Regular readers will know I have chaired or addressed (or both) audiences at a number of key mobile industry events over the last weeks and months. The response to my style of leading discussions and roundtables has been overwhelmingly positive – which I hope is a confirmation of my qualities and those of this site, for which I am grateful.

As author of the first industry report on mobile search and content discovery, and an analyst that tracks the space for industry clients, partner sites and thought leadership destinations, I am eager to discuss my observations and findings with people who share my passion – and I am pleased to announce that yet another organization has asked me to give a Masterclass on mobile search.

On July 22^nd, City University London is holding a one-day in-depth course on mobile search. This Masterclass brings together Professor Jonathan Raper, Editor of the Journal of Location Based Services and CEO of Placr Ltd; Dr David Mountain, Lecturer and Technical Director of Placr Ltd; Dr Ayse Göker, Lecturer and Director of Ambiesense Ltd.; Andrew Grill, location-based services guru, esteemed colleague, and edgy blogger; and a senior representative of Mobile Commerce Ltd. (most likely Steve Page, CEO), a developer of mobile search solutions and location search services.

It is company I am proud to keep, and I look forward to joining them and providing participants with a deeper understanding of mobile search than they can glean from the Web and trade press.

Sessions will include search technologies (deep-diving into topics such as how Google really works, and evaluating search results and how to improve them); mobile search platforms (a look at Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Android as well as content-driven search solutions); context intelligence for searching (mobile positioning, points of interest databases, and how to discover cool stuff nearby); and business integration with mobile advertising (Andrew), the user experience (me), and a special session on road-testing mobile search.

Mobile Commerce has been working on this area over the last 12 months, having recognized early on that the Web algorithms for natural search results do not currently work in the mobile environment. (MSG reported on these early findings here.) A directory style approach is required to force the best results to the top – and Mobile Commerce will demonstrate how this approach delivers better results/experience for the user, and better search advertising revenues.

The cost for this first Masterclass is GBP395 per person including lunch and materials. Places in the class (there are still a few left) can be booked through Alison Barrett (alisonb@soi.city.ac.uk) Enquiries about the Masterclass can be made to Professor Jonathan Raper (raper@soi.city.ac.uk)

I had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan during a recent location services conference, where he walked me through Placr, a mobile location search technology venture that is gearing up to launch its first products in Q4 2008.

Placr is looking for both partners and funding for its technology and content propositions, and welcomes approaches from potential partners. I’ll have an in-depth profile of Placr after Jonathan and I meet next week and he’s had an opportunity to walk me through the technology and its USP.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 7:33 pm and is filed under Content Discovery, Local Search, Location-based services, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Research, Mobile Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.