Sam Michel's blog

In the US and Europe, iPhone and Android handsets might be grabbing all the headlines, but in the notoriously tricky Chinese market, Nokia is king of the app stores.

In a recent post on Mobile Entertainment blog, they reported:

Local study gives Nokia a 65.2 per cent share. According to the IResearch, Ovi is trouncing the competition, and leading the mighty China Mobile app store, which is currently accessed by 57.7 per cent of China's mobile subscribers.

Following the recent announcement of the UKTI Trade Mission to South by South West (SXSW) Interactive 2011 (10th-15th March), there's some rather good news for digital firms based in London who need a helping-hand to take part in the mission.

The marvellous people at UK Trade & Investment London have announced that they have secured 10 grants of up to £500 (tbc)  available for digital companies based inside the M25. This contribution towards the costs of going can be used towards travel and accommodation expenses of taking part in the UKTI SXSW mission.

It's January, the days are short. The rain is lashing down. Yes, it's that time of year when digital folks minds drift towards Austin, Texas and the massive annual gathering that is South by South West Interactive.

Last year over saw over 14,000+ delegates from 54 countries attend 450 conference sessions and this year promises to be bigger than ever. Alongside the interactive conference, there's also SXSW Film and the legendary SXSW Music festival.

SXSW (or South-by to those in the know) has some form as a trend-setter, it's credited with helping Twitter really take-off. Ditto with FourSquare. What'll it be this year?

It's a unique experience, an a great opportunity for UK digital firms to meet the broadest possible audience from the US digital industry, and from across the globe. 300 Brits made the trip last year and there'll certainly be a large number heading West this time around.

Supporting these UK digital firms, UK Trade & Investment are organising a trade mission to SXSW, including:

Save the date: 7th-11th Feb 2011. In less than four weeks London joins New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Istanbul for Social Media Week 2011.

Over 500 tickets have been have booked already, but there's still time to grab yours. Keep an eye on the schedule as events are being added every day, we're expecting over 70, double last year's total.

Q: What happens when you let an intern loose with 10m lines of data and some processing power?

A: In the case of Paul Butler an intern with Facebook's data infrastructure engineering team, something rather special.

Expanding a business into a new country can be daunting. As we've discovered across the Digital Mission events understanding the market is critical, even when there's a (mostly) shared language like the US.

At first sight, the Indian market looks daunting, the numbers are mind-boggling, as is the pace of change. That's before figuring out how to tackle the business culture.

Step in UK Trade & Investment's London team, they've just announced a Marketing Strategy Scholarship with S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai. It looks like a fantastic opportunity to tap the brains of India's leading marketers in a five-day intensive course at their campus in Mumbai followed by executive placements at Indian companies.

A post to Chinwag's uk-usability email discussion forum asked for help in putting together a salary survey for UX (User Experience for the uninitiatied) Freelancers.

Leisa Reichelt, herself a UX Freelancer asked for the subscribers help to fill out a salary survey for freelancers working in this booming area of the digital world. Dissatisfied with other surveys that concentrated on agency staff rather than freelancers, Lisa put together her own survey:

Plans are afoot for next year's trip out to South by South West Interactive, and we hope, a Digital Mission that's even better than last year.

Due to factors beyond our control the details are still being confirmed but we wanted to make sure that this trip was on your radar as early as possible.

We're gathering expressions of interest from companies who would like to join the mission using this form, as it's likely to be a fairly quick turnaround when applications open.

It’s almost Christmas, and therefore a fantastic excuse for a festive themed Chinwag Shindig.

With Social Media Week London hoving into view in February, we thought it’d be great to bring together the community that we work with, across Chinwag.com, Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and, of course, Social Media Week.

Nothing too formal, just a friendly knees-up on 8th December, so put the date in your diaries now. We’ll be providing a merry drink or two, so you’ll just need to bring along some festive cheer.

So, I was supposed to be churning out lengthy documents for Social Media Week London this morning, hence finding procrastinative distractions in the shape of Twitter, when I spotted this from @wendytanwhite:

RT @evarley: Has everyone been nominating great people for @fastcompany's Most Influential Women in Tech 2011? #wit11 http://is.gd/hzNb6

Wendy's made me ponder the number of women working in technology and a problem we've had in the past, finding high-profile women to speak at events and it's not just us, judging by this comment from Wired's Chris Anderson,

There are "not enough high-profile women in the tech industry who are recognizable to sell a cover," he wrote.

I'd thought the situation for women working in digital businesses might be better than other industries, partially because it's newer and (big philosophiocal leap, here) theoretically less affected by older prejudices.

