It’s a typically rainy London summer evening and ten stories above ground, in a conference room overlooking the Thames, Tate Modern, St. Pauls and the London financial district, a mobile developer is having technology troubles.

He shouldn’t feel badly, it’s been a fairly rough night for some of the presenters at Mobile Monday London, or MoMoLo if you’re someone who likes to throw the world dongle around in casual conversation. Things got off to a shaky start when it became apparent that the building’s wifi security wouldn’t allow some of the mobile applications on show to connect with their various servers, VPNs, external devices and nifty backend features. The situation didn’t improve when the overhead projector acted up, meaning nearly half of a three minute presentation slot was given over to cord-fiddling. Despite the techy subject matter, this was definitely a night for simple slides and a focused presentation.

Technical glitches aside, Mobile Monday London provided an opportunity for investors, developers, competitors and peers to take a look at some of the up and coming solutions for mobile platforms. Between the thirteen companies present, technology on show ranged from the highly technical and business-oriented Corebridge, which provides CRM on the go, to frivolous fun from Singtone mobile karaoke.

The largest problem with mobile at the moment is that the diversity of handsets, operators and software means that most of the presentations demoed products that were aimed at one of two very limited markets – the iPhone gadget junkie looking for entertainment (catered to nicely by Photofit, an app that mashes up photos already on your phone) or the advanced technology users who already understand the requirements and limitations of mobile applications and tools (as seen in Ookl, an educational mobile tool aimed at children but sold to venues already familiar with interactive audio guides). Multi-platform solutions were few and far between and often accompanied by admittance that many more years of work would be required before creating a feasible solution to the cross-handset issues. Evening favourites Masabi, a mobile rail ticketing solution, and Proxama, a mobile wallet and loyalty card holder, still face a seemingly endless stream of challenges not only to create a service that works on all phones but also coordinate mobile reader hardware rollouts to vendors.

Subversive technologies were also on show at Mobile Monday. 0870.me, which reroutes numbers saving mobile callers from expensive 08 call numbers, and Vopium, a service that integrates various VOIP and voice messaging services to give you free calling, highlight another challenge of the mobile industry. As consumers grow accustomed to inexpensive internet, free web services and easy access to global technology and contacts, these expectations will be mirrored in mobile. Operators have already become the scapegoats of the majority of mobile problems, not to mention bear the brunt of consumer frustration and ire for everything from hidden fees to handset support.

Perhaps the most realistic products on show came from companies that already have a developed web offering and are now expanding to mobile solutions. Audioboo, an audio microblogging service; Spoonfed, the definitive guide to things to do in London and Total Hotspots, a global list of free wifi can handpick elements of their web service to bring to mobile devices – and encourage users to visit the site for more features. Amidst massive industry confusion as to which platforms to develop for, what operators to partner with and who to select as a target market, a combination of the web and mobile technologies offers a stronger base for both understanding user needs and supporting a buisness while mobile grows.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising our presenters this evening are facing a bit of technical trouble, and a misfiring projector is actually the least of their worries. With a market that is about ready to explode and consumers eager for mobile applications and services, it’s clear there is a wealth of innovators ready to take advantage of the opportunities available and Mobile Monday London offered a handful of them a chance to show off their work. It will take some time, however, for the rest of the mobile industry to catch up with the future thinking developers who just need some industry regulations and the assurance that all of their technologies can work together successfully.

- Meaghan Fitzgerald