Mobile Monday Story
It�s just another Monday evening. For many, the most disliked working day has come to an end, but for a growing number of mobile enthusiasts, the week�s most awaited event is just starting. In over 20 mobile hotspots around globe, MobileMonday puts on events every month that bring together industry influencers from amongst its roughly 25 thousand members to set trends, debate developments, foster cooperation and cross-boarder business development, and to profoundly network with peers locally and globally.
The remarkable MoMo phenomenon began almost by accident in Helsinki, Finland during the chilly autumn of 2000. Vesa-Matti 'Vesku' Paananen, a well-known Finnish mobile visionary, invited more than fifty mobile innovators to an Irish pub for an informal get-together and perhaps a warming drink. The only suitable time? You guessed it, Monday evening. After meeting many new faces and discussing the latest in mobility, the group decided to continue meeting on the first Monday of each month � and MobileMonday was born.
Tokyo and Silicon Valley were the first MobileMonday groups to be established outside Finland in the autumn of 2004. In 2006, the number of MoMo groups has swelled to over twenty and new groups are being launched all the time. March saw launches in Beijing and Hong Kong, April enjoys launches in Boston and Kuala Lumpur, while we have launches in Barcelona and Bangkok to look forward to in May.
Jari Tammisto, a leader of the global MobileMonday concept, sees such a high level of interest that there could be 50 MoMo groups with 100 thousand members by 2007. And according to Tammisto, these 100 thousand people are only the tip of the iceberg if you count the people that participate in MobileMonday discussion groups, read news or contribute to blogs. "The MobileMonday concept is a kind of 'open source forum', a counter-force to other existing organizations," explains Tammisto.
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