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Most mobile social networks are quite alike. They're all competing for a host of information from you and your circle of friends. This information ranges from various messages to the most embarrassing photos of your friends that you can find. Here is where NYC based start-up Buzzd differentiates itself. Interested in finding out what's going on tonight in your town? If the hottest club or event of the night is what you're looking for, then Buzzd has you covered.

The Buzz on Buzzd

Buzzd is a mobile social network that caters to the latest events going on in your town. Want to know where your friends are right now? How about finding out how many people in your network are at an event you've been debating on attending? Buzzd could be just what you were looking for. The award winning service has the scoop on all the hottest bars, clubs, and social scenes in your town. All of which is conveniently available from your mobile phone browser or via a text message.

Features

With multiple partnerships with Flavorpill, TimeOut, and Zagat, Buzzd provides its user base with over 1.2 million venue listings. With each venue listing users can grab maps, directions, and live reviews before heading out the door. All of this is readily available from the Buzzd WAP site, meaning no download required. Users can also add their favorite venues to their Buzzd profile to receive notifications of upcoming events. If you're a promoter, stay tuned for more news on a future release for Buzzd PRO. This service will allow promoters and artists to gain mass exposure on the Buzzd network with their own custom profiles and more.

Partying With Buzzd, but Only in Metropolitan Areas

The service is available across a plethora of handsets. It also works with just about every American mobile carrier. We recommend checking out the service if you're in a major metropolitan area such as New York, San Francisco, L.A., or Miami. However, like every other mobile social network, Buzzd is only valuable in the big city. We tested the service in Atlanta and Miami and found plenty of places to go and venue reviews to help us decide what was worth our time and money. Once we traveled to less tech oriented lands, it was clear that we'd have to resort to more arcane methods of finding what's buzzing. Don't get us wrong, we think Buzzd is one of the best mobile networks for finding events, but only if you're in a major city. Sorry suburbia.

Virgin Mobile Branded

On the other hand, Virgin Mobile subscribers are in for a real treat. Today, Buzzd announced its latest partnership with mobile carrier. Virgin Mobile will be the first carrier to formally offer Buzzd to its subscribers. Virgin Mobile subscribers can look forward to a ton of exclusives and can access a Virgin Mobile branded version of Buzzd from the Virgin Mobile WAP homepage. This partnership will allow subscribers of the Virgin Mobile network to share their latest happenings with others on the same network via Buzzd. Hopefully by partnering with Virgin Mobile, Buzzd will be able to expand its networks offerings not only to smaller carriers, but smaller cities.

We all love iPhone, it would be nice if we can develop our own iPhone Web Application / Application. However, how can we get started? Where can we get all the best iPhone Application development resources? Please have a look at the list of hand pciked iPhone resources below, I am sure they can help you develop your first iPhone Web Application / Application.

Our network blog last100 has an interesting interview with Nicolas Gramlich, founder of anddev.org - an online community for Android developers. As editor Steve O'Hear notes in his intro, there have been issues with Google's mobile OS of late - an incomplete and buggy SDK, favoritism towards select developers, lack of transparency, and concerns that the platform could become fragmented and that Google has ceded too much control to carriers. But all those problems may fade into the ether if, as Gramlich claims in the last100 interview, "Android is for the masses, iPhone for the rich".

Android is Google's mobile operating system and competes with the likes of Apple's OSX for iPhone and Nokia's Symbian open source OS. Gramlich told Steve O'Hear that "there will be a great variety of Android devices all over the world, where there will always be just the iPhone." He also dismissed the threat of Nokia and its recent acquired controlling interest of open source mobile OS, Symbian. "I think Android will win over Symbian", said Gramlich, "as there are so many companies behind the Open Handset Alliance."

So what draws developers like Nicolas Gramlich to Android? Gramlich says that "Android's main attraction is its simplicity" and that this enables the rapid development of "feature-rich applications".

Asked by Steve O'Hear what kind of apps we can expect from Android, Gramlich replied that "we will definitely see a lot of location-aware and social-networking applications, that will try to be the social app for Android. I've seen so many that I cannot even count them." He noted that integration with Google Maps is especially tight, which he says doesn't currently exist on other mobile platforms. Indeed his own Android app is a free navigation app called AndNav! (screenshot below).

Despite all the positive attributes of Android, currently it is vaporware (no commercial phones running Android yet exist) and there has also been developer unrest because the SDK hasn't been updated for some time. Gramlich admits that "the next SDK has to be overwhelming to get Android back on track".

For the full interview, hop over to last100. Also see last100's recent interview with the zintin CEO talking iPhone, Android and mobile future.

