Google I/O Extended London

I first found out about Google I/O Extended via the Londroid Meetup Group and managed to get my event registrations for both days at the Google Campus.  This was quiet exciting for a few reasons – it was the first time I have been to Google Campus, my first Google I/O Extended and my first dedicated Android meetup! There is already a lot written about, around, before, during and after Google I/O so I will keep this writeup to a few of my highlights as you will probably have your own to share too.

Changes to the Google Play Store Console

I arrived just in time to find out what changes were being rolled out at the Google Play Store.  One to note that I really liked are the changes involved developers regarding the console giving a lot more bang for the developers’ buck (and time and attention).  Staged roll outs and beta/alpha testing meant product-friendly development stages enabling select users to provide feedback to you directly.  The updated console also has the following great new updates (sneakily sourced here):

1. App translation service.  From one of the Mobile Academy presenters, it is recommended to localised your app accordingly which would help bump up its visibility in international stores where English is not your main user language.
2. Revenue graphs.  Provides a summary of your global app revenue over time.  I wonder if this will keep all revenue data or if there is a time limit?
3. Alpha and beta testing, staged rolluuts.  As mentioned before.
4. Optimisation tips.
5. Google Analytics directly in the Console.  This had a fair amount of clapping.
6. Referral tracking.  This is great to know and by the looks of this and a few other features, the new Console looks to be grabbing features from external services such as App Annie or Flurry.

Read more about it and be kept up to date on any further developments on the Google Play Android Developer area.  Looking forward to Play around with the new Console when these and more features are out!

Android Studio

After the keynote was a stream showcasing Android Studio which is based on the IntelliJ IDE.  Definitely worth checking out Android Studio and you can also explore what IntelliJ IDEA is all about beyond android development.

Game On, Google tells Apple

The below pic shows a demo of a multiplayer game being played across five different devices which can be linked across Android, iOS AND web.  Find out more on the Google Developers blog or start playing.



Being Beautiful

The focus on being beautiful brought down the House of Google on its knees.  It could be through the improved Google Maps and Google+ Hangouts or beautifying your holiday pics.  The most obvious product at the moment that captures it has been Google Glass. Product evangelist Timothy Jordan presented a live demo of Glass in action as well as delivered a set of recommended UI guidelines for a product that is ‘technology not in the way of living’.  Go beyond the surface and into the guts of it by reading up on the Google Mirror API.  As for making Glassware, there is already a Londroid Meetup set up.

And that’s all there is…

Google I/O Extended London was interesting.  I not only left with goodies but I also left with a lot more enthusiasm for Android development and a bit more kudos for Google.

This is also compounded by the fact that the last time I saw an event at the Moscone Center was the 2012 Macworld iWorld which left me a bit ‘meh’ after.  Just like the image below of a Steve Jobs quote, Google is also at this type of cross-road – and a bit of Apple app store numbers tailgating being doesn’t hurt too.

MemCom 2013 – RCOG Guidelines App for iOS shortlist

The RCOG Guidelines App has been shortlisted for the Brand Extension category at this year’s MemCom Awards, UK’s only membership awards.  The entry itself was composed of one page with three pages composing of supporting material which covered the whole process of strategy to execution spanning market research, pre-launch marketing, launch coverage and post-launch momentum.  Marketing and promotions of the app spanned print publications, posters, conferences and events, social media, email marketing and press so there is quiet a bit of online/offline integration but that was not the main category which was Brand Extension of an existing product.

The conference and awards will take place on Thursday May 9 so fingers crossed.

The Mobile Academy

I’ve recently signed up for the Mobile Academy: 

Mobile Monday London, the UK’s leading com­munity for people involved in mobile, and Uni­ver­sity College London (UCL Advances) have teamed up to deliver the Mobile Academy, a prac­tical, 36-hour evening pro­gramme for anyone keen to start or con­tinue their journey in mobile innovation.

It has been a great journey so far and I am learning something new each time. The people that attend have also been great – many are from tech startups, run consultancies (design, digital), creative and tech entrepreneuers, big companies (ie British Airways) and so on.  

Much of what I know when it comes to mobile has been around distribution, brand extension, mobile as part of an integrated campaign (offline, online, cross platform) as well as mobile marketing in general.  In terms of sectors, it has been mainly festivals/major events but have been getting into mHealth in the past several months.  Hopefully the Academy will give me a broader overview into mobile innovation.

The Guardian Healthcare Innovation Awards and Launch

 

I attended the Guardian Health Care Innovation Awards launch and gleaned great insights on what it is like to roll out innovation in health care from speakers in Royal College of Nursing, Nesta, Guardian Healthcare Network/BMJ, Diabetes UK and NHS Confederation.  Attendees ranged from professional associations and the public sector including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Institute of Biomedical Science and Department of Health, and also the private sector such as Applied Nanodetectors.

eConsultancy Digital Cream

Digital Cream London 2013 was held at Emirates Stadium

I was very excited to find out that my application to attend the eConsultancy was approved!  For those not in the know, this is a series of round table sessions held for client-side senior digital marketers to do a deep-dive on specific topics.  The sessions I attended were on big data, the mobile experience and the customer lifetime value in the digital world.

The attendee list were cream of the crop and covered numerous industry sectors so it was an amazing day for client-side digital marketers!