I wandered back to the hotel, through Helsinki’s dark, icy streets. Past the brutish contrasts of the heavy, carved stone of Central Station, looking like a set piece from a Gothic Batman movie, and the blinking illuminated signs on the side of the angular glass office buildings. After packing the essentials into a back-pack I flicked robotically through the TV channels, from CNN to the Russian variety show and the
Steve Bowbrick, former co-founder of Webmedia, the seminal web agency of mid- 90s Internet-crazed London, will no doubt be delighted to learn that there is now a “Webmedia” in Estonia, according to the New York Times. I guess it’s no coincidence that the new tech boom has moved over to former Soviet Union countries and emerging economies like India. Webmedia London, RIP. Webmedia Estonia, may you live long and prosper…
It’s been a long day of interviews sand I’ve got an appointment with some ZZZs. However, suffice it to say that after meeting with a bunch of mobile firms here in Helsinki today, I’m going to say one word: Communities. Ok, so it doesn’t sound that ground breaking, but I guess the first web page looked pretty dull too. (In fact when the first site I was ever involved in
I have been trying to catch up with blogging, but with a hectic schedule, limited access to decent Wi-Fi (make that decent and affordable Wi-Fi), not to mention sub-zero temperatures – it’s getting tricky. Suffice it to say I’ve met a lot of people on the way so far, including Prof. Chip MacGuire (who told me why mobile operators are dead meat), Stina from Cypak (which will probably one day
Meeting Cecilia Stegö Chilò of the Timbro thinktank was an experience. A former journalist, she is a passionate believer in the future of Sweden as a liberalised economy. The problem, she says, is that in a globalised world, the Nordic “social model” of high taxation, expensive public services won’t work, and nor will it create the jobs Sweden’s young people will need in the next few years. She is also
One person I spoke here to estimated there are now 5,000 daily Swedish blogs, although it’s in online communities that Swedes have largely collected, somewhat reflecting the left-leaning community spirit of the culture which grew out of its 60s socialist roots. Ericsson is gaining ground on Nokia amongst the Swedes, who often shunned the rather unsexy phones produced by their home-grown firm in favour of Finalnd’s finest. This is in
Stockholm trip Part 2, Jan 23: I met and interviewed the two founders of Sweden’s biggest online auction, Tradera.com. Although it’s an easy pitch to call them an eBay copy, in fact these like-able young entrepreneurs started and stuck with the auction business right the way through massive competitions from outside players like eBay and QXL, and the dotcom nuclear winter of 2001-2003. They have emerged with 90% of the
At some point there’ll be a more detailed report on my findings in Scandinavia, but for now, here’s a smattering of some of the people I’ve been talking to and the information I’ve gathered on the ground in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallin (Estonia). My ‘Scandinavian Odyssey’ began with a dry sandwich aboard a British Airways flight From London into Stockholm’s super-futuristic Arlanda airport. Sitting next to me were a Swedish
I’m in Stockholm this week (till Friday) researching tech, media and mobile companies here for the The Guardian and New Media Age magazine, among others. Email me if you fall into that category and want to meet up. Likewise if you are in Helsinki – where I’ll be from Friday to Tuesday, or Tallinn (Estonia) on Wednesday… I’ve already had a great meeting tonight with Henrik Torstensson of Torstensson.com.
A lot of the discussion about the so-called new wave of “Web 2.0” has centred around technology. But what effect is this new era going to have on marketing? “Web 2.0” as a phrase first appeared in the title of an O’Reilly conference in 2004. It was obviously boosterish, and took advanatge of the new wave of web companies doing strange new things with RSS and the like. Web 2.0