Every year for a few days in February, Barcelona becomes the world’s center of attraction for the leading mobile operators, mobile-device vendors, and content and solutions developers. All of them strive to visit the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the largest exhibition of mobile technology on the planet, accompanied by seminars and conferences. At this event, new products are released and promising technologies are announced, determining the development of the industry in the upcoming year.
This year, the exhibition was more popular than ever. The number of visitors and participants (67,000) exceeded last year’s record by 11%: 1,500 companies represented 205 countries all over the world, and the exhibition was covered by 3,300 journalists. With the aim of getting a few insights into the upcoming trends and harvesting some promising leads, Alexey Rybakov, VP Business Development, and Sergei Kiselev, Director Business Development, Mobile & Wireless, visited the Congress. They shared their impressions of the trip, their objectives, and the results of Auriga’s participation in this massive event:
Participation in such exhibitions [provides] a unique opportunity for personal meetings with key members of our potential customer base, who are responsible for making strategic decisions on launching new projects. (Sergey Kiselev)
All three days of the Congress were filled with intense meetings and presentations, and I can surely declare that the event satisfied our expectations and we have prospective contacts who have a solid base for the development of fruitful cooperation. (Alexey Rybakov)
According to participants, the most discussed topics at the show were cloud computing, SaaS (software as a service), and word-of-mouth Android platforms. In addition, it was noted that the number of cross-platform solutions is currently growing. Taken together, this data shows that Auriga’s mobile practice is on the right track, as the popularity of this sphere, in which the company has rich experience and skills, suggests that our services will be needed further.
Exhibitors also shared rather curious solutions. For example, Canonical caused a furor with its revolutionary smartphone Ubuntu distribution fully compatible with PC Ubuntu Linux. The distribution is installed on smartphones running Android. When connected to a conventional monitor and keyboard, Ubuntu synchronizes data and runs as a computer system unit, which helps users transfer data quickly and painlessly from one device to another. This reveal was a remarkable example of the exhibition slogan: “Go mobile!” Alexey Rybakov stated the following regarding their involvement in the MWC:
Summing up our participation in the Mobile World Congress, we can say that our mobile business practice is expecting an active stage of development. All major premises—a pool of customers interested in the mobile products and guided by high demand of users for such applications, and the mobile market supplying us with new devices and technologies—are right here, right now.
About Mobile World Congress
The GSMA Mobile World Congress is the combination of the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent Chief Executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors, and content owners from across the world. It currently takes place annually in Fira de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in February. The annual attendance is generally between 50,000 and 70,000 people.
