Sitting down starting to digest all the impressions from two intense days at Scandinavian Interactive Media Event, SIME08, in Stockholm. In a few posts going forward I will share the event but through the lens of a mobile web entrepreneur. There was little direct talk about mobile since the theme was really digital communication and entertainment more and very “PC-internet” focused. But every other person was saying “sure mobile is the future”, so I’ll give it a shot to put some of the things said in a mobile perspective and reality.

Overall impression: Very professional production. Beats most things I have been to in Europe and the US. But a nice wrapping is not enough. To give you a hint, check out the great clips produced by Radon here. What about the content?

The high: Hans Rosling, professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet (KI) but also the father of Gapminder, a program that helps us get a fact based view of the world. Professor Rosling is a presenter par excellence. Catch a glimpse here at his performance at the TED conference. The take away: The world is not globalising, it is modernising. We are all converging in terms of life expectancy, income, health etc. So, yes there is convergence -
1. but not for the last billion who still live on 1 USD per day or less. But they can be given help if we pull together.
2. but it is not sustainable currently. The average US citizen emits 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The same number for the Chinese is 3 tonnes per capita. And in this reality the US is allocating 300 bn USD to grandpa in pensions and health care whereas only 3 bn USD to grandskids, i.e. R&D in clean tech and energy saving technologies. This has to change!
3. but there is not one power – we are entering a multi- power world

Another high was Tom Crampton and Dan Dubno talking about how politics will change with the Internet and new media strategies and tools that the Obama campaign unleashed.  I will discuss this in a separate post since it has a huge bearing on mobile web.

The low: The advanced presentation technology and system was messing up a few times and there were a good few short and shallow presentations about things we already know and hear daily wince we work in the industry. But then again, whatever the event, the real value is the meeting place it is and the opportunity to meet people. It is more up to yourself than the event organisers really is my feeling.

Well, it would not be fair not to mention Mia Rose and her fairytale story that we will see more of in the music industry I think. From home video on YouTube to signing with Universal Music. Her humble approach and choice of wording calling her followers supporters rather than fans. Ace of Base, the hit selling Swedish pop music machine from the 90’s, is attempting a comeback 2.0 style. New website where fans can remix tracks. The most popular ones will be recorded by Ace of Base and put on coming albums. That’s participation, or in the words of Ulf Ekberg, “the fans are the fourth band member”.

Well, no mobile so far. I will come to that in the coming posts. I will try to structure a story around this and serve up in some logic clusters.

Now I need to soak in a bath and have a cold beer to chill down my brain that is near overheating after all meetings and the inspirational kick SIME08 gave me.

For direct reporting and info please go to the SIME08 blog and have a look. For excellent coverage in Swedish (and also broader than my niche focus on mobile) go to Disruptive.