• Register now for June 2 MoMoVan!
• Presentation on Cellmap.ca
• Looking at Mobile Muse
• IDC Telebriefing - May 29

TOPIC: Mobile Multimedia and Mobile Entertainment
(watch for details next week)

The small town of Whistler, BC, receives over 2.2 million visitors a year. That creates what is known in tourist industry jargon as a cruise ship effect. This year, those visitors are being invited to replace their use of traditional paper maps of the village with a customized, interactive map that they download to their cell phones.

The map, created by CellMap Inc., contains not just streets, but also descriptions and other information about stores, restaurants, events and other attractions.

Aaron Hilton, president and CTO of CellMap, told the 40-plus people at our May 5th MoMoVan that his company produced the customized map for tourism and other businesses in Whistler to promote to visitors.

"The aim is to engage visitors before, or just as, they arrive in Whistler and get them to download the map, with the promise that it will be much easier and faster to become familiar with businesses and events in the town."

Hilton says the real competition for CellMap comes from those traditional paper maps and not, as some may wonder, from Google Maps.

"Google Maps have very high data requirements," says Hilton, "and they aren't up-to-the-minute as CellMap is. Our custom maps require only a small amount of data."

The revenue model for CellMap is chiefly mobile advertising.

"That can be a problem," says Hilton, "because consumers are very quick to dismiss ads on their cell phones as spam. But in our case the ads are location-relevant and easily accepted."

According to the company's Website – www.cellmap.ca – CellMap uses two partner technologies to provide their custom mapping services:

• mapformation LLC (www.mapformation.com) is a custom cartography company that offers a variety of mapping solutions, from 3D perspective, to vector and raster, to hand-rendered formats.
• Razor Technology (www.razortechnology.com) makes portable Bluetooth kiosks that deliver content to mobile phones free, without data charges from wireless carriers. These help visitors download a CellMap on-site, right as they need it.

Visit CellMap at www.cellmap.ca/browse to download and try one of their interactive maps.

Several members of the Mobile Muse team were on hand to make a presentation on their product and take part in a panel discussion.

Jean Hébert, a PhD student and project manager with Mobile Muse gave an outline of Mobile Muse 3, which is using cellular technology to deliver community generated media in Whistler, BC, and in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

The panel, consisted of Jeff Laporte (Co-Founder, and Chief Software Architect at EQO Communications), Jim Udall (Technology Director, MobileMuse.ca) and Dr. David Vogt (creator of Mobile Muse and Director, Digital Learning Projects at UBC). It was moderated by Roland Tanglao (you can read his take on the panel at www.rolandtanglao.com).

The panel talked in more detail about the development of Mobile Muse and some of the problems it faces. Dr. David Vogt described what they do as "media landscape architecture" and said what the mobile world is looking for is "...the next killer app – and it isn't email on your phone."

IDC's Window Into the World of WiMAX 2008
May 29, 2008
9:00 - 10:00 am Pacific Standard Time

With more than 350 trial and commercial deployments globally, it seems likely the long-awaited WiMAX revolution is finally here, with 2008 shaping up to be a critical year for WiMAX, based on infrastructure build-outs, service provider deployments, and WiMAX-enabled devices just coming to market now. The IDC telebriefing on WiMAX will present a picture of how IDC sees the global WiMAX equipment and services market evolving in the coming five years.

To register: IDC World of WiMax Telebriefing

Click on 'Register Now'. You will be taken to an event registration page.

Click on 'Register Now' on the left hand side. You will be asked to fill in an information form, and then click 'Continue'.

All of the information for the call and the PowerPoint presentation will be sent to the registrants.

About WINBC
Wireless Innovation Network of BC is promoting the fast growth and sustainability of British Columbia, Canada as one of the world's best wireless technology clusters and communities. We are the industry association representing more than 250 BC wireless technology companies generating in excess of $1B in revenues.

About Mobile Monday
Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets. Mobile Monday is organized by a group of dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, Mobile Monday has grown into the world’s leading mobile community. More info at: www.mobilemonday.net

About BDC
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is a financial institution wholly owned by the government of Canada. BDC plays a leadership role in delivering financial, investment and consulting services to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses. These services complement those of private sector financial institutions. More info at: www.bdc.ca.

About wavefront
wavefront is the commercialization bridge between the wireless developer community in British Columbia and the mobile operators, government and large enterprises that are deploying new wireless products and services. In collaboration with its established partners, wavefront provides the developer community with neutral, independent test services and the market knowledge to enable rapid commercialization. More info at: www.wavefrontac.com.

About Nokia Canada
Nokia Canada has operated since the 1970s. During this time, Nokia has transformed itself from an industrial conglomerate to a focussed telecommunications company. Due to its cutting-edge technology and successful marketing, Nokia has risen to become a leading player in the global telecommunications industry. The Vancouver, BC location is the product creation and business development centre, which is responsible for designing next-generation wireless devices and services and is the only mobile terminal R&D facility in Canada. More info at: www.nokia.ca.

MobileMonday Vancouver is an open forum held for the global community of wireless industry professionals. It fosters cooperation and networking among interest groups, industry people and their companies by providing the logistics and opportunities for personal and virtual contacts.

Everyone is welcome!

• Visionaries, entrepreneurs, innovators, developers, designers, investors
• Students, Ph.Ds, professors from UBC, SFU, UVIC and BCIT and elsewhere
• WINBC members and Non-members with an interest in wireless technology
• Members of other technology associations and government agencies
• Members of local media, new media, Web 2.0 and blogging community

Because together we can do more.

• We hope to open a long-lasting conversation that is relevant to the wireless and Web 2.0 community in Vancouver, BC and the world.
• We want to increase opportunities for casual networking, for identifying quality local talent, accessing early stage companies, building strategic partnerships and developing more business and businesses.
• We want to continue promoting local innovation and collaboration in the wireless and Web 2.0 industry, from small start-ups, to large companies, to research labs.