At MWC size REALLY does matter

JC Oliver, Global Chief Creative Officer
at Unlockd

“Who turned out the lights?” was the concerned refrain that rang out across the hallowed halls of CES when the electricity decided to pack up in January.

“Where are my long johns?” was the concerned refrain that rang out at Barcelona airport when I arrived from the sun-dappled shores of Australia to the whispers of Storm Emma that stroked MWC this year – I mean seriously…I really did not pack the correct clothing for a Barcelona that saw the first snowflakes since 2010.

Gardens, GDPR, and Great Spanish Weather(?) – Our week at MWC ‘18

Adam Rubach, MD UK at Ogury 

Last week was the hotly-anticipated Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, the annual event bringing pioneers and inquisitive minds together to discuss all things mobile.

Unfortunately, this year the seasonal Spanish sun wasn’t on our side. However, we made the most of our Ogury Networking Garden which, despite the rain and even occasional snow, was a great success. The unpredictable weather made for an unforgettable product launch of our latest mobile data solution, Active Insights. People were huddled under branded umbrellas in the middle of a sprinkling of snow, but we were delighted to see that there was still a substantial and buoyant crowd to watch our founders kick off the next chapter in our company history.

Lessons From Barcelona: A Data-Eye View for Marketers

Christophe Bize, vice-president of data & mobile analytics at Ogury

Love it or hate it, Mobile World Congress (MWC) never fails to turn heads in the marketing world. This year was no exception.

 

Despite a look back – in the form of Nokia’s nostalgic 3310 re-launch – stealing the show early on, the main headlines were all about looking forward. From IoT, VR and AI to driverless cars and 5G, marketers’ appetites were whetted by a future filled with endless new opportunities to turbocharge consumer engagement.

An Evolving Mobile Landscape at MWC

Pratick Thakrar, MD Inspired Mobile

With attendees growing year on year, MWC is now THE event on the mobile calendar. I only wish Scotty had the transporter working to get me between Hall 1 and 8!

New handset launches, features and operator announcements took the limelight; but this year, we saw new acronyms of the digital world come to the forefront, namely AI/IoT/VR/CH (Connected Homes).

AI, VR and AR. The trilogy at MWC

Stephen Upstone, CEO & Founder of LoopMe Media

Another Mobile World Congress has come and gone, with over 2000 exhibitors and over 108,000 attendees. This year I found that attention had moved away from the topic of connected devices and to the trilogy of AI, VR and AR.

While virtual reality headsets completely take over your vision to give you the impression that you’re somewhere else, augmented reality adds to your current vision, projecting info on top of what the consumer is already seeing.

Our top 3 takeouts from MWC 2016

Chris Minas, Co- Founder of Nimbletank

The biggest mobile event Mobile World Congress has just wrapped up and with it a flurry of new devices and trends have come out of it. In this article we want to take you through our top 3 takeouts that we found while walking the 8 gigantic halls of the Fira Barcelona Gran Via.

 

1. Virtual reality (VR)

First off this was the first thing that everyone would notice walking around the halls, was the sheer number of stands that were taking advantage of VR was incredible. This included tiny stands that had nothing to do with VR, having ways of experiencing their products that were hooked up to Oculus Rifts and Samsung Gear VR’s. However overwhelming this was, the real piece of news here is that not only is VR becoming more mainstream with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive coming this year, but also ways of capturing content for VR has become incredibly easy now. Sony, Samsung, LG and many more had tiny cameras that would take 360 video and images that you can then watch back on VR headsets. This will be a big turning point for VR because it means we as users can start to create our own content for VR.

 

2. Mobile has matured

There were also less gimmicky products coming from manufactures. Most of the devices at the event seemed to be useful and seemed to fit into potential users lives without much imagination. We also saw a large amount of enterprise experiences, again focused on delivering tangible results and not as “mobile” the buzzword of today. Mobile has also become incredibly powerful; LG’s G5 is another example of a company that is utilising the increasing power of mobile processors of the phone to run the experience on a pair of VR glasses. However, the biggest step forward in the maturation of mobile was at Microsoft’s stand, where they showed off Continuum which was the idea you could soon replace your laptop with a screen that is powered by your phone. You would take your Windows 10 phone and just plug it into a large monitor, and like magic you have a version of windows 10 which you could then use a keyboard and mouse with. Seeing it working for the first time live really showed us that mobile has come a long way since the days of the Nokia 3210 and snake, soon enough your mobile device will be the only device you will need.

3. Mobile is connected and compentalising

By connected we don’t just mean to the web, but there is a trend for putting more sensors into our devices, so that they are more connected to the world around them. For example Intel were showing off their Real sense and Google Tango infused mobile phone, that basically knew where it was in 3D space and was even able to allow for the recognition of a user’s hands. Plus, companies like Google and LG are looking at devices that can be updated and changed with the addition of different modules. Admittedly Google’s version Project Ara is still a prototype but LG announced a new flagship device the G5 which is the successor to the G4 and has a few interesting tricks up its sleeve. The bottom of the device can be removed and replaced with modules that deliver better speakers or camera modules with added battery. The focus of bettering people’s experiences and not creating gimmicks, is an important step in mobile maturity.

Overall this year was extremely exciting and as per usual some of the most interesting things were seen at the much smaller stands, like a Graphene area which was literally the furthest stand at the event, showing off the future of electronics and battery technology giving us a glimpse into the fantastically exciting development of the mobile space.

MWC Key Trends

1. 

   Jide Sobo, Head of Mobile at MEC Interaction

   It’s just dumb glass

Hardware continues to be evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, and the big excitement is around the services that can be accessed on the device, rather than the device itself..

Samsung’s S7 is a definite evolution of the S6, with waterproofing being the main improvement.

LG appears to have picked up where Google left off with Project Ara, by releasing the LG G5, a revolutionary modular design allowing the bottom of the phone to be removed, and additional modules to be added. For example, adding a professional camera attachment,  allowing manual focus and zooming, or an audio unit, designed in conjunction with Bang & Olufsen.

Mobile World Congress 2016: Key Trends

Tom Pearman, Commercial Director at Weve

Mobile World Congress 2016 was a hugely impressive event with almost 100,000 delegates (growing again) and a credible amount of exhibitors showing off some of the best tech in market. From the obvious big tech players in Google, Facebook, MSFT and an apparent return from Nokia through to the smaller more niche exhibitors showing off the more unusual tech like the connected BMW and Oral B’s smart toothbrush. In the three days I spent in Barcelona I covered over 50km walking across the halls and there are a number of themes that were worthy of sharing.

Mobile World Congress 2016: The Year of Virtual Reality & Data

Stephen Upstone, CEO & Founder of LoopMe

Mobile World Congress is a difficult show to beat, with over 90,000 industry professionals descending on Barcelona to learn about, experience and embrace all things mobile.

This year my attention was drawn away from the handset launches that have dominated in previous years by two main elements virtual reality and, as ever, the immense potential of data.