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Tony Fish is a member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital and spend his days with AMF Ventures in London, UK.

I have just had the pleasure of spending a few days with the Ogilvy team at the MobileWorldCongress in Barcelona and though that you may wish to have my early thoughts!

Overall you get the impression that 2.0 thinking [the move from isolation, separation and solitude to engagement, relationship and conversation] is being taken seriously by all the players in the extended value chain – motivations being fear and greed. There is a definite awaking that customer ownership and indeed Brand Value is not about billing or handsets.

Innovation, being a good yard stick, would defiantly indicate that there is plenty of opportunity to capture both new value and leak it away from existing players, with an expectation that a ‘new entrant’ will emerge to capture a significant proportion of the value whilst the major global web and mobile players are diverted; fighting each other.

However my sense was that technology, which has been the heart of MWC in previous incarnations was not the driver this year. Indeed I would go as far as suggesting that ‘mashup’ was the focus as each of the key platforms [mobile, web, TV, print and radio], seek to own more the customers purse and mind share.

The question or debate remains however. ‘Is it open or something else?’ Our growing team http://www.amfventures.com is building and delivering strategy and knowledge on this topic as ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ is becoming main stream.

Whilst speaking with Sun, who is committed to “open”, I discovered that they are supporting a startupcamp, March 7-8th, with MySQL, Google and Saleforce all speaking, and aiming to attract startups who want to be the Google, given that many of the major 2.0 players already run on Sun! http://uk.sun.com/sunnews/events/2008/mar/startupcamp/

Widgets & Gadgets featured heavily at MWC as they have already had a significant impact on content distribution and the viral take up of new services such as social networks like Facebook and MySpace and with a number of widget only companies raising substantial VC funding recently. mashup* event is running an evening debate on Widgets, which looks to be another worth while event! http://www.mashupevent.com/event/mashup-event-widgets-gadgets

I am still looking for great blogs and content to link to our research page…… http://www.amfventures.com/20_research.html

Warmest Regards
Tony Fish

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Robert Chesney, of Chesney Communications discusses Web 2.0 and Network Exposure to your Website.

A 30 second spot on the 2008 Super Bowl will again cost over a million dollars and a large percentage of the viewers will miss seeing the commercial as they visit the refrigerator or bathroom.

Your website can now feature powerful sales messages on Video for literally pennies on the dollar of typical TV advertising thanks to exciting new technology of Video on Your Website. Flash Video Files are now streaming faster than ever dreamed possible without the hassles of expensive servers and huge bandwidth costs. Currently less, than one in a thousand websites employ Video Commercials/Infomercials and are missing out on opportunities galore. Many that are using the technology experience outstanding results with an extraordinary return on investment.

Companies wishing to benefit from Web 2.0 should first strategize what message do they want to send to their web visitors. We’ve counseled clients that there are three kinds of Video Messages: 1) Those that YELL (the majority of amateurish and You Tube type productions. 2) Those that TELL (a talking head reading of the web text) and 3) Those that SELL the prospect on doing business with that company.

With the low cost of entry into Video Production, it seems that anyone with a home video camera and a computer considers themselves a Producer. The results are obvious: Many plays and no business.

Our approach is based upon a very old axiom, “people do business with people”, all things being equal. Sure price, quality and service are important criteria, but when there is a relationship between the buyer and seller one usually gets all three.

Thus, a simple welcome greeting from a founder, CEO or business owner that begins that connection is proving to be the most effective use of this Web 2.0 technology.

Our advice is to have the company leader well coached in the art of Television presentation, presenting a “spoken word” script with all of the sincerity and charisma they can muster.

Of course the production quality of the video is important because today’s viewing audience is very discerning. These are the same people that walk out of $40 million dollar movies saying, “That was a waste of time!”
The good news is that professional assistance is available and affordable to help companies of every size create measurable results from the use of this exciting and powerful Web 2.0 technology.

Robert Chesneyis the Executive Producer of Chesney Communications based in Irvine, CA. As host of the business television program, Window on Wall Street, Chesney has interviewed over 6,000 CEO’s of publicly traded companies and an expert in bringing out the best in executives. Examples of this technology can be seen at http://www.videocc.com/ http://www.videocc.com and Mr. Chesney is available for complimentary phone consultations for interested parties. He can be reached at 949.378.5134

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There is nothing like Paris in the winter. The city of lights shined bright with hope, laughter and joy. From the moment we arrived, where we met a smiling and helpful customs agent and during our week’s stay, the people of Paris and France were friendly, helpful, supportive and cheerful. Our group ate and walked and ate and walked, etc.

We found little local Bistro’s where the food was like 5 star restaurants. The Eiffel Tower shown bright all night from our balcony and all enjoyed.

During the week I met with 2 VC’s and one Investment Banker. The market in France and Europe has similar characteristics to the US right now, with credit tight, technology companies that were funded over the past 2-3 years needing additional capital and a sense of consolidation for Web 2.0 and Wireless Web companies. Marc Goldberg, Principal of Occam Capital, is optimistic regarding consolidation opportunities for distressed assets and IP and projects a great opportunity for Europe to provide US companies with quality IP assets.

All in all, a great trip. As we begin the new year, may it be one of good health, hope for the future and safety for all.

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holiday07_1.gifTony Fish, a member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital, posted on his blog Open Gardens, an interesting comment a few days back in regards to Google Gears. Click here for the full entry.

Anit Jaokar, a partner of Tony Fish, discusses Google Gears. Google Gears is comprised of a local database, local processes and a web server – with the logic being written in Java script. Hence, Gears potentially fits in well with Mobile Ajax and Gears as well as with Mobile Web Widgets (and by that I mean Widgets created using Web standards as opposed to Widsets and similar products).

It’s a very intriguing thought in regards to mobile offline browsing. When looking on Java, Mobile Flash, Adobe Air, and MS Silverlight – something emerges. The thought of synchronizing online applications onto mobile device or desktop for later access is what web services and online services have missed out on. It is in fact so, that everyone is not online all the time – and most people unplug to get productive.

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bookcover.gifMarvin Davis, a member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital has just released his new book; “Take No Prisoners”.

“Whether you are a manager, corporate director, executive, or business owner, this book supplies an effective no-nonsense action plan for fixing problems, strengthening weak spots, and building profitable competitive operations”.

As a seasoned turnaround expert, Marvin Davis has seen companies make the same mistakes over and over again. In TAKE NO PRISONERS, he shows companies how to achieve their full profitability potential by asking themselves some very basic questions and analyzing their operations properly, Packed with dozens of real-world examples and ready-to-use worksheets, the book shows you how to critically investigate every aspect of your operations….from marketing strategies to pricing policies, from products and services to operating costs and overhead….uncovering devastating inefficiencies as well as hidden opportunities for enhancing profitability. These often simple, proven ideas have worked for organizations small and large, both public and privately held and they can help yours too.

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