2011 Predictions: App Conference Anyone?
2011 will bring many, many app conferences. It started with App Planet at MWC in Feb of 2010 and took off from there. App World, App Universe, Appcelerate, Planet of the Apps and so on – we will see them all plus more in the upcoming year. Developer conferences of all kinds will continue to pop out of the woodwork. Three years ago, when we started WIPJams, there were barely any! In 2010, there were upwards of 30 in September alone. In 2011, developers will have their choice of even more developer events, conferences & code camps. Better start thinking of ways to weed through them to determine the best bang for your buck! Not the buck to attend the events… many of those will continue to be free to developers ... but your travel/hotel costs and the most costly thing of all… your time!
It is all about mobile! The mobile trend will continue for the foreseeable future. Conferences that traditionally catered to C-Level executives and telecoms suddenly want mobile developers. What a fabulous time to be a mobile developer – everyone wants you!
Hot conference topics for 2011 include: IPTV, Augmented Reality, M-Commerce and anything to do with LTE , 4G and Mobile. Maybe we will even see conferences totally devoted to “How to make money from Apps and App Stores”! Now that that would be really exciting!
My biggest prediction for 2011: Developer conferences will continue to give out backpacks! How many backpacks do we really need? What happens to all those backpacks anyway? If you have an answer, let me know and I’ll publish the best ones. What would you like to receive? I promise to pass on the top answers to developer conference organizers. I know what I would like … a backpack with wheels. :o)
Best wishes for a prosperous 2011!