GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Barcelona is ready to receive the VII Mobile World Congress (MWC), the most important event in the world of mobile technology, to be held within the next 27 February and 1 March 2012. An event for which it is expected more than 60,000 visitors and up to 1,400 companies representing 135 countries,  3,000 executives and professionals from major large companies from the mobile phone industry and the Internet, such as AT & T, Microsoft, Google, MySpace, Nokia, Telefonica, Facebook, Yahoo, Telenor, Verinor or Vodafone. Among the long list of attendees and speakers in 2009, included the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Telefonica, Cesar Alierta, NTT DoCoMo president Ryuji Yamada, and Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, who was presenting the Short Film Festival and Mobile Mofilm. A Congress that makes the Catalan capital in the center of attention of the world for technologies that are rapidly changing human relationships as a correlate with some 270 million euros for businesses in the city.

The sector continues growing and the Congress should raise awareness and promote technological advances, especially in the innovative applications that have a direct impact on everyone's life, such as health, safety, marketing or transportation, as well as leisure, that are expected to be the protagonists of this year in the MWC.

But not just applications. In Barcelona will be announced also developments that are revolutionizing the industry, as the Ice Cream Sandwich Android tablet, which represents an increase of the applications available in the market access through mobile phones and NFC chip, that can buy the phone proximity payment terminal with high-speed data, and the first 4G models, the new ultra-thin TVs for 3D, or the new portable ultrabook concept. Also Nokia, which reappears in the MWC, with new smartphones equipped with Windows Phone from Microsoft.

No shortage of expectations at Mobile World Congress 2012. So, now is preparing for the future open to the public exhibition to show new applications in the industry, the new headquarters of the GSMA, which organizes the event, bringing together leading companies, and the creation of a technology center consolidating Barcelona as the capital of the world and a mobile lab with enormous growth potential.

GSMA Mobile World Congress, formerly 3GSM World Congress, gives you an ideal of a personal experience and environment for networking. We had the pleasure to attend this Congress for the last 5 years, and had a very good surprise when meeting a select circle of mobile professionals that can help to anyone to impact and mobilise any type of business, which can be a very effective investment in anyone or any company.

After attending during all these years, we can say that this probably the most highly regarded event in the mobile industry around the world.

If you take part of the congress this year you will see cutting-edge technologies and strategies from those leading industry developments. You can also share your market vision and promote your brand in the mobile industry and establish business relationships with buyers and decision makers from different markets.

GSMA Mobile World 2012 Congress in Barcelona.

John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, the association, which groups the mobile sector in the world and organizes the event, participated in the press conference presentation on January 26 has given some updates to the 2012 edition: "We want to be visionary and expand the mobile communications ecosystem," said Hoffman. For the first time there will be an exhibitor in the automotive sector, Ford. Nokia will be present in the area of ​​applications, but still no display, while increasing the number of companies participating in the health sector and finance.

In all, 1,476 exhibitors, in line with 2011, 2,000 companies developing applications, 3,000 senior participants (of which 300 are speakers) and 135 international delegations (governments and entities). Of the total number of participating companies, 106 are Spanish (8% of total) and 52 Catalan (4% of total), in a conference room for 70,500 square meters, compared to 59,000 of 2011, which involves optimizing throughout the premises of Fira de Barcelona Montjuïc.

Hoffman announced last year, that the MWC will be held in the Gran Via during 2013. He has justified the new location in order to have more space currently available is doubled, but said that "there is no comparable stage as Espanya Square in the city and overlooking the Palau Nacional." Therefore, he added that the future will use the two facilities is: Gran Via to Montjuïc to the conference and side events.

The MWC 2012 include the presence of comedian David Minchin Timothy to present the awards, in the tradition of having a celebrity at the event, as it was Queen Rania of Jordan in 2011 and Kevin Spacey before. Hoffman stressed the involvement of Barcelona at MWC, including security for the participants.

With regard to accommodation for attendees, this year the price moderation pact with Barcelona Hotels Association covers 23,000 rooms. The Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development of the City of Barcelona, Jordi William Carnes, insured, meanwhile, that the municipality is working to make this "marriage" with the association GSMA has bases "stronger" and would be spread other areas, beyond the mobile congress. The crisis, however, will not long affect for the congress, which still will receive its leaders were "absolutely certain" that the event this year will be "another huge success." as in the past editions.

"We believe the sector is not as mobile banking or the automotive industry. It is a sector that things are going well and still growing worldwide, and will continue doing," stressed John Hoffman in 2009. The global economic slowdown will be precisely one of the topics to be discussed at the congress, which under the slogan "Redefining Mobile" study the impact of the crisis and developing the communications sector and the adoption of technologies advanced mobile broadband.

MWC 2012 in numbers

GSMA Mobile World Congress, the numbers indicate that 2012 will be the biggest and best mobile event ever, with 28 Conference Keynotes including the Mobile World Live Keynotes featuring William Clay Ford Jr. (Ford Motor Co.), Hans Vestberg (Ericsson), Eric Schmidt (Google) and Bret Taylor (Facebook). Click to view video of Hans Vestberg at MWC 2011. More than 1,476 companies displaying products, apps, projects and solutions in the world’s largest mobile exhibition, which will occupy 200,000 square meters near the fairground of Montjuic, as noted by the director general of the Fira de Barcelona, Agustín Cordón. View the full agenda and speaker list at this link from the MWC organization: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/agenda

 There will be 352,516 Social media mentions of MWC during the days of the MWC. 5,105 Total minutes of mobile marketing - focused content in the conference, the GSMA seminars and new mPowered Brands Theaters. 7 App Developer Conferences taking place at App Planet,including the recently announced ADC from developerprogram.com, "Developer Profits and Enterprise Apps featuring Cisco Systems." Other ADC’s include BlackBerry, IBM, IMGA, Nokia, Samsung, and WIP.

