On Tuesday the 11th of November we had the second of our mini conferences of the year. This was the Get Mobile 2014 mini conference. Like the Get Social one, it too was held in The Mahony Hall of The Helix, and was a duration of 4 hours long. We had numerous of important speakers. Those of which included Dr. Theo Lynn, Dr. Mark Hughes, Dr. Cathal Gurrin, Eoin Cruise, Paul Davey and last but not least, Alex Meisl.
Once again, Dr. Theo Lynn had the tough job of opening the conference. Due to the fact that he is both a Senior Lecturer at DCU Business School and the Principal Investigator of the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce, this task didn’t phase him in the slightest, and he gave both an interesting and engaging presentation. He discussed the importance of mobile phones, and described them to be our “constant companions“. He also presented us with some amazing facts. For example, according to Dr. Lynn an amazing 96% of Irish people between the ages of 18-25 years old own a smartphone. What I found even more fascinating was the fact that 60% of those own an iPhone. I found this quite easy to believe actually, as I myself own an iPhone, as do that majority of my friends. One thing that Dr. Lynn said during his presentation stuck with me. This was that everyone knows their own mobile phone number, but not their PPS numbers. Therefore mobile numbers are in fact the number one form of identification. I found this funny due to the fact that people change their phones all the time.. but then I guess maybe they don’t change their mobile numbers? Also, when applying for a job you always provide your mobile number on the CV, but never your PPS number unless it is specified to do so. Maybe he is right and phone numbers are the number one identifier in the world?
Next to speak was Mark Hughes, who is the Chief Technical Officer at Digifeye. They focuses on merging computer vision and machine learning technology to convert visual content into shoppable content. They do this by using extremely advanced software and specific algorithms to training computers to recognise where clothes usually are on the body, if a person is male or female, and also if an item of clothes is a coat, dress, trousers and so on. It essentially does this through “supervised learning“, like you would do with a child. This was something that was near to impossible to achieve before, but is a very powerful marketing tool. It enables people to find specific outfits or items of clothing by simply taking a picture and searching it. It is definitely a tool that I would use at home while shopping online!
Dr. Cathal Gurrin was third to take the stage. Dr Gurrin is a lecturer at DCU and an investigator in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. Aswell as that, he is also a leading researcher in the field of Lifelogging. These personal lifelogs “create a complete and accurate picture of an individual“. They record everything that an individual sees, says and hears, so they will never forget anything ever again. They have in fact been around since the 1920’s, but only now do we have a commercial version. This is made possible due to advances in technologies such as sensing, storage and search. They are private archives, and no one else can access them. Not only that, but any pictures taken with people in the background their faces are blurred out to protect their privacy too. Although these Lifelogs are designed to be private, what would happen is somebody was able to hack into them? They would hear and see everything that has every happened to you, and this is an extremely frightening thought to know that you would have no secrets from this hacker. From a commercial point of view however, its an unbelievably clever idea. The thought that you would never have to worry about forgetting important information as it would all be conveniently stored for you is an amazing concept.
The fourth speaker at the Get Mobile mini conference was Eoin Cruise, who is now the head of Microsoft Mobile Devices in Ireland. He was with Nokia for the past 10 years prior to the brand becoming a part of Microsoft. He described to us how since the two companies have joined together and become one, they now “have the best platform to change the world“. He justified this statement by the fact that their company can put software onto smartphones that others can’t, such as Microsoft Office and Xbox Live. This gives them a new advantage over their competitors. Eoin was up front about how Nokia weren’t doing very well for the past while, and that’s why ultimately they had to make a drastic change or admit defeat. Through a lot of hard work however, last Christmas (2013), Nokia Lumia managed to gain 11.6% of smartphone sales. Now their focus is on creating an affordable smartphone that can do everything at a good price. They plan mastering this first before “wining in the high end“, and moving onto the more expensive ranges of smartphones. I believe this is a good way to go about things. Although Apple are already dominating the smartphone market, they are doing so at the more luxury price. Therefore they may have an advantage over Apple if they can keep their costs low. Also, the fact that they have software specific to Microsoft that can’t be used on Apple or Android devices, this may also help them in gaining the upper-hand in the market.
Second last to make their presentation was Paul Davey, who is the mobile leader for IBM in Ireland. IBM stands for International Business Machines and was founded 103 years ago. They were in fact that inventors of both ATM machines and swipe cards. Not only that, but they created the first ever smartphone. The smartphone cost $900 to buy at this time, and the first ever app cost a further $3000. The company decided to move away from creating products. Instead, they decided to provide the technology behind it. A prime example of this software is Watson. This is extremely advanced technology, as it processes information almost like a human rather than a machine. It became very highly regarded and was the focal point of the news when it began to aid doctors in making cancer treatment choices. IBM also teamed up with Apple to create enterprise solutions for iOS and to provide AppleCare. This worked extremely well for them as they provided the technology for the Apple devices, and Apple is such a huge international company. They also came together with Twitter. I believe this was a very strategic relationship to set up, as now they are able to analyse data on this fast growing social media site, and develop their technologies even further.
The last presenter of the night was Alex Meisl, chairperson of Sponge and WiForia Ltd. Alex co-founded Sponge, which is now the UK’s most successful and longest established mobile agency delivering mobile strategy, sites and applications for massive clients. These clients include huge brands such as Adidas, Coca Cola and McDonalds. As well as that, he also launched WiForia in 2014. This is a company that focuses on in-store WiFi engagement with customers to increase sales and create rewarding shopping experiences. Their aim is reflected in their clever motto, “putting WiFi to work“. He presented us with numerous facts. For example, did you know that more 5 years olds now of days know how to use a smartphone than tie their own shoes? I found this fact amazing, and it just shows that technology is literally taking over. Alex also spoke about how many companies don’t have mobile optimised sites or even apps, and how this is an “inexcusable” thing. Since Argos launched their mobile app in 2010, they have reached an amazing 6 million downloads! Not only that, but mobile devices now account for a huge 16% of their total sales! With this in mind, think of the massive missed opportunity for all of those who don’t have an app or mobile site. They could drastically increase their sales by simply doing this one little thing and making their company “mobile friendly“. He also spoke to us about the importance of mobile advertising, and how they will overtake newspapers in the near future. In my opinion, this is a huge thing because newspapers have been around for so long. It just goes to show the way in which the world is changing, and how more of an emphasis is being placed on technology and modern forms of advertising, as opposed to traditional forms.
This second conference was extremely enjoyable and informative. I definitely learned a lot of useful information as well as various different facts, and I am really looking forward to the Get Started 2015 mini conference in February.
dicestudenttwenty14 