130 and Counting for Masterclass New York

More than 130 delegates have so far registered for our first US Masterclass events, taking place in New York on 6 and 7 February 2012. The four, half-day events cover Retail and then Finance on the 6th, and Travel, Tourism & Culture, and then Brand & Agency, on the 7th.

The latest Retail sign-ups include Net-a-Porter, Zedge,  West Elm and Saks Fifth Avenue, while Standard and Poors, JP Morgan Chase, AXA Equitable and SecondMarket are among the latest companies to sign up for the Mobile Finance Masterclass.

TripAdvisor, Priceline, TravelClick and Morgans Hotel Group are among the latest companies to register for the Travel, Tourism & Culture event, while the latest sign-ups for the Brand & Agency Masterclass include and is represented, to date, by American Airlines, Air Canada, Booking.com, United Airlines, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. And the latest confirmed attendees at the Brand & Agency session include Conde Nast, Random House, Fodor's Travel and Mindshare.

At each Masterclass event, delegates, who attend for free, hear from a range of mobile experts with experience in their sector, about the hot topics in mobile marketing, from mobile advertising and apps, to mobile sites, location-based services and Augmented Reality.

After a brief introduction to each company, the mobile experts spend 15 minutes with a small group of delegates on one table, where the delegates can put any questions they have about their own mobile journey to the speakers. After 15 minutes, the experts move round one table, so that by the end of the half-day event, every delegate has had the opportunity to talk to each of the mobile experts. Feedback from our 2011 Masterclass series suggests that this is where the event delivers real value.

Executives from any of the sectors covered can register to attend the relevant event for free here.

If you would like to get involved in any of our Masterclass events in the US, UK or Germany as a mobile expert, please contact:  john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com or T: + 44 (0) 77696 74824.

Toluna Surveys the iOS Landscape

Online survey provider Toluna has launched a free iOS app which enables users to complete and create QuickSurveys using mobile devices. Toluna QuickSurvey, which draws from 4m respondents globally, is the platform Mobile Marketing uses for its ad hoc consumer surveys, to gauge what people are doing on their mobiles.

“The mobile revolution is fast paced and exciting, and is resulting in significant changes in the way that we interact with respondents,” says Toluna chief executive Frederic-Charles Petit.  “Toluna is at the forefront of these trends, developing new technology that tracks and embraces current web behaviour, communicating and collecting information across different sources and devices.”

Time Brings Full Portfolio to Tablets

Magazine publisher Time will be publishing its entire US portfolio of 21 titles on Tablet devices. Using WoodWing's digital publishing tools, Time will bring titles including People, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune to a wide range of Tablets, including iOS, Android, Kindle, and WebOS devices. The tablet editions are available as a free upgrade for subscribers. 

“The number of tablet users will continue to grow significantly, accelerating demand for reader-attractive content and driving advertiser interest. With the availability of our entire portfolio of US titles, we put ourselves in a great position to take advantage of these opportunities,” says Mitch Klaif, Time CIO. “Working with WoodWing, to make Time the number one publisher of digital magazines, has been a great experience.”

According to Time, its existing apps have been downloaded over 11m times.

Mobile Gaming Awards Announce Nominees

Infinity Blade II for iOS, nominated in the Excellence in Gaming category

The International Mobile Gaming Awards has announced the nominees for its eighth annual awards. 30 games, across six categories - Best Casual, Real World, Sports, and Social Game; Most Innovative; and Excellence in Gaming – will move onto the final round of judging.

Nearly 500 games were originally submitted – a record number for the competition.

“We have had an unprecedented response for this year’s awards”, says Maarten Noyons, CEO and founder of the IMGA. “We see a trend of very high-quality, big productions coming to the mobile platform and on the other hand a lot of fresh innovative casual games. I think the jury has made a very interesting choice. The eighth IMGA shows a wealth of new ideas and groundbreaking quality coming from studios all over the world. I would like to congratulate each of the developers that have games nominated and thank everyone who submitted games to the awards.”

The winners will receive €100,000 (£83,600) of media exposure, from platinum sponsor ProSieben Sat1 Games, with the overall winner receiving €400,000 of publicity.

Pringgle debuts its Relationship Bank Account Manager

QR Code use up by 617% – but who’s listening?

Mobile Marketing Roundup: Android Tablets, Ad spend rates and more…

Nokia zips bloggers across Grand Canyon

Job of the day….Sales Director Mobile Rich Media – London

An Unofficial Android Store Will Provide All The Apps Banned By Google

Lumia 900 Introduction to Trigger Smartphone Renaissance for Nokia and Microsoft

Why Web OS Really Failed, and What it Means for the Rest of Us

Spreadtrum Introduces 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platforms for TD-SCDMA & EDGE/WiFi

Nokia acquires feature phone OS maker Smarterphone

MoMo Manchester @ the BBC

Conference season: Where I will be…

Carnival of the Mobilists # 257 (#COTM)