A group of mobile operators have just unveiled a new initiative they're calling "BONDI" whose goal is to encourage development of new mobile web applications while not compromising customers' security. BONDI was created by members of the OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform), an industry group that includes participants from all parts of the mobile world and whose members include operators like AT&T, Hutchison 3G, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

With BONDI, named for the popular Australian beach, OMTP wants customers to know "it's safe to surf!" In order to move mobile web development forward, OMTP wants to fix the current problem we have today where a mobile app written for one phone has to be rewritten again and again to work on all devices. This effort is costly, inefficient, confusing for the end user, and slows down the time to market.

So instead, via the BONDI initiative, OMTP will define what interfaces developers need to access when writing apps that tap into more sensitive functions on the mobile device. BONDI will expose those handset features to the developers while also protecting the users from any fraudulent or malicious activity.

In addition, the web services that result from the BONDI initiative will incorporate the various open and proprietary work currently in progress in this area of mobile development so as not to cause more fragmentation.

As today's mobile phones become more like mini-computers, the need for standards and security is paramount. The members of OMTP agree. Having standards will "encourage more developers to create unique, exciting applications for mobile web 2.0," says Arnd Gallmann SVP Terminal Technology at T-Mobile.

We couldn't agree more and are now eagerly awaiting the plethora of services that are sure to result from this move.

Popular mobile browser provider Opera released a demographic report about their users today that provides some valuable, if sometimes unsurprising, insights into just who is accessing the web on their mobile phones. The two primary take-aways: 88.1% of people using the mobile Web around the world are male and most people using Opera Mini are between the ages of 18-27

Those big conclusions may be relatively unsurprising but the study also includes a number of other tidbits that might be news to you, as they were to us. It's a really interesting snapshot of different cultural contexts and technology use patterns.

Interesting statistics from the survey include:

• The United States has the world's highest percentage of Opera Mini users over the age of 48 (7%) and 20% of US web users are women.


• Mobile web users in India are 97% male and that country has the lowest percentage of under-18 mobile web users (5.6%)


• South Africa has the world's highest percentage of women mobile web users (25%) and Facebook is the top site accessed in Opera Mini in that country.

The study is full of interesting statistical observations like the above and is displayed in a very readable format.

While the mobile web and Opera Mini in particularly are very widely used around the world, they are also only a part of the emerging global mobile experience. We like to read about mobile social change activities, often based on SMS, over at MobileActive - a great place to learn about different ways people around the world are using their phones. danah boyd's recent blog post about the way that Palestinian girls receive cell phones as a gift from boyfriends to facilitate serendipitous communication and then struggle with expectations that they will not use it to communicate with other people is also a very interesting read.

Some people argue that a binary definition of gender is falsely limiting and inappropriate for an accurate observation of any cultural experience, but the vast majority of people in much of the world do self-identify as one gender tied specifically to their sex. In that context, it's unclear on what it means that men are 10X as likely to use the mobile web as women - but who would have been surprised if the study had concluded that men spent 10X as much time on the mobile web (including at the dinner table)?

Opera's study will no doubt be discussed in settings ranging from marketing to advocacy of social equity in technology. It's a good one to have in the back of your mind when thinking about the mobile web.

At Supernova 2008 this week we got a glimpse of what’s next for mobile; and it has little to do with hardware like the iPhone, software like Google’s open-source operating system Android, mobile platforms put forth by Apple, Google, Nokia, Research in Motion, and the carriers.

What’s coming is life profound. Put billions of sensors in cell phones - regardless of hardware, operating system, or carrier - and affect the way we understand traffic or the weather.

Syndicated from last100, our digital lifestyle blog

With continued advances in chipsets, accelerometers, compasses, we can change the way we interact virtually with the physical world around us. We can turn monthly cell phone bills, which are difficult to use beyond paying, into living information integrated into our working and personal lives and social networks.

“We’re just getting started,” said Bob iannucci, Nokia’s chief technology officer.

Iannucci, a computer industry veteran, feels like “I am kind of watching the same movie” as the mobile industry transforms itself from early hardware and software into technology deeply ingrained into our lives and the world around us.

In one example Iannucci discussed adding mobile sensors in cell phones that can detect any number of things — location and movement, barometric pressure and the weather around us, even our own personal health. What we will have in the near future are near-field communication, indoor positioning, and environmental analysis.

Iannucci mentioned a recent project involving Nokia, the world’s leading handset maker, and students from UC Berkeley. Nokia planted 100 N95 smartphones into 100 cars used by 150 students. These cell phone “probes” were able to measure real-time traffic.