Among many others, the Mobile World Live keynotes will be sharing visions for the future of mobile technology and are going to be broadcast live over the internet and via Mobile World Live TV on www.mobileworldlive.com featuring Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, Mobile World Live Extra is a special session heading up the Mobile Application stream that is working to enhance the distribution and discovery of applications across mobile platforms.

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt famously has already attended for the last 2 years, and  he is going to do another excellent and thought-leading contribution to the Mobile World Live keynote on February 28 at 18.00.

Ericsson President and visionary CEO Hans Vestberg will comeback to the MWC, he predicted in 2010 that the number of internet connected devices would reach into the tens of billions, the claim was met with a degree of scepticism.

This year will be many other events, conferences and exhibitors going to take part of the GSMA Mobile World Congress, and just to give you some idea, we give you a list of events during last year, among others:

The partnership between OpenText and Cortado integrates mobile devices into the IT environment resulting in further BYOD options

OpenText, a global market leader for fax solutions, and cloud desktop provider Cortado announce the release of the Cortado Connector for RightFax. The Connector, jointly developed by Cortado and the Canadian company OpenText, allows RightFax customers to send faxes directly from iPads, iPhones, Android and BlackBerry smartphones via their fax server solution.

To use the integrated solution, customers simply require a RightFax server running in conjunction with both the Cortado Connector for RightFax and the Cortado Corporate Server. This combination makes it possible to not only send mobile faxes, but also to access files with a smartphone or tablet, view database reports, or print. In the back end, the Cortado Corporate Server acts as a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution while providing secure administration of the user profiles and policies.

Scalado Remove clears up your photos.

Scalado's patented an amazing new object removal technology for photos. Remove captures several images in a row, analyses them and automatically creates a composite photo devoid of unwanted details. Better yet, it highlights potential objects and lets you eliminate them manually. Scalado, which is best known for such camera innovations as zero shutter lag and Rewind , are planning to showcase Remove at Mobile World Congress later this month and an exclusive first look at an early build of the Remove app for Android.

Exciting new solar devices at MWC 2012

In 2009 it was launched the world’s first solar powered mobile phone with Digicel and ZTE, which quickly found its way into the hands of many users. Last year it was introduced the first solar smartphone with Umeox and today devices powered by Intivation are sold in over 30 countries across the world, and counting.

During the MWC it will be displayed a groundbreaking new high-performance module platform that will make solar powered devices more powerful and easier to engineer. Several of our customers will introduce new solar handsets, or show new solar powered devices that will bring ubiquitous, cordless power to an even broader audience.

If you want more information visit Initivation at F53 in Hall 1 of the Fira, where you will find all the latest devices and explain all about our latest innovation.

Amazing app for iPhone at the MWC 2012

WhoOwnsThatHome, an app available free in the iTunes App Store, was demonstrated today on Bakersfield NBC affiliate KGET TV17. With just a point and click, information on any California home is available at your fingertips. "It's pretty straight forward," said inventor Chris Frank. "You just take your phone hold it down, tap the button, and in about 3 seconds you get information." Information about who owns the home, how much they paid and when they bought it.  "You can see that it was purchased in 2008 for 180 thousand," Frank said as he showed us how the technology works. 

"Who Owns that Home" is a free app for your iPhone. Developer Tim Denari said it uses public tax records to get the information. "We don't have any secret information that we are giving out," Denari said. "We can only supply information that's already available somewhere else." iPointer is the technology used to power "Who Owns that Home. The whole idea of the iPointer is to change the way people learn about and interact with their surroundings," Frank said. iPointer uses the compass and GPS in your phone. "It's a little scary how easy it is for people to get it," Fulfer said. "I mean its always been out there but people would have had to go to the courthouse to do a document search, but now it's right then and there. Anybody can drive down the street and find out where you live which is a little frightening too." 

Facebook at the MWC 2012 

According to Mobile Squared, Facebook looks set to commercialise its mobile user base by announcing a partnership with Bango at the same time as the social networking site is widely expected to introduce its own mobile advertising platform.

Bango has signed an agreement to provide payment services to Facebook, although Bango’s board believes it is too early to accurately forecast the level of business which the deal may generate.

Nevertheless, the deal will enable Facebook’s army of mobile users to purchase apps, Facebook Credits, and other related items, directly via its mobile app and/or mobile website with the costs charged directly to a user’s mobile phone bill.

The opportunity is immense. Facebook reported more than 425 million active mobile users in December 2011– representing 50.3% of its total user base of 845 million. This represents growth of over 20% from the 350 million mobile users reported in September, 2011 – equivalent to 43.8% of its total monthly users.

So far, however, Facebook has been unable to monetize its mobile base, but comments within its recent IPO indicate that situation may soon change. "We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products, but we believe that we may have potential future monetization opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users' mobile News Feeds," Facebook wrote in its IPO filing.

Codasystem at the GSMA Mobile World Congress

Codasystem, a French business founded in 2002, is the mastermind behind certified digital photography. Codasystem owns the patented Shoot&ProofTM software,
an integrated photo and information management tool geared towards on-the-ground
activities, where photos are time-stamped, geo-tagged, indexed, stored, certified and
readily available for sharing.

This year they will launch Shoot&Proof TM, which is the new "must-have" mobile application for Professionals and Individuals. Shoot&Proof TM is the only solution to be able to capture LEGALLY VALID pictures, videos and sound using your mobile.

Pau Bosch

General Editor

January, 8, 2012