While operators understand that the market demands off-deck content, they have been reluctant to move away from the walled garden which they believe is protecting their

revenue stream.  Operators are exploring a new business model which combines on-deck content with selected off-deck content hosted on deck to meet consumer demand while differentiating themselves.

This session will discuss the opportunities and challenges and conclude with recommendations for all parties of the value chain to minimize challenges.

Mobile advertising has grown from simple text ads to interactive banners, ad-based WAP sites, TV-like commercials and beyond. It’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all situation anymore. This panel will focus on the new and different approaches to mobile advertising.

Using local mobile search to reach potential customers wherever they are is key to meeting the immediate needs of the mobile consumer. Mobile marketing built around local search connects brands and consumers in a way never before possible. This panel will explore how marketers benefit from local search while providing the best experience for consumers.

New devices with bigger screens and better resolution, faster networks, more available content and increased consumer demand can mean major headaches for mobile video providers – as well as create new business opportunities. What are the risks, benefits and complexities of delivering video across a range of distribution channels and devices? How can organizations and content owners monetize media assets and extend their brands? What new approaches are being developed to make it easy for consumers to discover and manage the content that’s important to them?

It's considered a key application, particularly because of its popularity with young consumers. Social communities on mobiles run the gamut from extensions of PC-based social networks to services that help you meet up with friends to 3-D virtual worlds. What are the current and future trends? How can mobile social networks become a moneymaking venture?

Having a standalone mobile campaign isn’t enough. Rather, mobile should be seen as a piece of a multi-channel marketing strategy, one that can be highly interactive. This discussion will cover the options beyond SMS, how and why to introduce mobile into a multiplatform campaign and how to best position your brand for mobile.

Mobile games have evolved from primitive Pong-type games before there were color screens to 3-D adventure games that can only be played on the newest, most advanced handsets. Seemingly every Hollywood blockbuster that’s come out this year has a mobile game attached to it. Even fast-food chains are using mobile games to extend their brand. Consumers can get their games on the carrier deck, from WAP portals and Web sites. New game designs and developments, including multiplayer capabilities, community features and cross-platform functionality, are revolutionizing the mobile entertainment market. This panel will discuss the key factors that have made mobile gaming successful and examine new technologies that will take it to the next level.

In order to increase mobile content downloads, providers need to make their business models match consumer demand. This could mean lower subscription fees, cheaper individual downloads or free content that may or may not be subsidized by advertising. Industry experts will discuss the various business models for selling mobile content and give their views on which will succeed, which will fail and what new models the future might hold.

Give consumers more advanced handsets on faster networks and they’ll want more content and better applications. The iPhone, unlimited data plans and better mobile browsers lead consumers to believe that they should have access to the full Internet from their phone – and they expect content providers to make it happen. This panel will cover different approaches to making existing Web or TV content accessible and acceptable to mobile consumers.

In the late 1990s with the birth of e-commerce, retailers were disintermediated as brands started selling direct-to-consumer over the Web and Internet-only upstarts like Amazon.com took the world by storm – and took over the retail space as we knew it. A decade later, mobile is setting up to be the new retail experience, one that’s always with you. Rather than rebel against mobile commerce as they did with the Web, retailers are starting to look at m-commerce as a bridge between bricks-and-mortar and clicks-and-mortar.

Location-based services hold the promise of everything from keeping track of the kids and telling you which friends are nearby to helping find restaurants and offering discounts to local businesses. This panel will discuss new forms of location-based mobile services and how they can benefit both the industry and consumers.

The benefits of open mobile access can only be realized if the requirements and perspective from all segments of the mobile industry are taken into consideration. This new, open world requires a new form of collaboration, one that merges development and intellectual property models from industry consortia and open source community with traditional licensing and content distribution methodologies.

Mobile video and TV have started to gain traction with brands and ad agencies. However, there are several hurdles to cross before the medium advances beyond its current experimental stage.  In order to make it a reality, new business models, new analytics and new content must be embraced.  This panel will discuss the overall state of mobile video and TV services, as well as key drivers for overcoming today’s hurdles. 

Messaging has moved beyond simply sending texts and pictures. SMS has become a key marketing tool and a way for consumers and businesses to keep in constant communication. But, along with all the positive advancements, there’s a huge negative force – spam – that threatens to derail the future of mobile messaging. This discussion will focus on how to take advantage of the popularity of messaging without putting your customers at risk. 

While mobile music has had its problems finding the right tempo, it has enormous potential to generate revenue and stands poised to become a major growth market in the coming year. This session will examine the mobile music services ecosystem from storefront merchandising and bundling, service definition, mobile marketing and the way that mobile music services will rework the way that people integrate music into their lives.