Imagine if tens of thousands of data points from motorists in an area were collected, anonymized, uploaded to servers for aggregation and analysis, then pushed back to individual users. The phone, which already knows your route to work and your daily schedule, will be able to tell you that a traffic snarl is forming on the 405 and that you’ll never make your 9:30 meeting with a client in time — so here’s an alternate route.

In another example Iannucci noted that barometric sensors could be placed in cell phones — you can already buy sports watches from Suunto with weather sensors — that will monitor the environment around you. Include your data point with billions across the U.S. and the science of weather prediction undergoes a profound change.

“The ability to move information changes societies and livelihoods,” Iannucci said.

Cell phones can also impact the world around us in ways we cannot see, at least physically. Dean Terry, the director of the Mobile Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas, demonstrated the use of mobile devices in augmented reality, or the ability of people to leave behind virtual artifacts like text, photos, video, avatars, and game clues for people to discover with their phones.

As an example, you can enter a building, view the lobby through your cell phone, and see messages and art pieces left behind by others for you to see and enjoy. Or, if you’re at a conference downtown, you can view a restaurant or bar through a mobile device and see comments made by other diners and patrons on food, service, atmosphere, anything they want to leave behind.

“Imagine what it would look like at the Washington Monument if people left behind their comments,” Terry said.

In a more practical, immediate example, Jason Devitt of Skydeck showed an example of data generated by your cell phone — the calls you make, to whom, when, how long — and how this information can be mixed with your address book and social network to become more dynamic.

See also: ReadWriteWeb's interview with Skydeck's Jason Devitt

“You can see who you talk to most frequently, who is most important to you, and you can drop out the noise,” Devitt said. “All friends are not equal. Some are more important than others.”

This post is syndicated from last100, our digital lifestyle blog covering Internet TV, digital music, Mobile Web and more. You can subscribe to last100 here.

Top image taken from Augmented Reality: My Mobile Pet; Flickr video by Dean Terry

Yesterday was the big unveiling of iPhone 2.0. Even with its lowered price, many customers are still locked into contracts they can't break yet, and others still - believe it or not - are happy to continue using their mobile devices of choice, be them Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, or something else altogether. Unfortunately though, no matter what device you use, browsing the mobile web can be somewhat of a challenge. However, now there are new applications that allow you to browse the mobile web in completely new ways: with tiles.

Zumobi

There's an application for Windows Mobile users called Zumobi. Finally out of beta, this app offers a unique way to browse the mobile web - it loads up a widgetized interface displaying tiles that represent your favorite web sites. You "browse" the sites by zooming in and out - a process that's much easier than typing in a URL using the small buttons of your mobile device. You can pick and choose which tiles you want on your page from the Zumobi gallery or you can create your own from any RSS feed. The only drawback to Zumobi, of course, is that it's currently limited to Windows Mobile. A Blackberry version is in the works, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Goojet

For everyone else, there is a new application called Goojet which brings the concept behind Zumobi to anyone with a mobile phone. With this app, the tiles are called by the rather silly name of "goojet," and there are also many to choose from in their online gallery. There are goojets for Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, News, Shopping, Weather, and more. And as with Zumobi, you can create your own personal goojet from any web site that has an RSS feed. You can even create a personalized goojet with one click to make a mobilized version of your favorite web site. With Goojet, there's a social element, too - any goojet you create can be shared with yours friends via the mobile app.

The Goojet web site was annoyingly difficult to use - requesting plugins in Firefox and not displaying at all in IE - a pop-up appeared saying "operation aborted". (This could be some misconfiguration on my part, but I did not delve into it to determine what that may be. I have no other issues with IE.)

Despite these problems, it may be worth it to put up with Googjet's site since the end result is a mobile app that lets you browse the web in a way that's very similar to Zumobi, but without needing a Windows Mobile device to do so.

For the iPhone-less, widgetized browsing such as that provided by these two applications makes the mobile web more personal and usable...which should at least tide us over until we can all afford to get our iPhones, too.

The next big trend for social networking is the rise of the mobile social network. Gen Y's cell phone addiction has given way to a proliferation of these mobile networks, each one trying to be the MySpace of the mobile web. The number of users on these services is growing fast - in fact, a new study by InStat is predicting that by 2012, there will be nearly 30 million "millennials" in the U.S. using a mobile social network of some sort, and a ComputerWorld report confirms that worldwide, that number will soar to 975 million by 2012.

While these numbers seem to point to a vast, untapped market where there's great potential for financial success, businesses wanting to enter this space need to be savvy. On mobile social networks, adoption rates may high, but the problem here isn't in finding users - it's finding a way to make money.

According to Jill Meyers, an In-Stat analyst, "there are three primary methods of revenue generation for mobile social networking applications-- advertising, subscription services, and premium upgrades."

