So, Apple vs Google in the courts, with HTC as the first manufacturer to be Made An Example Of. I think The Register has it spot on here:

"The case will take years to resolve, but that's no bad thing for Apple: manufacturers are going to be hesitant to create Android handsets when an Apple victory could put them out of business, a long drawn-out case could threaten the future of Android just as much as an Apple victory."

This isn't a money-making gesture, it's hitting Google precisely where it hurts most: by discouraging other handset vendors to adopt Android at all.

We're recruiting, for a dual ScrumMaster/Office Manager role: someone to focus full-time on identifying and fixing issues, and on improving the efficiency of everyone here at FP.

The right person for the job will be smart, unintimidated by technology, calm under fire, and interested in learning. They might have experience in Scrum, but that's not essential as long as they have a clear enthusiasm and willingness to learn; we'll provide a lot of support during the early stages (we have certified staff in-house and have been running Scrum ourselves for more than 2 years), and training too.

The job description is short but broad:

ScrumMaster/Office Manager
Position reports to: Technical Director
Overview: Owns and organises the production process and office environment

Key Responsibilities:

• Facilitating daily standups for our two production teams
• Identifying and resolving impediments to progress of the teams
• Working with the Product Owners to create long-term release plans for the business
• Facilitating fortnightly sprint demos, retrospectives and planning sessions
• Administrative support to the management team

Scope:

• Predominately an internally facing role, with the exception of fortnightly demos and planning sessions

Training:

• Will be supported through Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Practitioner qualifications

Email recruitment@futureplatforms.com with a CV if you're interested.

• The app developers guide to choosing a mobile platform: "Choosing among the competing platforms requires a clear-eyed assessment of the audience for your app, the technical strengths (and weaknesses) of the platform, how easy it is to monetize your work and the long-term health of the platform"
• Design and designed failures, a lovely presentation from Nicolas Nova;
• Mobile Application Stores: the state of play, from Distimo. Well-presented analysis of available applications in stores, though I'm not 100% sure that you can draw lessons about audience behaviour or preferences from the quantities, categories and pricing of available applications. That said, for many of us this sort of data is the best we have to work with...
• It's nice to see Google acknowledging that mobile comes first, and hear them use the word "humongous". I loved his phrasing of it too: "your phone is your alter ego, an extension of everything we do". If Mark Curtis doesn't hurry up and beat me to it, I've a post in waiting along these lines...
• I'm hearing lots of publishers echo these thoughts from Alan Rusbringer on the iPad and getting enthusiastic. The cynic in me (probably the bigger part) wonders whether the familiar size of an iPad screen is attractive, and that by seeming so similar to large-format print these folks with be persuaded to join an ecosystem that will be anything but familiar.
• Intel and Nokia are merging their netbook OSs, though as someone I chatted to earlier pointed out, this looks to be a worst-of-both-worlds - dropping the gorgeous Clutter UI toolkit which sits at the heart of Moblin, and choosing RPM packaging over Debian. I'm guessing that the amount of effort not put into the combined project will more than compensate...
• Everything is different now Windows Phone 7 has been announced, though we're unlikely to see real devices for a year. I heard nice things from folks who'd played with prototypes at MWC, but I'd like to understand more about the business model for this - how much will Microsoft sell it for, and will the cost (and complexity of engaging them in a commercial relationship of any sort) over Android, Meego, or Symbian be worthwhile for handset vendors? An engaging well-designed homescreen doth not a winning smartphone OS make, and MS have a lot of ground to make up, with mobile contributing little to their overall revenues. Also: what happened to "developers, developers, developers"?
• Facebook Zero has been announced; really interesting, as one of the worlds most popular sites simultaneously tries to minimise its bandwidth impact for operators and extends its reach well beyond smartphone owners. Interesting that carriers have to sign up to get this too, a little shift in the power-balance there. I wonder what Facebook are getting in return for helping the operators like this?
• Happy Birthday, BBS! /me sniffs and waves at bigfug, Henry and Big Sal...

It's over, and with the benefit of a good nights sleep I can look back over this years Mobile World Congress, and try to draw some conclusions.

1. Android was the big operating system story, despite announcements from Intel, Nokia and Microsoft. Many new handsets coming out in the next year and lots of developer interest being stoked by handset vendors. Whilst Android owners seem to have behaviour around apps which broadly matches that of iPhone owners (good news), the Android Marketplace is having problems converting traffic into sales. If this can be fixed, then interest in the platform currently bottlenecked around developers could filter out to content providers and bring budgets. This would be a good thing for everyone.

2. Blackberry is going to interesting places - their new consumer focus was clear, as they continued to concentrate on their enterprise customers. I heard anecdotal evidence from parents about children using them too.

3. Apps were a very hot area, as you might expect in the year a pavilion is set aside from them. Last time I came to MWC apps (and mobile content in general) was tucked away upstairs behind the porn. This time there was the Apps Planet hall, plus prominence in stands elsewhere.

   

4. Social is huge. To be fair, it's always been huge in mobile - what's a phone if not a social tool? - but I was surprised by how much interest in social software services even device manufacturers showed. Motorola and Samsung stood out here, with both emphasising the social software in recent and upcoming handset launches.

5. Apple were conspicuous by their absence. A shame; as one chap I spoke to put it, their products are wonderful but their institutional arrogance is off-putting. A world where they dominate the ecosystem wouldn't be a particularly pleasant one for those of us providing apps and services (nor, to be fair, do I think it's likely).

6. The Google stand was, for me, a personal high point. It felt stripped back in classic minimalist Google style - the sheer confidence of their brand letting them eschew even a logo. Obviously staffed by the best people Google could find that day, the new transparency displayed there was a clear response to the privacy issues raised by the Buzz launch, and I applaud Google for reacting so quickly, and in such a characteristically open fashion: the stand was absolutely nothing *except* open.
   

A good year, very upbeat - for our little corner of the telecomms industry. Particularly compared to my last visit 4 years ago, I found the conference exceptionally useful - and I'm looking forward to following up some of the conversations started here.

In constrast, perhaps some of the conversations started at the ever-excellent Swedish Beers, should be left there...

I've put my photos and pithy commentary online here.

I've been meaning to post this for a little while; if you're heading to LIFT10 in Geneva this May, you'll have a chance to attend the "Mobile Mountains" Agile/UX workshop which Joh and I have been running over the last 9 months. It's a great way to explore an iterative product development; get some practical experience of the impact of shifting constraints; and (for developers) get some insight into a simple design process.

I'm particularly chuffed about this because LIFT is (as I've mentioned before) one of my favourite events, and some client work prevented my attending in 2009.

You can read more about the workshop and sign up to attend here.