This Tuesday, March 19th, Xconomy held their 5th annual Mobile Madness conference at Microsoft New England Research and Development Center

Headlining their great agenda was Jonathan Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth, who implored mobile developers to enter healthcare because of what he called “Financial and Spiritual Arbitrage opportunities.” Indeed I was convinced at both a logical and emotional level by his conclusion that Mobile is about human experience and that healthcare should be an expression of our humanity.

#Mobile is about human experience. Healthcare is about humanity @jonathan_bush at #xconmobile

— Eli Mather (@elimather) March 19, 2013

Next up was an all-star panel of Mobile Developers to talk about the state of the state: Apps in the Real World

• Mark Kasdorf, CEO, Timbre & Founder, Intrepid Pursuits
• Steve Levy, CEO, Verivo Software
• Matt Snyder, CEO, MediaMob
• Sravish Sridhar, CEO, Kinvey
• Eliran Sapir, CEO, Apptopia
• Chuck Goldman, Chief Strategy Officer, Apperian (moderator)

Chuck Goldman started things off by joking about the overproliferation of mobile apps implying that a “Map my poop” app could launch at any moment. Eli Sapir played the contrarian dropping no-nonsense zingers like this one:

“I really, really hate apps. And I think they all are sh*t.” @eliransapir @apptopia #xconmobile

— Xconomy (@Xconomy) March 19, 2013

I most enjoyed Robi Ganguly, CEO, Apptentive. His slideshow perfectly complemented his 5 minute burst presentation.  What hit home with me as a mobile developer is the challenge of engaging users in conversation.

Building off of a client story, Robi demoed how Apptentative could help turn app into a communications channel complete with the context that app store reviews lack.

I agree with his conclusion that “to mobile developers App Store Ratings = Graffiti on the wall.”

The Last session before a break was about M2M & The internet of things: Future of Connected Devices

• Sean Dalton, General Partner, Highland Capital Partners
• Ben Einstein, Managing Director, Bolt
• Eric Giler, CEO, WiTricity
• Dave Icke, CEO, MC10
• Dan Ryan, CEO, ByteLight
• Greg Huang (moderator)

After a brief networking break Gagan Puranik, Associate Director, Verizon Innovation Center, gave a quick demo and request for stakeholders to engage with his innovation program.  My takeaway is that they do not provide resources, but do help make connections.

Following Gagan’s demo was the Keynote Chat about the future for mobile: What’s Beyond Mobility?

• Izhar Armony, Partner, Charles River Ventures
• Dan Bricklin, President, Software Garden
• Angus Davis, CEO, Swipely
• Greg Huang (moderator)

Izhar Armony shared the VC perspective and Dan Bricklin blew me away with his futurist perspective. I would highly recommend listening to Dan Bricklin. I intend to seek him out again in the future. Dan’s main point was to pay attention to what people will pay for His prediction: Simple communication and meaningful emotional connection.

Another nugget I took away was that general purpose tools win. Dan’s reasoning: We (users) are incredibly adapt at figuring out how to apply tools to suit our individual needs, and are only loyal to the tool that is easiest for us.

For the Mobile Gaming perspective Dayna Grayson moderated a panel titled:Games That Make Money

• Dave Bisceglia, CEO, The Tap Lab
• Lucy McQuilken, Investment Director, Intel Capital
• Andrew Paradise, CEO, Lookout Gaming
• Brian Wong, CEO, Kiip
• Dayna Grayson, Partner, New Enterprise Associates (moderator)

@brian_wong was the sparkplug of the panel, and shared a prediction that the maturation of mobile gaming hardware will revolutionize adult entertainment.

During the panel, Jessica Lipnack Tweeted thumbs up to 2 women on the mobile gaming panel, but gave a “needs improvement” grade to the overall inclusion of women for the day’s agenda.

Another woman on panel! Jennifer Lum, pres, Adelphic Mobile! 3 of 30. We can do better. See Forbes: forbes.com/sites/womensen… #xconMobile

— jessica lipnack (@jlipnack) March 19, 2013

Closing the agenda was a “Who’s who” in Mobile Advertising: Mobile Advertising Matures

• George Bell, CEO, Jumptap
• Jennifer Lum, President, Adelphic Mobile
• Bill Clifford, Chief Revenue Officer, SessionM
• Ernie Cormier, CEO, Nexage
• David George, COO, Celtra
• John Landry, Founder and Managing Director, Lead Dog Ventures (moderator)

Read about the top 10 takeaways from Greg Huang, Xconomy Editor here:

http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2013/03/20/10-takeaways-from-mobile-madness-2013/

Thanks guys! Stay in touch!