MobileMonday was ace. Initial fears that I'd had upon seeing the storm of sign-ups were unfounded: the signal:noise ratio was high and interesting folks were roaming about.

An explanation of my slightly rambly notes followed:

Dennis Hettema of OP3 kicked off with an intro to ShotCodes. I found this a little high-level (but then I'm spoilt - this is something that isn't new in the mobile industry and there have been lots of similar things proposed over the last 4-5 years). But then Dennis passed around a printed Shotcode and I gave the app a go, which worked perfectly: always heartening.

Richard Jelbert was up next, giving an interesting insight into launching a location-based service for child tracking: most of the challenge of which seemed to be around regulatory issues rather than technology. The necessity of double opt-ins, verifying users are who they say they are, complying with codes of practice... all these seem to cut down the commercial potential and imply greater risks. Good to hear about problems here, not just successes: hearing about how well someone has done doesn't really help me deliver better products, finding out where they tumbled and fell over does.

Finally, Chris Yanda (BBC mobile guy) eschewed PowerPoint and battled a dodgy microphone to give an introduction to the gloriously low-tech Coast Project: using signs at coastal locations to indicate the availability of mobile services. Again: regulations (how high a sign can be, where it is) and practicalities abounded.

All this and a chance to catch up with the mobitopians (JimH, Rafe and Martin were all there and Russ happened to be this side of the pond which was lovely), the most enthusiastic man in the world, then off to the pub with the Orange interaction ninjas until the train home beckoned... whereupon I bump into Martin and JimH again and gabble at Martin all the way down the Brighton/London line.

By popular demand - apologies for stream of consciousness notes and any sarcasm/rudeness I wrote for my own benefit and have forgotten to strip out.

First up: Dennis Hettema (OP3) on ShotCode:

Offline-online connections: "Connect consumers on impulse"

1. decodes on-device

2. server routes to server? not sure what's happening here

3. content optimised blah blah

Not particularly new or unusual service (for this audience anyway) - maybe I'm a spoilt bastard.

Spoke about a "business card replacement application": in 8hrs 1200 "information exchanges". This relied on installing software through WAP push, they're working on "some sort of standard open source" version

See shotcode.com

Then he passed around a shotcode and I gave it a go - it worked really well.

Richard Jelbert (KidsOK LBS)

Experiences rolling out into retail

- Cell ID

- Enhanced Cell ID

- Assisted GPS

Active services: user-actioned

Passive services: involves much more regulation

Hybrid services: like what?

In: MSISDN+network

Out: Lat/long+accuracy (+landmarks? postcodes? address descriptions?)

Every app needs approval from all (4?) operators

Code of practice (voluntary): regulates any service locating a SIM using a network (even corporate services)

Took 9 months to develop (should've been 3)

4 categories of service:

- corporate

- friend finder

- children

- gaming

CoP cornerstones

- address validation

- confirm physical access to that address (activation letter)

- opt in all handsets

- any time STOP

- transparency on activity (so a child can find out how many times they've been located etc etc)

KidsOK:

- wraps up mapping, tracking

- one of the only providers with a product in retail (usual story: packaging with a code in it)

- long registration process: 12-20 minutes

- then activation letter. some accounts never activated. confusing opt-in, product seems complicated

- 48% registrants do not activate

- 48% of activations don't then opt in

- <10k child location users in the UK (30k+ Korea, 50k+ S.Africa)

Code of practice only covers operator based LBS (not GPS ones or those based on other triangulation which don't access location feeds directly)

KidsOK about to release a GPS childs phone, introduced under "core principles of code of practice"

LBS to route calls/messages to local franchises (pizza etc?)

Dan: UE issues seem to come from use of SMS as a bearer. Have you considered using a Java application?

Richard: Potentially causes delays in the approval process

Carl Taylor: What will be a simple revenue-generating LBS app? KidsOK seems to be protected v few children.

Richard: Works better when the child can alert the parent (not sure why this would be the case)

Chris Yanda (BBC, Coast Project)

Explored LBS. Put signs up instead.
Coast: broadcast starting July 22nd, exploring coastal locations around UK
Wanted to give people a reason to see these locations.
LBS services are patchy: what works in London doesn't necessarily work elsewhere. Signs reassure folks.
Regional websites each included a single coastal walk: where they could put up signs. 8 signs per walk.
Each sign had a number of mobile interactions: IVR, WAP site (v v popular). (Image was important for giving a bit of context) Mystery quiz for kids.

Struggle: weird physical practicalities. Wanted a data code on a sign, plus other things, plus how big should sign be, how high, put where. Sign had to be at 7 feet. Holding a child up at 7 feet with camera presented usability issues.

IVR service wasn't used much: mainly due to huge up-front T&Cs. Few people bothered digging through it all.

4000 people tried the data codes (only available for S60).
309 successfully downloaded it (most people ignored the "it's not for your device" msg).

Audio was most successful because it worked for everyone - all phones. Liked cos it's much like a museum guide.

0800 aren't free on mobile, so they used 0870. A pressure group called "just say no to 0870" complained. Had to go to Ofcom to smooth it over.
Treasure hunt for kids was popular.
WAP site was v popular: weather info, useful numbers.
Low signs more popular. You look less silly.

137,000 requests over last 3 months

i-mode stalls in Europe: "existing i-mode operators have witnessed visible subscriber increases after a difficult initial period."

Marketing Through Mini Applications: "an attempt at mobile marketing that understands users must be offered something of value in exchange for placement on their mobile device"

It's a problem when it's a problem : "Make decisions just in time, when you have access to the real information you need. In the meanwhile, you’ll be able to lavish attention on the things that require immediate care and feeding."