INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

So the first night of D: Dive Into Mobile is complete. The evening consisted of a cocktail hour, an on-stage interview by Walt and Kara of Andy Rubin, VP, Mobile Platforms, Google, a very late dinner and then shortly-attended “nightcap reception.” I sat down at a table for the main show and was joined by folks from Jawbone and a gentleman from Austin with a very interesting company (who needs assigned seating? .  Andy Rubin may be my new “what TO do” example for media training as Walt and Kara did not disappoint. I wonder how tired he gets of comparing Android to Apple? Rubin introduced some firsts: Gingerbread running on the Nexus S, an NFC demo with a Google print tag (ex. for couponing, ticketing, mobile payments) and a prototype Android-enabled Motorola tablet with a new 3D version of Google Maps due out in days (VERY cool).  He also said Gingerbread would have added VoIP so you could add a SIP provider (how does that work with Google Voice?). No video calling in this version although he alluded to work in that direction. When asked about mobile payments, Rubin said he is “looking at this from an infrastructure perspective” and that Android does carrier billing integration already and operators have an efficient billing system that could create those scenarios.  Not quite the mobile payments scenario consumers have been hoping for but baby steps. There was lots of RIM and MSFT bashing; I feel for Joe Belifiore and Mike Lazaridis that speak tomorrow. . .

The line up tomorrow is amazing which is why I should get to bed and rest up! Follow updates on Twitter at #dmobile and @karihernandez.

I am on my way to San Francisco today to soak up some knowledge at D: Dive into Mobile.  I can’t wait for tonight’s opening session with Google’s VP, Mobile Platforms, Andy Rubin who is rumored to be formally announcing Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Dive into Mobile is the first spin-off event of the influential D: All Things Digital conference put on by WSJ’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher and is positioned as a more intimate gathering to drill down on the mobile space and the opportunities/implications for the next year to 18 months. If anyone can provide this, it’s the heavy hitters on this speaker list.  Here are the questions Walt Mossberg highlighted for the event:

Can Google’s Android keep surging without fatally fragmenting? Can Research in Motion get back its mojo? Can Palm be revived inside the Hewlett-Packard monolith? Can Microsoft resuscitate its mobile business? Will local apps and mobile Web sites fight to the death or co-exist? Is the Apple iPad a fluke or will tablets spread like wildfire, threatening laptops? And what will it matter without better networks, must-have software and a viable advertising model?

As the mobile industry continues to converge and innovate, the same issues and key players are affecting all of our clients as they move to provide new mobile capabilities such as mobile VoIP, mobile commerce, voice control, hands-free, digital health and mobile advertising, to name a few.  I expect insights from this event to be of value to all our technology clients and help us shape strategy for their PR programs, as well as point out new areas of mobile that we should be targeting from a new business perspective.

I’ll be sharing key insights here and via Twitter (@karihernandez) so stay tuned.

As the short week winds down quickly towards one of my favorite holidays of the year (2nd only to St. Patrick’s Day – beer and March Madness, hard to top), I wanted to take a few minutes to say “thanks” (I have A LOT to be thankful for, but will try to keep this short):

To my daughters, for making me smile NO MATTER WHAT in the world is going on, and for reminding me that it’s a great thing to step away from the MacBook/iPhone/iPad and watch life happening right in front of me as often as I can, because before I know it I’ll be begging them for the same courtesy (Georgia, I’m looking at you – 2 yrs old and already able to unlock the phone and go right to the games).

Me, Scarlett (my Tinkerbell) and Georgia (my lady bug) at the office, Halloween 2010.

To my husband, for being my partner in everything I tackle in life (from jumping out of planes to jumping off a cliff to keeping me from jumping out the window at various times ).

To my partner, for still being my partner! You’ve put up with me for longer than my husband, actually. Bless you for that. I love that we’re not only still kicking around together, but getting better at it every day.

This is Kari, 2 days before Hayes, and Starr, 20 days before Scarlett. Taking that whole partnership thing a little too far? Nah!

To my colleagues, for being such a kick-ass team. All of you are rock stars in your own right and I appreciate you bringing your own special talents to the INK team and to our clients’ business.

To Eric Schneider, my oldest client, dear friend and amazing mentor, who to this day – even from an ocean away – continues to give insightful advice and constructive criticism that I really could not do without. Perhaps I should thank PN for you, but I’ll credit UT instead.

To my clients, thanks for keeping it interesting, thanks for being true partners, and cheers to 2011!

And lastly, thank you to Blair Poloskey who will read this post and throw up a little bit in her mouth at how sappy it is, thus motivating her to write a much more helpful and interesting blog post about the business at hand, maybe updating you on what she’ll be doing at CES 2011. (Well, I hope that’s the case, though since she’s had Jacob she’s become quite sappy as well – kids will do that to you).

Give Thanks this Thanksgiving and share in the comments. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We’re doing a rain dance right now for the PR gods to smile on us as we submit our RFP response on a piece of business we’d REALLY like to get. Why do we want it? Well, yes, the obvious does apply, but even more than growth being good, we’ve essentially been training for this particular piece of business our entire professional lives. And as we go through the process of answering the RFP questions, I find that I’m thinking two things – 1) we’re really good. And 2) they’d be silly not to pick us. Let’s hope they agree. (If so, I’ll report back with the name of “they”- and my apologies for calling them silly – towards the end of August.) Fingers crossed!