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Notes about Mobile World Congress 2012
MWC Day By Day - Leib ICT at MWC 2012 & Press Releases - Highlights MWC 2012 - Photo Gallery - MWC 2012 Report
Fira Montjuïc
Barcelona, Spain
February 27 – March 1, 2012
Attendance: 67,000
Exhibitors: 15,000+
Media and analysts: 3,300+
Source: Calysto
The Mobile World Congress is heralded as the biggest and the best mobile technology event in the world. According to conference organizer the GSMA, this year’s event played host to a record number of attendees, topping out at 67,000 visitors from 205 countries; an 11% increase over the 2011 show. The four-day conference and exhibition attracted mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies and media and entertainment organizations, as well as government delegations from across the globe. More than 50 percent of this year’s attendees hold C-level positions, including more than 3,500 CEOs.
It was also reported that MWC helped to inject more than 300 million Euros into Barcelona’s economy, an increase of 25 million Euros over last year. A highlight of the show, Prince Felipe de Borbon of Spain graced congress goers with his royal presence. He led a press conference to welcome visitors to the event. He spoke about the state and future developments of the city as well as visited the main stands in the exhibit hall. Our friends at iBwave snapped a video of the his majesty’s arrival here.
Keynotes
During the event, CEOs and senior executives from companies including AT&T, China Mobile, Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, HTC, Juniper Networks, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Sprint Nextel, Telefónica, Telenor Group, Vodafone and ZTE discussed and debated the trends and issues which are shaping the mobile industry.
Google’s Eric Schmidt spoke about connecting the next five billion people to the internet. Of the seven billion people in the world, two billion of these people are online and of these, one billion own smartphones, leaving tons of room for growth. "For every person online there are two that are not," Schmidt said. Today Android smartphones cost $200 on average - in a few years time they could cost less than $20, and he wants to put one in every pocket in the world. "The weak will be made strong and those with nothing will have something." Looking toward the future, Schmidt said “the ultimate achievement will be when technology actually disappears and becomes a part of everyday life. Instead of worrying about cables and where content is stored it'll just be there, like electricity seems to have just always been there." You can view Schmidt’s keynote here.
The Buzz
“There were not as many big announcements and new innovations, so the buzz wasn’t as high as in prior years,” said Valerie Kahn, Managing Partner, 151 Ventures.
Weirdness -- Competition at the show was high and some companies resorted to tomfoolery in order to grab the attention of conference goers. According to Stan Schroeder, Mashable “many resorted to bringing masked avengers (we saw Batman and his helper), weird mascots and odd futuristic gadgetry to the show. Stilt walkers and odd-looking creatures filled the halls and outdoor spaces. Perhaps the weirdest moment of the show was Cisco’s performance, in which four dancers dressed as businessmen and women handed out business cards while doing flip-overs. Two girls, dressed like bees, watched with interest.”
Fun Fact -- Recent industry research presented at MWC showed that 70% of people would sacrifice alcohol, 63% chocolate and 33% sex rather than give up their smartphone for a week.
Twitter -- The #MWC12 hash tag was a major trend on Twitter last week with more than 325,000 tweets sent during the conference.
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All info in www.mobileworldcongress.com
Day 1 - Monday 27 February
Day 2 - Tuesday 28 February
Day 3 - Wednesday 29 February
Day 4 - Thursday 1 March |
