[by Jemima Kiss]
I want to launch a guerilla strike against this conference. Yet again, the most interesting discussion takes place outside the conference hall because, bar a few jazzy PowerPoint presentations and some footage of skateboarders, there is very little energy here.
At the Guardian’s Changing Media summit in March, Fru Hazlitt of Virgin Radio stood up and shouted at the audience that they just didn’t get it. “You are all just too old,” she said, and she was right. I’m currently in a panel about determining the future of mobile and I want to shout the same thing because there’s not one ‘digital native’ here. After that, I’m going to go outside and drag a posse of 15-year-olds in here. How have you used your mobile this morning? How many downloads have you got? Do you use the gaming tools or web applications on your phone, or do you prefer to do that at home? What do you hate about your phone? How could it be so much better, so much more addictive, so much more exciting?
I’m not suggesting that we turn the conference into a market research session but really – we would learn far more than we are gleaning from sunny side-up product overviews and some very cautious predictions on how the mobile scene is developing. And I’m still sulking about not having web access.
— Right, well I did stand up and tell the panel they were all too old and should be replaced by 15 year olds. They might have thought I was a little rude for describing the discussion as sterile. Jim Holden of Google said that kids’ behaviour is unpredictable and changes very quickly, and Andrea Casalini of Buongiorno Vitaminic said that not all their services are for young people. Still think I’m right.
— Wireless at last. Praise be for the Apple Store.
This article originally appeared in MediaGuardian.
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