New Yorkers are known for their straight-up, tell-it-like-it-is attitude. One of the points I make during the pre-event briefings for the Digital Mission to New York, is the speed and brevity the mission companies will experience during the networking events in the Big Apple.

Today, we put out a press release announcing a fantastic line-up of advisors to work with us on the upcoming Social Media Week London. There's lots of opportunity to get involved, so please get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, Friday 5th November 2010 - Building on the success of last year’s event, the organizers of Social Media Week London have kicked off the planning process for 2011 with the announcement of a formidable advisory board that brings together a wealth of talent and experience from across the industry.

The Social Media Week London advisory board includes:

• Sarah Blow, Founder, Girl Geek Dinners & Community Manager, Tweetmeme
• Sophie Brendel, Head of Digital Engagement, BBC
• Dominic Campbell, Founder, FutureGov
• Vikki Chowney, Editor, Reputation Online
• Paul Clarke, Digital Strategist
• Kathryn Corrick, Digital Media Strategist
• Lloyd Davis, Founder & Social Artist, Tuttle Club
• Benjamin Ellis, Director, Social Optic
• Neville Hobson, Head of Social Media Europe, WeissComm Partners
• Jemima Garthwaite, Head of Social Media, Groupon
• Nicola Gibbons, Ad Solutions Manager, Linkedin
• Helen Keegan, Co-Organiser, Momo London
• Mat Morrison, Head of Social Media, Starcom MediaVest Group
• Maz Nadjm, Head of Social Media, Ogilvy Group UK
• Meg Pickard, Head of Digital Engagement, The Guardian
• Thayer Prime, Developer Community Strategist
• Farhan Rehman, Social Media Strategist, Total Media
• David Rowan, Editor, Wired
• Heather Taylor, Social Media & PR Manager, giffgaff
• Chris Thorpe, Founder/CTO, Jaggeree
• Jen Topping, New Media Commissioning Manager, Channel 4
• Stewart Townsend, Social Media Strategist
• Matt Webb, Managing Director, BERG
• James Whatley, Director of Engagement Strategy, 1000heads

Social Media Week takes place from 7th-11th February 2011 simultaneously in ten cities around the world: New York, London, San Francisco, Berlin, Toronto, São Paulo, Paris, and Rome. In 2010 event 450 events took place in 11 cities with over 18,000 attendees and 200,000 users online. The London event included 35 events taking place across the city with over 3,000 attendees.

It's almost time. Business cards are being discovered at the back of stationery cupboards, bags are being packed, presentations are being honed, dry-cleaning is being collected (actually, that reminds me...)

This weekend representatives of the 19 companies selected for this year's Digital Mission to New York will be heading across the pond for a packed week taking understand the US market, networking, briefings, meetings and more.

If you find yourself in New York next week - OK, so it's not likely you've dozed off on another flight and ended up there, you probably know already - the Digital Mission group will be out and about at various events. Why not swing by and say hello:

19 of the UK’s top digital companies have been selected in a fiercely competitive process to join the third Digital Mission to New York from 1st-5th November 2010, forging new business and showcasing British digital talent.

Organised by Chinwag and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the Digital Mission to New York provides the ideal platform for the companies attending to make business connections, build international profile, understand the US market and discover the practicalities of setting up shop in the US.

The Digital Mission companies are:

• Adversion
• Amaze plc
• BrightLemon Ltd
• Casual Films
• Cube
• Eresponse Media
• HuzuTech
• Lingo24 Ltd
• Livestation
• Nuji
• Plancentric
• Realeyes Data Services Ltd
• Red Glasses
• ShoutEm UK
• Thrive Digital
• ustwo
• Videojuicer
• Waspit Ltd
• We Are Social

A full list of companies with descriptions and contact details is available on the Digital Mission website: http://digital-mission.org/nyc10-companies

The Technology Strategy Board, following funding calls earlier this year designed to encourage collaboration between companies for cutting edge technology, are hosting Innovate 10 next week. And they've kindly given us ten tickets to give away.

The event, which includes a keynote from David Willetts MP will address all aspects of technology innovation, with a special focus on the commercial exploitation of the digital economy, healthcare markets of the future, energy generation and supply and the sustainability economy.

There’s a digital ‘journey’ that you can follow at this year’s event. It starts with two sessions How Digital Technology Will Drive Growth in the Creative Industries, and Make the Connection between Open Innovation and Social Media. You can then follow this by voting for your favourite new idea when companies will be pitching for up to £100k of funding in the Innovate Launch Pad: Digital & Healthcare.