A chance to get to know your peers before the start of the conference and set a relaxed atmosphere

• Examining expected trends in mobile IM systems, customer expectations and interoperability updates
• Forecasting the demand for mobile IM services in Europe for 2008
• Vision for mobile IM – ensuring market success going forward

• Consumers need to have IM within easy reach on their mobiles and they need other consumers to have IM within easy reach on their mobiles. Do they?
• Operators need cooperation from competing operators for mobile IM success. Is this happening?
• Which is the one most important issues which must be resolved for mobile IM critical mass to be reached?

• Reviewing Turkcell's experience with mobile instant messaging
• Exploring the business considerations for deploying an additional mobile IM service
• Can the two offers co-exist: Looking into future positioning alternatives

• What was the catalyst for traditional IM providers to start aggressively targeting the mobile market?
• Is the mobile IM community expected to be the same community using PC IM? Which community will eventually be the largest?
• If prompted, consumers would opt for full interconnectivity: What are the pros and cons of interconnectivity for PC-based IM providers?
• Holding power over the PC-based services, will operator-owned services be able to survive without full interconnectivity cooperation and collaboration?

• Native MIM clients tend to lack certain features and tools, can successful roll-out of complete services be achieved with the majority of handsets already in circulation?
• To the industry it seems the willingness to invest money and effort into the foundations of MIM has reduced: To what extent is the case? What has led to the lack of interest and lack of funds for investment?
• Why has the emotional binding to MIM and presence decreased?
• Should operator marketing departments create a demand from consumers to boost the industry? What would be the advantages and disadvantages to this tactic?

• Consumer research: The IM hype associated with the Internet and user acceptance for this type of communication
• How can mobile operators maintain a similar user-experience to the PC on mobile devices?
• Mobile and PC convergence: How can a service which is available for free on the PC be monetised on mobile?
• Which charging models are the most acceptable to the market?
• Existing communities: What are the advantages of partnering with existing IM communities versus building a new one?

• i-Mode Mobile IM: How popular was the service and was it a commercial success?
• How does the MSN service offer differ from the i-Mode predecessor? What role do the Java handsets play in this difference?
• How has KPN marketed the service offering and which promotional giveaways have proven to be the most successful?
• Following 2-3 months live service, what are KPN's expectations for the future of the service?

• How successful was the initial launch? How has subscriber uptake and usage varied since then?
• Were there any unforeseen barriers encountered by users or the operator? How were these overcome?
• What are the critical product features required for a successful service?
• How can the offering now be improved to encourage longevity of the service?

• Are there rules to follow to increase the likelihood of a successful launch
• What are the requirements for ensuring a service experiences long-term growth?
• How could an operator ruin a mobile IM launch? What are the mistakes which should be avoided at all costs?

• What is the current level of IM operator network integration and why is the level so important?
• Has IMS development overly-focused on Presence, inadvertently overlooking IM? What could be the ramifications of this?
• What is IM’s standing in the messaging suite vis-à-vis SMS and MMS? Is this correct?
• How should IM be configured in order that operator launches are an instant success?

• Consumers need to have IM within easy reach on their mobiles and they need other consumers to have IM within easy reach on their mobiles. Do they?
• Operators need cooperation from competing operators for mobile IM success. Is this happening?
• Which is the one most important issues which must be resolved for mobile IM critical mass to be reached?

• The popular theory is that consumers are confused by MIM pricing models, is this really the case?
• Did consumers ever expect IM to be free on mobile or is this scaremongering from the PC-based industry?
• The importance of clearly communicating pricing structures to the consumer is accepted, but are they as pricesensitive as believed?
• How does the price of IM compare with other types of messaging? What will be the impact on important SMS revenues?

• Would operator created and promoted mobile communities ultimately drive MIM revenues?
• Does the vast array of thriving PC and mobile communities make the interoperable, interworkable and single community argument redundant?
• Could communities and MIM be the opportunity for operators to escape the “data-pipe” derogatory label?
• Do consumers care, or even know, who is in charge of their communities?

• What research was undertaken before committing to launching the mobile community?
• How did consumers react to the service in the early months? How was the legacy handset problem dealt with?
• What changes were made to the service as the community increased in members? How easy was it to implement these changes?
• Lessons learnt and plans for the future

• Bridging communities on the mobile
• Delivering choice to create sticky services
• Assessing the future for moblile operators

• The evolution of web-based IM services: What are the rules communication service providers need to consider?
• What are the communication trends and mechanisms of mobile communities?
• What is the role of Presence in mobile communications? How important is Presence for communities?
• Mobile IM, Presence and Communities: What are the conditions for success?

• With the enormous communities such as World of Warcraft and SecondLife still on the increase, are avatars becoming the hub of communities?
• In consumer messaging, is the role of the avatar set to increase and be the channel through which all IM is communicated?
• How much have the capabilities of avatars been exposed and what are likely future evolutions?
• Which communities are active in this area and how do they differentiate themselves?

This is the audience’s chance to create discussion and debate on the issues surrounding mobile communities and mobile IM which affect their standing in the industry.

• Is there a genuine difference between future SMS technologies and mobile IM?
• Is the PC-based providers’ branding the ultimate selling point for IM over integrated messaging services?
• By focusing on mobile IM, is the messaging industry avoiding the ARPU cannibalising “ultimate SMS”?