This post was originally published on Dec 14 2009 on a new defunct blog. It is the third in a series of the key learnings from LeWeb 2009 conference (Dec 9-10).
As I have written before, I attended the LeWeb Conference 2009 in Paris, and have collected my thoughts here over a collection of three separate postings (the first and second posts). This is the third one with three more observations. In a further post, I present what I believe are the ramifications of these particular highlights for business.
7. Apple was in the house. In terms of laptop usage, it was announced at the close of the Conference that, of the 2,937 unique devices connected at LeWeb, 1,827 (62%) of these were Apple devices [initially sourced from SMNZ, thanks Michael]. There were 1,008 iPhones registered… quite the over-representation versus the “outside” world. Notwithstanding the handy app created especially for the conference (see here for a YouTube explanation of the app), it felt as if Macs and iPhones were everywhere. See this photo taken by Robert Scoble on stage with everyone saying iPhorgot that there was even a choice.
8. eLearning was not mentioned once in the two days. I may be partial, but I believe the eLearning is one of the big avenues of innovation ahead for the “outside world” which will lead them to want to get hooked into the internet, social media, new technologies, etc. — especially since we will start to see eLearning applications for the mobile world (learning to the doorstep becomes learning in the palm).
9. There are still few women in the public internet world — there was a grand total of five female presenters on the mainstage (granted they were of a significant stature: Queen Rania, Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Violet Blue, Marissa Mayer and Danah Boyd). Of the total 94 presenters (including in the side-rooms), there were 7 women (7%). And in terms of the participants, I did not find official statistics, but I would have to go with about 10% female participation.
As a reminder, I also wrote up a piece on the Business Consequences 2010-2011 of the nine points which I covered from LeWeb. Welcome your comments, even if they come several months after the event! With time comes hindsight!
