MobileBeat 2010: Location is where it’s at

One of the hottest phenomena in the mobile world right now is location — and the place to hear about is in San Francisco on July 12-13 at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference.

Location-based services are picking up media and investor interest at an explosive rate. And it’s being driven by the emergence of superphones and the search for business models, two major themes of this year’s event. VentureBeat is setting up two must-see panels on location.

First, we’ll check in on the current state of the location business with Othman Laraki, director of geo for social network Twitter; Tasso Roumeliotis, founder and CEO of location platform company Location Labs (formerly known as WaveMarket); Seth Priebatsch, the chief ninja of location-game SCVNGR; and Keith Lee, CEO of Booyah, known for their location game MyTown. Coming at the location question from different angles, these experts will take a deep look at what’s coming next. What, for instance, will the increased processing power of our superphones enable in new location-based services?

Another big debate: Is location a business in itself, or just part of the mobile infrastructure?Carriers, device makers, big brands and ad networks are looking to capitalize from location, giving software developers huge and largely untapped opportunities for turning a profit.

At our second location-themed panel, we’ll pose these questions to Dinesh Moorjani, head of mobile for Internet conglomerate IAC; Alistair Goodman, CEO of digital ad company Placecast; Elad Gil, also director of geo at Twitter; Dustin Jacobsen, VP of social media for ad agency Barkley; and Cyriac Roeding, cofounder and CEO of app developer Shopkick.

For all conference details, including speaker and agenda updates, check out the MobileBeat 2010 website, then register here. Hurry — tickets are limited.