PNWS. You can find out more about Chetan at www.chetansharma.com.
Here are a few of his predictions:
Will Mobile Payments get traction in North America and Western Europe?
Only 9% thought it is a sure bet for 2008. True mobile commerce hasn't really started in the western world. While there are significant movements, 2008 will just be a "lay the groundwork" year for mobile payments.
Will 2008 be the inflection year for Mobile Advertising?
42% gave Mobile Advertising a 75% or higher chance for rapid growth. Market will mature, more consolidation, some privacy gaffes but overall things are looking up for mobile advertising.
Will Nokia be able to extract iPhone-style rev-share from carriers in 2008?
Less than 20% thought Nokia will be able to do an Apple when it comes to rev-share arrangements. For OEMs, going direct to the consumers was considered treachery to the sacrosanct relationship with the operators. Until Apple showed up with iPhone. Now, Nokia is putting its services strategy in motion and is building a direct relationship with the consumers worldwide and it has a good shot at pulling it off though it will be a long haul.
Will Mobile TV move the needle in 2008?
Almost 70% thought mobile TV won’t make much of a difference in 08.Though AT&T is slated to introduce MediaFLO to join Verizon in the Mobile TV services market, lack of devices and better pricing models will hinder wide adoption in 2008. However, downloadable video and VOD content will experience significant growth.
Will Android make a dent in handset shipments in 2008?
Only 15% gave it a more than 75% chance this year. It is going to take some time for Android plans to mature and materialize. Don’t see any material impact in 08.
Business in Vancouver
Article highlight progress in BC wireless sector
If you don't subscribe already, be sure to visit your newstand to pick up this week's issue of Business in Vancouver. In it you'll find two good articles on the growing success of BC's wireless sector. Here's an excerpt from the article "Silicon Valley eyes B.C. wireless developers":
Representatives from international telco giants Vodafone, British Telecom and Swisscom were among those gathered in a small downtown Vancouver conference room to lend an ear as B.C. wireless companies put their best pitch forward.
Cash investment, however, wasn't top of mind for many of the companies presenting at the Service Provider Investment Forum last month. Rather, strategic partnerships with the telecom carriers were the order of the day – underscoring the need in B.C.'s wireless cluster to forge relationships with wireless carriers that have the network infrastructure and distribution channels to fast-track new technologies to market.
According to the 2007 BC Wireless Industry Survey, the province's 250 wireless companies will increasingly turn to institutional venture capital and strategic investments from channel partners in the next 24 months.
The article goes on to discuss some of the companies making presentations at the Service Provider Investment Forum, and some of the reasons the venture capital arms of major telcos attended.
The other article summarizes findings from our 2007 Wireless Industry Survey.
Don't miss the issue – read it and feel good about the progress our industry is making.
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wavefront hosts first NAVTEQ workshop for the local wireless developer community
Hear from a global leader in digital map data – NAVTEQ on March 11, 2008 in Vancouver, BC
Local application developers considering incorporating LBS or digital mapping into their platforms are invited to the first NAVTEQ workshop, hosted by wavefront at the 2010 Commerce Centre, Suite 1600 - 800 Robson Street.
Participation is free but space is limited.
For more information, contact: workshops@wavefrontac.com.
PNWS 2008 TESTIMONIALS
"I just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent conference. I met many interesting individuals, so it was a great networking opportunity. Given the short time you had to put it together I think it was miraculous."
- Brian Roberts, Director - Corporate Sales BC, Bell Mobility Inc.
"I wanted to give you a sincere thank you for the great work you did putting together the Pacific North Wireless Summit. I found the event very useful on all fronts! I am also still honored that we got to participate even though we are from Ontario!"
- Sue Abu-Hakima, M.Eng., Ph.D., Co-Founder, President/CEO, Amika Mobile Corporation
"Congratulations again on a terrific event. I hope that the SPIF event went as well as the Leadership Summit and the Conference. You managed to pull off a terrific industry event in an incredibly short period of time."
- Bruce Tattrie, Partner, Fasken Martineau LLP
"Just a quick note to thank you for you giving us the opportunity to participate in last week conference. I think I speak for the group when I say it was well worth the trip! You should be very pleased with the outcome."
- Jenn Reardon, Marketing Manager, Yahoo! Connected Life Marketing
WINBC MEMBERSHIP
For information on becoming a WINBC member:
>> Benefits & Rates
WINBC EVENT
2008 Beijing Olympics Survey
Beijing Olympics "Technology Week" -- a special event being held in the BC-Canada Olympic Pavilion in Beijing.
We need to hear from you.
INDUSTRY EVENTS
Canada @ 3GSM
Opportunities for company recruitment, Barcelona
February 11 - 14, 2008
CTIA
CTIA Wireless 2008, Las Vegas
April 1 - 3, 2008
Canadian Pavilion @ CTIA
CTIA Wireless 2008, Las Vegas
April 1 - 3, 2008
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