History
So just how did the Meffys come to be the industry’s most prestigious awards? Find out here with our brief history of the Meffys.
2004 Awards, London
In June 2004, the inaugural Mobile Entertainment Forum awards took place in Islington’s Business Design Centre in London to reflect the “growing maturity and importance of the mobile entertainment market”.
Hosted by then MEF Americas Chairman and mobile evangelist Ralph Simon, the awards were scooped by some of the pioneering names in mobile entertainment: In-Fusio (Games), Chaoticom (Music) and Ki-Bi (Innovation).
The Special Recognition award was presented to Finnish technologist Vesa Matti Paananen for ringtone personalisation – an idea he came up with one morning in Helsinki when he woke with a hangover and wanted to get rid of that “annoying Nokia tune”.
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2005 Awards, London
The 2005 awards marked “an industry coming of age” according to host Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy and the number of award categories increased accordingly. Held in Earl’s Court, the winners’ podium was dominated by some of the heavyweight brands in the mobile and entertainment sectors: Nokia N-Gage (Games), Endemol (Content), Orange (Services) and a brace of awards for Vodafone (Music and Innovation). This time it was the turn of another Finnish technologist, Taneli Armanto, to be honoured with the Special Recognition award for bringing the game ‘Snake’ to the mobile phone.
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2006 Awards, London
Rebranded as the "Meffys", the host of the expanded awards for 2006 was legendary DJ and producer Pete Tong. The winners reflected “the hot trends shaping and driving the mobile entertainment industry” with nods to user-generated content, made for mobile TV and innovative mobile marketing campaigns.
The MEF board chose to recognise the technical and entrepreneurial skills of Dr Jim Brailean and his pioneering work on mobile video. On receiving the Special Recognition award, Brailean mused that he was grateful for the acknowledgement since the team he had originally led were considered “maverick, slightly wacky scientists with crazy mobile media ideas!”
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2007 Awards, Monaco
With a switch to the glamorous surroundings of Monaco, the 2007 Meffys were celebrated in style with their first ever gala dinner hosted by former MTV presenter Ray Cokes. The ceremony showcased winning entries from around the world with a shortlist featuring applications from 20 countries in four of the five continents.
A trio of individuals – Alain Rossman, Chuck Parrish and Bruce Martin – were presented with the Special Recognition award for their collaborative efforts that led to the creation of the mobile internet.
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2008 Awards, Cannes
In 2008 the Meffys show opened with footage of glamorous Gadget Show presenter, Suzi Perry, joining an aerobatic display and skydiving while testing the latest handset blogging capabilities. Perry’s feet remained firmly on the ground while she hosted the fifth annual awards at the famous Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
With the unstoppable rise of social networking, it was fitting that the three founders of Upoc: Greg Clayman, Gordon Gould and Alex LeVine, were honoured with the Special Recognition award as the ‘inventors’ of mobile social networking. US company, Upoc, created a “whole new channel of socialising for mobile subscribers”.
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2009 Awards, London
For 2009, the Meffys made a come-back in their hometown of London, this time hosted by the lively Scottish comedian and tv/radio presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli, who captivated the audience with his quick wit and passion for the mobile medium. To celebrate the industry’s massive apps explosion, entertainment was provided by The Mentalists, a female rock band who use iPhones as their instruments.
In recognition of the now ubiquitous app, the duo who laid the foundations for today’s thriving mobile applications business – Dr Antero Taivalsaari of Sun Microsystems Laboratories and Mark VandenBrink of Motorola – were honored for their Outstanding Contribution to the industry.
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2010 Awards, London
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The sold-out 2010 Meffys Gala Awards Dinner was certainly a night to remember! Taking place at the newly refurbished Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden, the evening showcased seven new awards, including the Best M-Commerce, Cross Platform Content and Cross Platform Technology awards.
After a buzzy champagne reception hosted by Dolby (who served special blue Dolby cocktails in their dedicated surround-sound lounge), guests were led to the grand ballroom for the gala dinner and awards, hosted by TV writer/presenter, Howard Read (with the help of Little Howard, his animated 6 year-old alter ego).
In recognition of the growing popularity of touchscreen technology on mobile devices, Dr. Andrew Hsu was awarded the Meffys Outstanding Contribution award for creating the complex technology “Transparent Projected Capacitive Touch Screen” which is the basis for the modern touchscreen handset.
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