On June 16, the Mobile Visionary Roundtable at the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) welcomes virtual guest speaker Mark Caron presenting, “The Coming Global Wave of Mobile Widgets.” Mr. Caron, based in New York City, is the Founder and CEO of Snac, Inc. He has spent his career playing a leading role in bringing mobile services to the mass-market; starting with digital wireless services in the 1990s, text messaging in the early 2000s, and now the mobile internet with his latest start-up, Snac, Inc.
Take a look at these interesting statistics:
- 80% of mobile consumers would increase content usage if faster and more reliable. (Equation Research survey of 1001 US mobile web users – 9/09)
- iPhones only comprise only 6-7% of the US market/other smartphones only add another 16-17%. (Yankee Group – 9/09 extrapolated)
- The average free iPhone app loses 90% of it users after the first 8-9 days. (Pinch Media)
- The average US mobile site gets only 2 unique visits/month. (Crisp Wireless)
- Consumer-facing companies in the US are spending more than $1 billion/year trying to engage mobile users. (eMarketer, Mobile Marketing Association, and company estimates)
In this roundtable, participants will:
- Discover why widgets will be much bigger in mobile than the PC/web
- Learn about the new, global mobile widget standard that has these “mini-apps” poised for rapid growth on the heels of mass compatibility
- See fast, flexible and dynamic widgets in action to witness the next trend in mobile content delivery
- Better understand the mobile widget market: opportunities, challenges, key players and more
- Direct your live questions to a pioneer in the mobile widget space
Roundtable presenters will address major factors impacting the mobile industry and highlight success stories. Following the insightful mobile industry presentation, participants will benefit from networking opportunities to share best practices in mobile marketing, technology and application development.
This event takes place in downtown Chicago on Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8:30am-10:30am.
Register for the event here.
ITA roundtables are a benefit of ITA membership. Members of the general Illinois technology community are always welcome to check out any ITA roundtables free-of-charge. Roundtable events are held in downtown Chicago, across from the Sears Tower (now named the Willis Tower) at 200 S Wacker Dr, 15th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606.
Additional forthcoming Mobile Visionary Roundtable mobile topics include:
• Mobile Marketing Plans
• Best Practices in Apps Development
• The Future of Mobile
• Business Enterprise Applications
• Mobile Monetization
• Global Considerations in Mobile
• Platform Comparisons (iPhone vs. Android vs. Pre, etc.)
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the Chairs:
Tim Cascio (262) 938-5543
tcascio[at]bader-rutter.com
Raymond J. Reinhardt (312) 957-8579
Raymond@Cuddlephish.com
About the speaker, Mark Caron
Founder/CEO of Snac, Inc., New York, New York
Mark Caron has spent his career playing a leading role in bringing mobile services to the mass-market; starting with digital wireless services in the 1990s, text messaging in the early 2000s, and now the mobile internet with his latest start-up, Snac, Inc. Prior to founding Snac, Mark was Founder/CEO of MobileSpring/Ztango (now part of Real Networks). Under his leadership, the company developed and deployed in 2001, the first inter-carrier text messaging network, enabling messages to travel cross-network and kicking off the explosion in text messaging. After merging with Ztango, Mark as CEO led the company in offering a range of messaging and mobile content services to nearly all tier 1 and tier 2 US carriers. Before MobileSpring/Ztango, Mark was a co-founder and lead marketing executive at Omnipoint Communications, the first GSM carrier in the Northeast (now part of T-Mobile). Mark started his wireless career at Ericsson as a Product Manager, after working in information systems and telecommunications at GE. He has an AB in Computer Science from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About The Mobile Visionary Roundtable
The Mobile Visionary Roundtable offers a forum for ITA members to engage in active networking and interactive, high-gain, topical discussions regarding mobile marketing and technology. The monthly Mobile Visionary Roundtables feature mobile expert guest speakers, including mobile strategists, marketers and developers from around the world.
About the Illinois Technology Association
The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) represents the interests of a diverse membership of more than 650 companies in Illinois that create, deploy and utilize information technology as a core part of their organization. By connecting members with industry peers and participants, providing the latest strategic information, market research and critical market insight and by promoting key thought leaders to raise visibility and gain a greater market awareness and presence, ITA is focused on building and developing the Illinois technology community through collaboration. Additional information is available at http://www.IllinoisTech.org
Tim Cascio is the author of the Mobile Marketing, Monetization and Methods blog, Co-Founder/Co-Chair of the Mobile Visionary Roundtable at the Illinois Technology Association and Sr. Digital Strategist at Bader Rutter & Associates, an award-winning integrated marketing services agency that specializes in advertising, public relations, brand asset management, relationship marketing and digital solutions. Tim is @timcascio on Twitter and can be reached in the United States at 262-938-5543.
Please reach out to me if there’s any way I can help you through my network or otherwise. Your comments below are welcome.
Filed under: mobile apps Tagged: mobile applications, mobile apps, mobile marketing, mobile technology, mobile web, mobile widgets, phone apps
