This is just one example of how mobile applications can be developed to improve and complement the work of the social sector.

In my interview with Don Harris, from OpenPath Products, he discusses the company’s new mobile application which enables users to calculate their carbon contribution from the comfort of their mobile phone.

Using the same application, the users can then make a donation to a non-profit organization to offset their carbon use.

This is certainly a great way to utilize mobile phones as tools which enable supporters and potential supporters to find out more about an organization and maybe even donate!

Check out my interview with Adele Waugaman, the Senior Director of the United Nations Foundation and Vodaphone Foundation Technology Partnership at the 2010 World Mobile Congress.

Here, Waugaman introduces a new open-source initiative for mobile phones, called EpiSurveyor, which is a free mobile phone and web based data collection system that enables better collection of health data, and therefore better decision making, for health workers in the developing world.

Waugaman also discusses the mhealth summit, due to take place this November, which will bring together leaders from diverse stakeholder groups to strengthen health delivery within the reaches of wireless networks.

A recent article, published in Wired Magazine predicts that smartphone applications will soon overtake normal, desktop software applications, leading to a massive change in the way people communicate.

Since Apple opened its App Store in July 2008, sales have grown rapidly, reaching around US$ 200 per month. In order to keep up with the growing demand for applications, Google, BlackBerry, Nokia and Palm have now opened their own app stores in a bid to compete.

According to Ilja Lauras, head of GetJar, there are now four mobile phones for every desktop computer, with a quarter of these phones set to become smartphones within the next 5 years. This means that smartphone applications will soon become a billion-dollar industry.

Some of the most popular applications include social networks, maps, TV, shopping, etc – all from the confort of your own pocket!

All that’s left is for the social sector to embrace this growing market and find new and innovative ways to use applications for the benefit of our work!

In the photo : Cristina San Vicente , GP China ; Henning Lorenz , GP Germany ; Marina Bevacqua GP Spain (Host) , Asensio Rodriguez & Alejandro Fernandez , GP Spain , Pälvi Luoma, GP Netherlands ;Dan Schaefler, GP Switzerland; Tracy Frauzel, GP UK; Hernan Nadal, GP Argentina; Guilherme Villar Alves , GP Brazil ; Veronici Garyfallou , GP Greece ;Marie Michelson, GP USA, Michael McTernan, GP South Africa , Jussi Kivipuro, Greenpeace International , Erhan Cokkececi , GP Mediterranean ( Turkey) ; and myself (www.marceloiniarra.com) .

Barcelona is not just about great tapas, football and Gaudi. For one week only, 50.000 Mobile phone fanatics invaded this beautiful Mediterranean city for the World Mobile Congress, the biggest international event of the year for the Mobile Phone industry. This year a special group of pioneers from the Social sector also landed at this massive mobile fair: the Greenpeace Mobile Champions, otherwise known as “Gmobs network”.

We organized the Greenpeace Mobile Conference (Gmobs) so that it would run alongside the World Mobile Congress and inspire attendees with some innovative new ideas to take back to their local offices. I was resonsible for coordinating the event with Jussi Kivipuro, Greenpeace International’s Mobile Innovation Manager

The Gmobs Conference in Barcelona boasted representatives from 12 Greenpeace offices from all over the world and I am pleased to rrreport that it was a great success! It was certainly great to hear that several offices have already begun their mobile activities.

We had some internal skillsharing sessions and a variety of external speakers from companies such as Nokia, Fjord and a former manager of Google Mobile. Combined with great presentations from Amnesty Denmark and Greenpeace China.

Many thanks to all those who got involved in Gmobs and helped to make it such a successful event!

More soon…

During his inspirational address at the recent World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, spoke of how the company’s top programmers are now concentrating on mobile phones as their primary focus!

Schmidt claimed that 3 areas have now converged on the mobile device: computing power, interconnectivity and the cloud. Media such as Facebook, and Google itself, have been forerunners in leading the cloud concept and bridging both online and mobile.

“The phone is where these three all interconnect  and you need to get these three waves right if you want to win,” he said.

Check out the above link for the entire speech!

Check out this quick interview I filmed at the Skype Mobile stand at the World Mobile Congress.

The new Skype mobile service will allow 200 million users to download Skype onto their mobile phones to be used with both wifi and 3G internet.

The new service will even allow users to send instant messages and download files onto their mobile using their Skype accounts!

This fantastic new app for Barcelona Football Club fans proves that successful mobile applications come in every shape and size.

The application, developed by Mobivery, provides supporters will all the information they might need about the club, players, the latest news, match scores, etc. They can even order club paraphenalia and download the BFC song!

In this interview, Denis Pagnac from Mobiclip introduces a fantastic development in mobile television that will make the service more widely available.

Mobile phone users of all platforms, from Windows mobile to Android systems, will soon be enjoying instant TV on their mobiles.

So it looks like in the not too distant future, our main television will also be our smallest one! And the implications of this on the social sector could be ground-breaking…

Check out my interview with Daisuke Tomizo from NTTSOLMARE.

Manga Mobile is a simple idea that is really taking off in Japan – making over US$500 million in profit!

Manga Mobile allows users to download manga comics direct to their mobile phones and could be a fantastic idea to apply to the social sector. How about manga that focuses on social issues?

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Gordon Cooper at this year’s World Mobile Congress.

Gordon is Visa’s Regional Head of Mobile Innovation for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, The Middle East and Africa.

Here he discusses the current mobile innovation trends being tested in these markets, especially regarding electronic payments.

“We recognize that there is a wonderful opportunity for consumers, businesses and others to use mobile phones. There are now more than 4 billion of these devices out there.”

Check out the rest of the interview above!