Mike Wagner - Perpetual beta

Google ’s mobile initiative, which happily confirmed this year’s rumors and officially announced itself as an open platform , is apparently starting to see the big ripple effect of its actual existence. With 34 companies lined up to take advantage of the mobile platform, the ones on the outside aren’t too happy. That would be wireless providers like Verizon and Nokia. But considering the necessity of Google and its partners to access the Internet via their mobile devices, the question of the UHF broadcast spectrum auction has come into play. We know Google wants it, along with everybody else. And with Google’s proposed participation in the auction, it requested that the winner be required to open its airwaves to any device, application, and ISP, as well as selling access wholesale to resellers. You may recall that Verizon wasn’t too happy with this demand by Google, and lobbied against it. The FCC didn’t listen to either company and got rid of the wholesale reselling requirement all...

By Eric Eldon 11.8.07 Whatsopen is an unlaunched web and mobile local search engine — and a secret testing ground for Google’s new search offerings, a source tells us. From screenshots we’ve been shown off-the-record, the site offers a way to search for nearby stores and their hours of operation from your phone. Whatsopen is doing invite-only alpha testing in the US and China and will launch in late 2007, a note on the site says. Our source says Google has been interested in purchasing the company and its search technology, and may have already purchased it and started using it as a testing ground. We have not been able to verify any of this information with the company. Google declined to comment. Valleywag has screenshots here (including the one, above) — obtained from a different source, our source claims.

From Digital Design Blog: m-Trends ‘ Rudy De Waele has posted his presentation on the Mobile 2.0 Start-Up Ecosys tem from the Mobile Web 2.0 Conference . The presentation looks the key features being developed by mobile startups such as “harnessing collective intelligence” and “operator-independent access”. Nokia mentioned numerous times.

Written by Anne Zelenka Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 9:08 AM PT Wow. I remember having these guys on the top of my mashup competitor watch list while as the product marketing mgr at JackBe. Slow leak in the 2.0 bubble here as GigaOM's Anne Zelenka writes. I believe so. She also continues to say what I believe is indicative of any cycle bubble when technology drives products and not market needs. Anne mentions, "Even in the best of times, many companies fail to find a match between what they’ve built and what customers want to buy. The killer app is is anything you want it to be, except what I have found is that people just want to be told or given something rather than worrying about building something so they can then go do their job. I believe that there is great potential but some companies need to do a serious do a market need inventory to ensure or readjust their offerings are meeting real market needs. If sales and revenues are pouring in like an open water spi...

I Just got back from the New New Internet show which I also attended last year. Compared to last year, the emphasis was more on implementing web 2.0 in enterprise and other line of business constructs. Something I and the rest of the JackBe team was preaching - and JackBe still is as the leading the Enterprise Mashup thought leadership arena. I saw the demo of their Wires visual mashup composer which was still in alpha when I was there and it is slick is all I can say. I hope to post more on a new subject - Map Based Marketing & Location Based Services - as I definitely feel location-based services will be the next area web 2.0 will penetrate. This leading into another buzzy trend - Mobile 2.0 - which really can be broken down into "Everything you need in the palm of your hand." This is a short post but now that I'm part of Map Network, a NAVTEQ company it is an area I will be focusing more on.