I had the plea­sure last week of being able to attend the 2010 Mobile Upfront Con­fer­ence. Yes, most of the panel dia­log was around adver­tis­ing but I have two very sound rea­sons for being inter­ested not only in the space but also in the insights of those in the interactive/digital media world that focus on mobile.

1)  Pro­jected smart­phone — should really read smart appli­ance — dom­i­nance.
2)  Mobile is grow­ing not only in size but also in plat­form importance.

I’m sure that there are other jus­ti­fi­ca­tions based on dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives, the above are just mine. If you are inter­ested in this space and haven’t yet read Mor­gan Stanley’s Mobile Inter­net Report I rec­om­mend that you make the time to do so. I should also make it clear that I hold the right to change my ratio­nale at any given point. This is an indus­try that is rapidly chang­ing due to both tech­no­log­i­cal and con­sump­tion changes.

Here are the top 5 insights from the 2010 Mobile Upfront Conference.

It’s Per­sonal
As we move into 4G the small screen will become the first screen. Mil­len­ni­als are will­ing to give up TV first when grounded… cell phone is last because its so personal.

Expec­ta­tions are High
Inter­ac­tiv­ity, mostly lis­ten­ing to the mar­ket, is a must. Con­sumers have set the expec­ta­tion of treat­ment bar much higher for mobile than any other media because it is such a per­sonal medium.

It’s Not Cat­e­gory Spe­cific
Mobile is much more than cell­phones. Think con­nected devices like, con­sumer elec­tron­ics (in-car devices, pic­ture frames,…) , com­put­ing devices (ipads, …), and mon­i­tor­ing devices (pets, med­ical records,…)

It’s Still Early
Apps have their place and role but in the greater scheme mobile (WAP) sites will be dom­i­nate because they reach a sig­nif­i­cantly greater audi­ence, are not plat­form spe­cific, and are closer to hav­ing com­mon standards.

It’s a Game Changer
The most effec­tive way to reach those who don’t have or can’t afford wired broad­band access in the home.