Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a multi-platform task manager with a fantastic UI. Wunderlist stands out by reinventing the task manager space with an app in a what used to be a pretty dead and boring space. They managed to get over a million downloads in less than a year, which immediately puts them at the top of the league in the productivity apps space. They raised $4.2 million with Atomico in November 2011.

Siine

Siine developed Siine Writer, the first icon-based keyboard that you can edit and personalize. Its a London/Barcelona-based startup which has developed a keyboard app for Android touchscreen devices, and includes icon buttons that can be individually tailored; so long strings of text can be easily entered with a single click. The other cool thing is the icons can be personalized too, so users are able to upload their own images for the buttons. Siine Writer recently arrived on Android tablets - a month after the smartphone version was launched. For full disclosure, I'm an advisor of Siine.

iPhone.

Nanobiosym

Nanobiosym is building a unique state of the art mHealth platform in which users can diagnose diseases like HIV, malaria, TB and Cancer. It uses unique DNA tests on a smart phone and portable lab on a chip device. They've had on 7 years of research supported by DARPA, MIT, Stanford and Harvard University so its well researched and I think they've got the competitive edge by offering speed, accuracy and its cost-effective too.

Square

Founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Square recently passed the one million merchants mark. A couple of months back, the company announced that it was handling some $11 million in payments per day! Mind-blowing.

FrogTek

FrogTek is bringing smart solutions through the mobile for small shop keepers in emerging countries. Their first application is Tiendatek, a point-of-sale system for shopkeepers that helps them to better manage their inventory and improve their profits. All of the information entered into the phone or tablet synchronizes wirelessly with the company's servers so this is one to watch for sure, because they provide both shopkeepers and their suppliers with real-time reporting, analysis, and personalized services.

How much time do we have here?!

I'm currently working on moving AppCircus to the next level. It's amazing what can be reached in one year's  time with a powerful network, the right people and a cool brand. Last year we were a team of 4, we are now 12; all working to make AppCircus the one place for developers to learn, grow and showcase their app. From rural Uganda to central London, developers are looking for ways to transform society through apps, and it's very rewarding to enable this process and empower them to do that.

We are very busy at this time preparing the Mobile Premier Awards - all finalists from the AppCircus 2011 World Tour will be present. Its a celebration so we are throwing a huge AppCircus Developer Party on Monday night (February 27th) and additionally,  I am also preparing another Mobile Sunday Barcelona, the now classic networking kick-off before the MWC. For me its really an exciting time, to see again many of the AppCircus winners and how they have really progressed over the year - both personally and professionally. 

Its simple: Apps are everywhere now and have dramatically changed our social behaviour and the way we use the web. During the AppCircus 2011 World Tour, we have noticed some emerging global trends such as health and self-monitoring, educational games, connecting citizen’s services, mobile payments, local shopping and new mobile interface solutions. Apps are becoming more localized, creating local solutions for local problems; they are also creating new opportunities for app developers everywhere – especially in emerging countries, which empower them to connect to a global market.

A couple of years ago the power in mobile was all about the device (hardware), then it was about the OS, now it's all about the apps and the ecosystems build around them.

The only true rockstar eligible is definitely Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle from Angry Birds (Rovio). I have know Peter for many years now but since the rise of Angry Birds, every time I meet him its at a conference:) he's surrounded by fans who want to get a picture with him. App coders are the rock&roll stars of the 60s or 70s: everybody wants to learn it and many play it, but only a few make it to true stardom!

Carlos Domingo, Director of Product Development and Innovation and board member at Telefonica Digital.In my opinion, Carlos is one of the brightest minds in mobile and due to his experience as an entrepreneur and as CEO of Telefonica I+D he is very well positioned at Telefonica Digital to embed their strategy for mobile.

DiAnn Eisnor.She's a co-founder of Waze and a true rock star woman and we need more like her in the industry; in mobile, dynamism, creativity and fun!.  DiAnn has created a unique strategy for Waze, from a crowd-sourced traffic tool to an uncountable tool for public services to get more data on live traffic.

My own company, Random One. Based in Barcelona, we launched SMS to TV in Spain, did lots of mobile marketing campaigns and event marketing with SMS, worked on a program to quit smoking through SMS, yeah the early years in mobile!

My last boss was Philippe Brawerman from the CyberTheatre project I managed in Brussels from 1997 till 1999. It was an old movie theatre we reshaped into the first CyberTheatre in the world, including 3 main halls, 100 pc's, 3d immersion room, cybercafe, restaurant and bars. We did some 300 business and cultural events per year all broadcast live on the Internet. Simple Minds did their first online concert there and I remember we were live broadcasted on Hotwired at the time. It was a very exciting period with lots of artists and ideas experimentation with new media.

Yuri Van Geest.