A busy week for Mobile
Friday, February 11th, 2011 John Gallagher, Sr. Public Relations Manager
Mobile World Congress starts next week and it will be the first time in five years that I am not going. Boohoo for me. But as anyone knows, it’s one of the most arduous shows to work – especially when you are stuck in the exhibition hall for nearly 12 hours followed by meetings, interviews, catching up with your day job, dinner and of course the inevitable drinks.
For those who don’t know much about the show – it’s the Olympics for everything that relates to mobile communication and ironically, is located at the foot of where the 1992 summer Olympics were held in Barcelona. 50,000 suited and booted attendees (not including all the people who are there weeks before setting up the event) will descend on Barcelona during this weekend; they will have their pick of 1,300 exhibition stands to visit and no doubt multiple meetings set up to discuss business.
Hotels will double and triple their prices, restaurants will be packed and it will be Christmas all over again for Barcelona’s pick pockets.
While it might not be the size of CEBIT in Germany, the event has all the industry players, (ok, minus – Apple) and is really indicative of what trends and discussions will be the focus for 2011.
The event is truly global in its reach with most exhibitors from Asia, Europe and North America.
My guess is there will be interesting news from Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, Qualcomm and a few others. HP has already announced its intention to make tablets while Nokia has said it needs to leap after Apple and Google even though it is still the number one in sales of phones (not just smartphones) worldwide.
One trend that will be discussed is the shift in the balance of power from hardware to software. While devices access the networks it’s the software that is driving increased usage of the network. People want to access their cloud-based applications, web browse or email and the device manufacturers are finding the landscape has changed.
On a side note, it was great news to read yesterday that President Barack Obama is backing a plan to have wireless broadband reach 98 percent of Americans by future auctions of (old television) airwaves, which the White House estimated would raise more than $27 billion.
At Northern Michigan University yesterday, President Obama said: “This is a new century, and we can’t expect tomorrow’s economy to take root using yesterday’s infrastructure. We [have] got to think about what’s the next thing…and make sure that we’re at the forefront — just like we were in the last century. Today, new companies are going to seek out the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods and information, whether they are in Shanghai or in Chicago. So if we want new jobs and businesses here in America, we’ve got to have the best transportation system and the best communication network in the world.”
So look out for some cool new gadgets being announced next week and what the device’s software features will be and remember the devices themselves are relatively cheap – it’s the networks that are expensive.
Be sure to check out our posts next week straight from Mobile World Congress.
Tags: enterprise mobility, mobile device, Nokia
