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Last week, Denuologist Matt Story participated as a speaker at the 2010 Digital Hollywood Spring event in Santa Monica, CA. A collection of leaders from the media, creative, technology and entertainment industries gathered for this three-day event exploring topics ranging from smartphones to online video to music to Hollywood to videogames.

Matt’s panel focused on the strategies, market and rewards for games, music and content. It also specifically spoke to the rise of SmartPhones, iPads and digital tablets. Joining him on the panel was Stephen Jackson, President and CEO of Smashing Ideas; Jason Henderson, Games Product Manager at Verizon; Michael Schade, CEO and Co-Founder of Fishlabs; Daniele Calabrese, Founder and CEO of sountrckr; and Jennifer Cooper, Founder and Principal of Rocket Spark Media, who also participated as the panel moderator.

Naturally the panel kicked off with a conversation about Apple and its majority share of gaming and music applications across smartphones and whether its dominant position was good for consumers and the industry-at-large. The group agreed that greater competition was good for all, but dominant standards set forth by the Apple App Store provided the industry with a common, controlled platform for developers and publishers could program on, which, in turn, leads to more competition in app development. The cost savings on app development could also be passed onto consumers.

The conversation also turned to best-in-class strategies for breaking through the growing app clutter on smartphones and tablet devices. With so many new apps being created by the minute, it’s often hard for developers to make their app stand out. So what did the panel think was the secret to app differentiation? They agreed that having a good app always helps the cream of the crop rise to the top. Further, they thought another key to success was to consider programming on the less popular platforms to increases the chances of breaking through the clutter and driving attention to the application. Finally, they agree that it required some luck, and being in the right place at the right time.

The group also agreed that developing content and apps that leverage the growing mobile and tablet platforms was key. As consumers continue to be more mobile, these devices will only increase in penetration and the usefulness of the apps is dependent on the ability to leverage the device strengths vs. porting content/apps from other environments.

Click here for more information on Digital Hollywood Spring, the topics the event covered and who participated.

 

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