Earlier this month, nearly 100,000 mobile tech enthusiasts and leaders gathered in Barcelona, Spain for the world’s largest conference on all-things mobile: Mobile World Congress (MWC). With apps taking the center stage at MWC’s App Planet, it was only fitting for the Apps Alliance to take the conference by storm and continue to drive our global presence.
In Barcelona, we brought together our amazing network of companies and individuals by hosting two large parties and filming content from App Planet, where we captured insights, advice and startup strategies for our global developer network. Our Executive Director Jake Ward also participated as a judge in two competitions.
Apps Alliance Events: Gathering Hundreds of Industry Leaders
After a full day of meeting and mingling around the enormous Gran Fira conference center, we kicked off the week with the second annual Mobile Marketing Party, co-hosted by AppsFlyer, Supersonic, Tremor Video, Apptentive, and New Relic. We brought together more than 400 global mobile marketing experts for a night of great drinks, food, and networking. Check out all of the pictures from this event in our Mobile Marketing Party Facebook album.
The following night, the Apps Alliance hosted the {un}official Mobile Apps Party, co-hosted by Amazon Appstore, Yahoo!, AppLift, and OpenX. Throughout the night, more than 800 attendees enjoyed drinks, appetizers, music, special performances, a photo booth, and prize giveaways. It was an overwhelming success and was described by Venture Beat as “one of MWC’s signature parties”. You can see pictures from the party here, and photo booth photos can be found here. You can also watch our favorite parts of the night with the video below!
Members Share Insights on Leveraging the Global Marketplace and Startup Strategy
With MWC attendees representing 200 countries, there’s no better place to talk about app globalization strategies and launching startups in emerging markets. Explore industry leading insights in the exclusive interviews captured directly from App Planet.
Startup to Global Company: Tips and Insights from AppLift’s Co-Founder, Tim Koschella
“Be in the drivers seat, but also actively claim the drivers seat,” advises Tim Koschella, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AppLift. Laura Bolos, Apps Alliance VP of Global Membership, had the opportunity to speak with Tim about entrepreneurship and how to grow a company from a few founders to over 130 employees with offices in 3 continents.
Leveraging Trends to Achieve App Success Across Global Markets
“Localization is not just translation,” explains Nicolas Beraudo, EVP Worldwide Sales and GM North America at App Annie. Mike Schwartz, Apps Alliance Director of Developer Relations, caught up with Nicolas to discuss best practices and tips for developers on launching apps in the global marketplace.
Developer Advice: Making the Most of Mobile Video Advertising
“The future for video advertising is bright,” explains Nikao Yang, Senior VP of Global Marketing for Opera Mediaworks. With the vision of providing a solution for the world’s best video ad experience, Nikao explains how AdColony (now owned by Opera Mediaworks) was “built for developers, for developers.”
Insights on Launching a Mobile Tech Company in an Emerging Global Market
“To work at a startup you have to have passion,” says Petra Vorsteher, Co-Founder and Chief Alliances Officer at Smaato. Apps Alliance’s own Laura Bolos sat down with Petra to talk about the journey from a humble mobile startup company in 2005 to a global leader in mobile advertising with offices in San Francisco, Hamburg, Singapore, New York, London, Mumbai and Jakarta.
How to Leverage Trends in Global Markets to Capitalize on App Revenue
The key to capitalizing app revenue on a global scale is knowing exactly who your core users are and understanding trends in different geographic regions. Chelsea Andrews, Apps Alliance Director of Marketing, joined Ollie Clamp, VP of Global Monetization Solutions at Millennial Media, to share his expert advice for global monetization.
Developers Put Ideas to the Test in Competition Presentations
On Wednesday, the Alliance’s Jake Ward served as a judge in two back-to-back competitions. First, the Mobile Innovation 2: Investment for Market Impact session featured several presentations and case studies from companies creating breakthrough products in the mobile industry. The session concluded with an award for the Young Mobile Innovator, claimed by UK-based advertising platform Tapdaq. Ted Nash, CEO of Tapdaq, discussed the company’s approach to developers and the need to create communities that encourage innovation in the mobile app space.
After the award presentation, the final session of the day, Mobile Innovation 3: The Next Wave, convened 7 young companies that are creating the next wave of innovation in the mobile space. Each company gave a 3-minute pitch, followed by a 3-minute Q&A session from the judging panel. Branch Metrics, a Palo Alto-based company focused on mobile deep linking (and the newest corporate member of the Application Developers Alliance), won the Startup Innovation Award by a large margin. Other presenting companies included startups in big data, healthcare, mobile commerce, and wireless infrastructure.
In both sessions, it was clear that the community – VCs, carriers, and startups alike – are focused on helping empower developers. We congratulate both winners, and hope to see more from these companies in the coming months.
Thank you to all of our members, event sponsors, and everyone who chatted with us throughout the week. We had an amazing time, and we can’t wait to see you again next year. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our amazing upcoming events, resources for developers, and unique discounts for members. If you’d like to learn more about becoming a member or an event sponsor, please let us know!
