Nokia Open Labs Workshop in Helsinki

On September 10 (this coming Wednesday) I leave for Helsinki, Finland, courtesy of Nokia and WOM World (thank you very much) to attend a Nokia workshop on the future of mobile technology. Four areas will be explored, as follows:

Workshop 1: Neighborhood

During this workshop we'll outline our own online community involvement and social media history on a timeline and then get together with other attendes to create a map/timeline of technologies and solutions for content creation in the future.

Workshop 2: Connected Life

During this workshop we'll create future forecasts for geospatial solutions and technologies. The task will be to create such a forecast in three stages: very near futures, next 3-5 years and the more distant future.

Workshop 3: Entertainment

During this workshop we'll try to identify which type of entertainment (e.g. music, gaming, movies, etc.) will have the most future potential. You will then be asked to create a business model focussing on how consumers will want to interact and pay for such an entertainment in the future.

Workshop 4: Work

During this workshop we'll look at the communication technologies and solutions in use today and then try to come up with new uses and business models for one of those solutions.

It sounds like it will be a very interesting few days and I'm really excited to be attending. I will try to make a few posts from Helsinki; I have even been experimenting with mobile blogging, so we'll see how that goes.

Nokia: Unique in the World

I have used Nokia mobile phones exclusively for about 10 years. I purchased my first Nokia because a friend I respected had one and hought that if he used a Nokia then they must be good and they were (and still are). Since then I have bought many Nokia's for myself and my family because I found them to be exceptional mobile phones.

I purchased my first smartphone on May of 2006, an E60, because I was interested in mobile VoIP. Once again I was blown away by the power and functionality of Nokia phones. Although I had only thought to use my E60 as a phone (mobile and VoIP), I found meself using it in nearly every aspect of my life. For the first time I was always connected; I had access to the mobile web, both work and home email, my calendar and todos were always with me, and of course I had a mobile/VoIP phone.

To get back on topic, the fact that Nokia is conducting a workshop of this nature and inviting the people who actually use their technology on a daily basis is unique and I for one wish more companies would give even half as much consideration to their customers and end users. Nokia dominates the mobile phone market and workshops such as the one I discussed above, are one reason why. I can't wait to see what Nokia will be offering five years from now!