80% of the world population has access to mobile vs. only 23% with access to the Internet! Social interaction has revolutionized (online) digital media as it has opened new demographics and provides for a more compelling and relevant experience for users in addition to opening new tangents for search, recommendations, etc. The transformative power of social context was especially pronounced in gaming (cf. Zynga ["Farmville"] et al. who have grown into large businesses very quickly). The mobile landscape is significantly more complex than the Internet (dozens of platforms, hundreds of distribution channels, hundreds of jurisdictions), and the medium has indeed very different underlying dynamics (screen size and general form factor, input methods, mobility, use cases, etc). It is therefore vital to gain deep understanding about the underlying dynamics of both the medium as well as the users' approach in using that medium. It is essential to avoid a "Galapagos effect" where certain models only work on limited platforms (e.g. iPhone) or in specific territories (e.g. Japan). Only a fraction of the world's 5bn (!) mobile subscriptions are on iPhones or are in Japan, and one needs to look to tackle the fragmentation dilemma in order to unlock the enormous potential the largest medium in the world has to offer. This session will show the rationales that need to be applied to understand the medium and will outline paths to successfully address it.
Volker is the Chief Strategy Officer at social infrastructure software specialists Scoreloop who bring sociality including monetization tools to mobile platforms and the web. He is also a co-founder of Blue Beck, a smartphone games studio.
Volker has been at the forefront of mobile and digital media for a decade. From helping conceive the world’s first mobile artist services for the likes of Britney Spears, Eve and Duran Duran, working with radio stations to use mobile as an audience activation tool to mobile games (with leading publishers Hands-On Mobile and Connect2Media where he oversaw licenses with Marvel, Hasbro, Activision, LEGO, BMW, Konami, WPT, etc.) he has been fortunate in playing a part in industry firsts.
Volker is a regular speaker at top mobile and technology conferences around the world (incl. Mobile World Congress, CTIA, Uplinq, Oxford University, Mobile 2.0, TEDx etc) and a co-organiser of the world’s first TEDx Youth event in Manchester.
