For the third time ever Mobile Dev Camp will take place on Saturday 26th February in Helsinki, Finland. The event is a special treat for 200+ developers, business people and proud geeks who want to find out the next big thing on mobile. Mobile Dev Camp is known for launching new platforms and products before they are out in the mainstream. For example, at its first event in 2009 the organizers presented Android platform when it was not even out in Finland. Last year Rovio and Windows 7 were the highlights. Back then few people knew about Angry Birds and no Window 7 phones were around. This year Applifier and Samusung Bada will be at the center of attention. On top of that, the event includes a competition for developers to create a simple and fun application for different mobile platforms in 48 hours. Each platform has its own category and a great prize, like a new Wave mobile phone in Samsung's Bada category. Best part: the event is completely free, though you should probably register to let organizers know how many people to expect.

This years speakers include Tuomas Rinta from Applifier and Manfred Bortenschlager from Samsung. Applifier has been making headlines for the past half a year with their 55 million monthly active users and a recent move to Silicon Valley. At the event Tuomas will join the panel discussion about monetizing mobile applications. Applifier is also one of the Mobile Dev Camp's sponsors this year and they have recently announced a job opening for a mobile developer. Thus, there is definitely something cooking up for Applifier on the mobile side. Might they go mobile soon?

Manfred Bortenschlager will give an overview of the Bada platform and shed light on the whole ecosystem to publish, sell and promote Bada apps. Given that the platform has been unheard of so far in the region and the speaker is the platform's leading evangelist from UK, this is quite a unique opportunity for anyone in town that weekend.

Mobile Dev Camp is run non-profit with the only goal to share knowledge and experiences in mobile development. No prior technical experience is needed: there will be mentors at the event willing to teach those who are interested. The event is aimed primarily at developers and start-ups from Scandinavia and Baltics, though this year it also has a stronger emphasis on business. The two overall themes of Mobile Dev Camp 2011 is how social and gaming features are driving the mobile user experience development and whether the mobile is finally ready for big business.

Various events like Garage48, Startup Weekends, App Camps, Bar Camps and others are not only great by themselves but also serve as great tools for maintaining and growing the start-up ecosystem. Mobile Dev Camp is quite an ambitious gathering on that list that has potential to please geeks and business people alike.