Although the subscription services and premium upgrades may work for some of these networks if what they offer is truly high-quality or unique, the businesses that choose to support themselves with ad revenue instead may have the most luck. It appears their customers won't mind, either - so long as the ads help subsidize the cost of the service.

Another study, this one by U.K.-based Mobixell Networks, showed the possibilities for growth in the area of ad-supported mobile social networks. They reported that 35% of 16-35 year-olds would use more ad-funded multimedia messaging services (MMS), if those were offered for free or at a discount and 29% would use more video services. The demand is there - now it's just a matter of businesses finding the right balance of ads and content.

Even though mobile advertising is still in an experimental phase at this point, the revenues generated in 2008 are predicated to be over $1.5 billion. By 2011, it's reported that number could be closer to $150 billion.

The mobile social network industry is certainly one we should all be watching. If you want to check out some of the more promising mobile social networks, go here to read a review of four of our favorites.

Mobile Networks image, courtesy of Rudy De Waele's presentation given at the Plugg Conference.

According to Opera's survey of the more 11.9 million Opera Mini users in March, almost 41% of mobile traffic now goes to social networking -- up to 60% in some countries, including the US. Compare that to about 6% of total web traffic for social networks outside of the mobile web. That's not overly surprising, though, given the recent proliferation of new smartphones aimed at consumers (or at least phones that can view the full web), made ultra-chic over the past year by Apple's iPhone. Says Opera, 3/4ths of mobile web traffic is now to the full web, rather than WAP or .mobi sites, which are quickly becoming out-moded.

We predicted some big things for the mobile web this year, and analysts are starting to agree. Even with a near 20% year-over-year increase expected in the number of SMS messages sent this year, researchers at Gartner still expect that mobile social networks will be a bigger story.

Mobile social networks have a very desirable demographic for advertisers. Over 60% of the users at MocoSpace, for example, which is one of the largest mobile social networks, are between the ages of 18 and 34. And 25% of US citizens under the age of 25 rely solely on mobile phones as their main means of voice communication.

What's more, users of mobile phones are more likely to engage with advertising. UK ad-supported mobile service Blyk, for example, saw an amazing 29% average response rate on ad campaigns -- with one campaign -- for a book, no less -- receiving an incredible 67% response rate on the service. M:Metrics found in February that mobile users were more likely to respond to advertising than regular Internet users, and 27% more likely to say they are tempted to buy an advertised product then the average person.

Clearly, there is a huge opportunity for commerce on the mobile platform, and social networking on the mobile seems to be the best way to target consumers. In November of last year, we asked how many of you were using the mobile web. Not surprisingly, a majority of ReadWriteWeb readers were -- just over a third loading a mobile site daily. But surprisingly, 30% of you were not mobile web users. A lot can change in 6 months, though, so we'd like to ask again. And if you're looking for a mobile social network to try out, check out Corvida's recent look at four promising options.

Do you use the Mobile Web?
( surveys)

CenterNetworks reported yesterday on the launch of the new TotalWeb tracking service from Nielsen, which includes mobile traffic along with desktop PC traffic in its measurement of top Internet properties. When including mobile traffic, says Nielsen, top Internet sites can extend their reach an average of 13%. Though TotalWeb only covers about "200 leading Internet sites" (ironic for a product called TotalWeb), the data is nonetheless interesting.

"The data demonstrate that the mobile Internet can not only increase the frequency of visits to a website, but also grow the overall size of the pie," said Jeff Herrmann, Vice President of Mobile Media, Nielsen Mobile in a press release. According to Nielsen, leading sites with a mobile property could increase the size of their audience via the mobile Internet.

Nielsen breaks the data down into categories, which is really the most interesting part of their report because it indicates what sort of properties are currently the most popular on the mobile web. The biggest benefactors of mobile were weather and entertainment, categories that each saw a 22% average audience lift when factoring in mobile sites. As Allen Stern on CenterNetworks notes, though, mapping seems mysteriously absent from Nielsen's data.

TotalWeb - Average Online Audience Lift Provided by Mobile Web, by Category (Q4 2007)
Category	Average Lift (%)
Total	13
Weather1	22
Entertainment	22
Games	15
Music	15
Email	11
Sports	10
Business/Finance	4
Social Networking	3
Search	2
Shopping/Auctions	1
Source: TotalWeb Q4 2007, The Nielsen Company. Based on 200+ Internet sites measured across both Home PC and Mobile Internet. 1To be read: In Q4 2007, weather sites measured by TotalWeb averaged a 22% lift in overall audience reach through mobile web traffic, over home PC traffic alone.