Since several months back, we Forum Nokia team here in India were thinking of doing a little big event for all Mobile enthusiasts. About 5-6 months back the thoughts got really ignited and we announced Forum Nokia Developer Conference on December 10th '08 at Bangalore India and in light of the unfortunate and shocking events in Mumbai, we had to make a decision to reschedule the event. The decision to reschedule the event to Jan 20th '09 had been taken in the interest of the safety of our participants, partners and employees, and also keeping in mind the mood and sentiment of the nation.

 

It was all exciting moments for the preparations of the event, inviting developers and speakers - We really wanted to make it big and the response we received was amazing. And the 'D' Day came, developers started coming in early morning despite the cold climate and the traffic blocks in Bangalore. First to join us include Prof Kiran Trivedi and bunch of Forum Nokia Champions from Gujarat Universities. While going around to ensure that every thing was going fine I was glad to see that developers had started coming in and registering. Even though we had closed the Online Registrations 4 days before since the seats became full, after finding such a big crowd, I was doubtful on accommodating every one, But still we managed to acommodate almost 580 people.

 

It was time to start the much awaited Conference with 'Theme Video' and Kenny's Talk (Head of Forum Nokia Developer Relations, APAC), where he also introduced Forum Nokia India team to the developers. Srikanth Raju, Director of Product Marketing Forum Nokia was the next to deliver the Keynote address. We also had eminent speakers from Operators, Government, Nokia and Forum Nokia which included Rajesh Nair, GM VAS, Idea(Operator), Deepak Halan, Director IMRB, Krishna, CEO Plusmo INC, Mahamood Kalantar, Director Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia , Anirudh Mathuria, VP & GM Symbian India, Raja S.R, GM-Strategy, Sasken, Vishvanath, CEO IMI Mobile, Nicholas Foo, Technical Manager, Forum Nokia, APAC, Gregory Smiley Series 40 Technology marketing Manager, Nokia R&D, Tom Tierney, Head Partner alliances & Developer Programs, who shared their views on the current state of the industry and the future of VAS. They discussed about infinite possibilities, the future of mobile technology would create. Also we had talks from our Innovative developers who included Sujith Jain, CEO, Maverick Mobile, Santosh Ostwal, CEO Ossian Agro Automation, Srinivasan Ravindran CEO OneView Systems, RamPrakash  CEO Tachyon Technologies, where they shared about their innovative applications and their experiences in Industry. A great round of applause was for Santosh Ostwal, of Ossian Agro Automation, while he shared his experiences of taking Mobile Innovation to Rural India. 

There were booths outside Conference venue from Prof Kiran Trivedi, where he showcased his innovative applications which included Alcohol sensor, Metal Detector, ATM locator and also other Booths from Navteq, Nokia HR and Media Partners.

 

It was a proud moment when Prof Kiran Trivedi, Forum Nokia Champion, was announced as Forum Nokia - India Ambassador of the Year 2009 - His contribution towards Forum Nokia, rather Mobile Community is amazing, evangelising Mobile Technologies in Universities and his inspiration has made several active contributors to Forum Nokia and getting recognised as Forum Nokia Champions. It was a great work from Kiran, worth appreciating and hope he would continue his good work.

 

Moreover it was great meeting several Forum Nokia Champions from India and other developers, talking with them, hearing their thoughts and discussing their Technical issues/pain points. There were several instances I really got emotional, and I hope all our hard work came out as a success and hope all the guys attended had a wonderful and informative conference. 

It was all our team effort with Prakash, Shiraz, Anshuman and Nitin made this a grand success. Also I thank all those, who supported us to make this a wonderful event.

Feel free to let me know your comments/feedback so that we will try to incorporate in the upcoming events.

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Best Regards

Gopal 

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PS : After resizing the images to fit in the blog page, the quality of pictures are not that good, if you would like to see more and better pictures of the event, try here