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With Mobile World Congress 2012 this week, analysts on the judging panel of this year’s GSMA Global Mobile Awards have predicted the hot topics and themes to come from Barcelona, Spain.
From the emergence of HTML5 to the importance of offering multi-screen experiences, they pinpointed many of the highlights that conference attendees – and the mobile industry at large – can expect to see at the event this year.
At Nexius, we expect a few more themes to emerge at Mobile World Congress 2012 based on what we are experiencing working with today’s leading operators around the globe, including:
–Connected Life – finally. We hear about this concept every year, but thanks to maturing technologies and affordable price points, 2012 looks like the year homes, cars and other tech-enabled environments truly connect. We’ll see wireless devices integrate with wired ones in main stream homes and the emergence of a system of networks for transferring data across personal appliances. Check out the GSMA Connected House, “where everyone and everything will benefit from intelligent wireless connections.” Likewise, William Clay Ford, Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, is expected to deliver a keynote speech on Ford’s efforts to improve the motoring experience through technology innovation and ubiquitous connectivity.”
–Feeding the 4G fever. We’re going to continue to see a lot of growth in 4G. To date, 49 commercial LTE networks have launched in 29 countries since TeliaSonera launched the world’s first LTE network in 2009. In the United States, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility are in a heated LTE race, and other carriers are moving quickly. MetroPCS and Leap/Cricket are deploying LTE. Clearwire is also moving to LTE. We’ll surely hear from operators on their successes and lessons learned. And globally, we’ll hear about the hurdles Latin America and other markets will have to overcome to start deploying 4G solutions in their regions. Expect operators in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia to lead the first wave of network deployments.
–Mobile operators jump on the cloud. Researchers at Visiongain project the mobile cloud market will top $45 billion by 2016, driven by both consumer and enterprise usage. Operators may have been late to the mobile cloud party, but they still have plenty of time to take advantage of this opportunity to introduce new real-time, mobile cloud services and new business models. Expect to see operators seeking out technologies and service providers at the show that will help them leverage the cloud to deliver service-level agreements to their enterprise customers around priority and quality of service.
–Social shows staying power. When wireless researchers at Maravedis surveyed mobile operators about their plans for offering branded 4G mobile cloud services, social networking/messaging was the top ranked service. Is that really a surprise? Social networks pave the way to a broad array of mobile services, from communications to content and beyond. Many operators are exploring using these systems to offer a common, IP Comms, multi-modal platform on which operators can offer media sharing, IM, PTT, PTx, SNS, IM and other monetizable operator-branded apps and services to end user customers. To drive the point home, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor will deliver a Mobile World Congress 2012 keynote on his company’s efforts to enhance app distribution and discovery across mobile platforms.
–Mobile marketing matures. With billions of mobile customers worldwide, mobile advertising has grown from “experimental” to “essential.” That means marketers have expand their knowledge of mobile as a marketing medium and then put that knowledge to work, so they can reach new consumers and reinforce their brands with existing customers. Expect to see “local” advertising getting significant buzz at the show with new technology startups gaining noticeable venture funding in this space recently. Mobile World Congress 2012 will showcase the power and the possibilities of mobile marketing with its new mPowered Brands program.
Of course, other trends and highlights may emerge at Mobile World Congress 2012. It is, after all, “the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry.” Regardless of size, the show promises exciting news and plenty of surprises for all those in attendance and watching remotely from around the globe. Only time will tell, however, if the leaders and innovators in wireless deliver upon all the promises we expect to hear at the event.
