S60 Open to new features

Ciao Toomi,

I think 3GSM is the best for mobile. Don't forget to check out Flash Lite.

Alessandro

I went to CeBit once.. quite some time ago. All I remember is that is was pretty overwhelming and that you couldn't see the forest for the trees.

3GSM is great for mobile, CeBit is obviously a bit more general. I enjoyed 3GSM last year and am going again this time. You can read about it (and you can write about it too from pres releases etc.), but you get a much better sense of things by being there, and you get to meet the people / see the cool stuff yourself. Barcelona is a nice city too!

3GSM has some good parties / hospitality in the evenings and these are often the best place to meet people informally (once you find out where and when). 3GSM is also good because everyone is there (big companies, all the OSs etc.). The Wireless Developer Forum (runs at 3GSM) might be a good place to meet developers.

The Smartphone Show is also very good for meeting people from the Symbian ecosystem, though it is a smaller scale!

Tradeshows are what you make them, effort in --> effort out!

The 3GSMWorldCongress is definitely the place to go. Nothing comes close to see what's going on in the industry (and what the competition is doing :-)

And if you go, make sure you go to a mobilists gathering:

http://blethers.com/weblog/2006/01/mobilesunday_barcelona.php

and

http://www.m-trends.org/2006/01/3gsm-gathering-of-mobilists.html

Have fun!
martin

All tradeshows vary in scope, small events are generally more focused and can be quite educational. Large ones can intimidate but if you have a well laid out agenda and schedule of things to do you'll have a great time. Nothing compares with face-to-face contact and getting your hands dirty with devices and gadgets rather than just reading about them. Be sure to look at the "add on events" for example, at CTIA shows here in North America, there's loads to do and there's a huge floor... it can be daunting trying to figure out one's next move. however, day long events that are often just prior or after the main event are often packed with great content and speakers. I've hit developer sessions from i-hollywood, Telcontar, and Nokia developer forums, as well as events like the LBS Challenge.. these have all been very useful and had led to great meetings... these were all secondary events so to speak but definitely woth staying an extra day for...

I'm not a mobile developer, but no one said journalists can comment too. ;) These are mainly about 3GSM, as it's coming in a few weeks.

I've been to many trade shows and conferences related to mobility during the last three years, and I have a lote-hate relationship with them. 3GSM is so far my favourite in mobility, because there are lots of companies in somewhat manageable scale.

First of all, it's important to attend these. These are a good way to meet people, to get insight from the industry and to try new gadgets and software even 3--6 months before they're actually shipping. Often you can see or try stuff that will never ship anywhere. I've seen very many phones and other mobile devices that were canceled shortly after.

But there are drawbacks too. First of all, you have too little time and too much to see. I've already filled my calendar for 3GSM 2006 in Barcelona. My schedule includes seven major press conferences, a few parties and many 15 to 20 minute interviews. This calendar will fall apart, if any of these events is delayed more than 15 minutes. I don't know if I'll have much time to visit the venue area itself, so much small companies won't get my attention.

I seem to be on the spam list of the attending media press list in 3GSM, and until now I've got about 30--50 invitations to interviews and press demos from small companies and PR offices. When am I supposed to go to these, when my calendar is already full with big corporation stuff.

This is not nice. I'd like to have more time to look into things, and also give small companies a chance. They're actually paying a lot of money hoping to get some attention from journalists too.

Last year in Cannes, I visited the venue area just once, and basically ran through the halls taking pictures of some gadgets. This year many press conferences are held in the same area, so I hope I'll have more time in the venue area itself.

Oh, and when did I wrote all the online news to our website? At night in the hotel. So I assume four to five hour nights wait again. Fortunately free coffee is available everywhere. ;-)

I'd go to them both if only I could...

Thanks guys!! Based on your comments, 3GSM could be our choice. I hope we still manage to get the tickets and accommodation - I'll let you know!

Moi Tommi,

I suppose you're looking at this as an educational trip, in terms of understanding how S60 needs to be a competitive platform for both consumers and other businesses? If this is the case, I would assume that you want to see how companies talk to e.g. developers/other companies in 'mature' platform competitive environments.

3GSM is fine if you're doing business development with mobile execs. The show floor is a mish-mash, with everything under the sun in mobile. Depending on your focus, this may be good or bad. What is very evident, though, is that it's a show for industry insiders. I'm not sure S60 can learn anything from 3GSM.

Symbian's Smartphone Show (Q4, so a fall escape) is a good developer-oriented show, and it's only Symbian. This is, again, both a weakness and a strength. Certainly a good opportunity to talk to developers, but it doesn't create any new ideas on what to do next with S60.

Given your occupation, you may want to go see a strictly developer-oriented show. That would really open your eyes as to how developers are courted by game platforms (they operate on the same financial basis as S60). For this, GDC (Game Developer's Conference) is probably the best demonstration of what kind of a developer offering a platform must have to compete in that market.

//markus

Markus makes a good point, and actually its true that from a S60 team perspective 3GSM might be industry insider dominated. That said there are not many places where you get that many people in the mobile industry in one place.

I would also go to a more CE device oriented show, with all the latest gadgets. Cebit or similar, I don't have experience on those. That's because for example Nokia's Multimedia business group produces 'connected multimedia devices' and not phones. They are also trying to break to the direct consumer sales channel.

I just had a chat with Tero and my boss. We decided to skip 3GSM this time. The event starts already in 2 weeks, and participating would have created quite a hassle for our real work.

But we'll participate Symbian's Smartphone Show 2006, and I hope we'll meet many of you there! http://www.thesmartphoneshow.com/