Ewa Golebiewska is Member Services Manager for MEF globally, and recently visited Dubai to meet with members from the MEF Middle East Steering Committee.
Getting up at 5.45am on Sunday morning is never pleasant, but I was about to fly from a rainy London to a city in a desert with the tallest buildings in the world to meet some of our most important members in this key region.
On Monday the 13th of May the MEF Middle East Steering committee met, Chaired by MEF CEO Rimma Perelmuter, and kindly hosted by member Dentons at their beautiful offices.
The meeting was very well attended with members keen to discuss the challenges and opportunities in this rather complex region. Member in attendance included Anayou, Anghami, Du, Getmo Arabia, Intigral, LiveWire, MT2, Nazara Technologies, Ooredoo, Qanawat, Vserv.mobi and Vodafone. Anti-piracy, analytics and mobile money were the key points on the agenda.
The next two days were spent at the Mobile Show in the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. A Mobile Life session featured MEF Global Vice Chair – Peter Parmenter from Electronic Arts talking about their journey into mobile and the necessity of ensuring every aspect of the games have to be fun.
Peter was joined by Senior VP from New York Times giving insight into revolutionizing the way we read, learn and interact with content. While the Square CEO was presenting their success story and convincing the audience that if you don’t know what to do – the answer is inside you. He also encouraged ignoring the copycats, as the real protection is in the speed of your innovation and imitation is a validation for your product.
The Mobile Entertainment track on day 2 of the show was hosted by Rimma Perelmuter, MEF CEO who presented the changing trends in global consumer behaviour in mobile. Rimma was also moderating a panel including speakers from Du, The Telegraph, Mindshapes and Devolver.
In a provocative keynote presentation Saleem Mobhani from Du made a series of bold predictions; that the second screen will soon replace the first, that content owners need to understand the value of the small screen or be relegated by those who do; that publishers will focus on what they do best: content & marketing content, or they will become irrelevant; and that telcos will focus on their strengths: smart networks & billing relationships with customers-in-flesh.
The very intense three days in Dubai were filled with meetings, conference sessions, business dinners and even a boat cruise organised by the MEF member – Nazara! Big thank you to Nazara for an amazing night. That still did not mark the end of our stay however – there was still time for a visit to the Mobies Awards gala dinner on my way to the airport.
Again big thank you to Qualcomm for inviting me to join their table. The Awards were held in the beautiful Address Hotel just in front of Burj Khalifa – so yes, I did manage to take a photo of the highest building in the world (although sadly, it didn’t quite fit in my camera).
Congratulations to all of the winners at the Mobies, but especially to the MEF member winners!
- Best App Media and Entertainment – Nazara
- Best Tablet App & Best New iPhone App– Perform Group
- Best New Blackberry App – Intigral
- Best Mobile Health App & Best New Android App – Mobily
Ewa Golebiewska is Member Services Manager for MEF globally and you can contact her here.
mefminute 
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