Hi ,

When we started covering bots back in February, we knew a wave was coming but we didn't know how big. We were not even close to realizing that between now and then, the GAFA themselves (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) would each make announcements within four months of each other, making this space the most exciting space in the tech industry since apps first emerged.
 
For four months now, we’ve been drilling down as a team covering more than 200 start-ups and talking to the same amount of brands working feverishly to deliver their first versions of bots.
 
It’s all come together for MobileBeat 2016 – July 12 and 13 in San Francisco – and we have to say we are pretty damn excited.  Like, off-the-charts excited.
 
We’ve been able to secure an impressive list of execs who will be making announcements about their bot plans for the very first time on the MobileBeat stage.
 
At MobileBeat 2016, you can expect to see first-ever bot announcements, strategies, and showcases from: 
 
• Expedia, Shopify and Fandango
• One of the world’s largest pizza chains
• One of the nation’s top grocery chains 
• A leading national ticket-selling company
• Wingstop, the first quick-service restaurant to take a bot beyond the demo stage
 
The list of new announcements at the event is too long to cover completely – more than 50 companies will announce their newest forays into this exciting space. However, we’re keeping many of them stealth until the event to respect their launch plans.
 
But you’ll see all kinds of new bots helping consumers do new things in the financial, CRM, and travel industries, to name a few. We’ll also see a host of new bot service provider companies, from solutions that provide end-to-end analytics for bots, to a sort of MailChimp for bots.
 
And, for the  first time at MobileBeat,  Amazon's VP for Speech Science is speaking externally. It’s a clear signal that Amazon is finally ready to start speaking up about its prowess in natural language processing now that it’s got tens of thousands of developers working on the Alexa platform.
 
So if you, like us, are asking yourself:
 
1) Should I bet on the emergence of this space now?
2) If yes, what should I realistically consider in terms of implementation?
3) What’s missing from the infrastructure for this space for it to come to fruition?
4) How is the space going to shape up in the next 2 to 3 years?
 
...then, MobileBeat is the place to be next week because we are going to cover all those topics and a whole lot more.
 
Act fast while there are still some tickets left.

See you there!
The VB team