Mobile Technology Trends To Stay
This year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was held between February 24 and 27. The event was really impressive with the number of visitors, exhibitors, journalists and even government delegates in attendance. Reportedly over 72,000 people from more than 2000 different countries visited the event. Among them were influential and popular software and Internet companies, mobile carriers and equipment providers. Interestingly, there were also businesses from outside sectors like healthcare, automotive and finance. Half of them occupied high-level corporative positions, 4,300 of which were chief execute officers. In addition, over 1,300 companies participated in the exhibitions at the 2013 WMC. The event itself occupied an area of 94,000 net sq. meters and it attracted about 3,400 analysts and journalist.
However, the biggest and most astonishing record of this year’s Mobile World Congress is the significant contribution to the local economy. The mobile technology industry event in Barcelona accumulated over 320 million Euro, which is nearly 20 million more compared to last’s year’s exhibition.
MWC also focused on many trending and important topics like smart cities, mobile cloud, NFC, mobile wallets, big data and small cells. In addition, the congress discussed mobile technology trends in other sectors among which were retail, advertising, finance and automotive.
At the event in Barcelona were also present government delegates from over 140 countries. They gathered to discuss certain regulatory problems that are currently influencing the mobile industry trends. Mobile operators and companies also participated in these discussions.
However, at the 2013 MWC one thing was more obvious than before. Like other similar tech and mobile events this year, the Mobile World Congress in 2013 focused more on traders and less on consumers.
However, the major mobile industry trends were outlined. Here we will reveal the five most most significant ones that will rule the mobile business in the coming year.
Phones Become More Affordable – The majority of people in developed countries have smartphones. In addition, some countries and regions, like Latin America, Africa and India, which are known for their low income, are now enjoying a big market growth. Mozilla’s Firefox OS was one of the most talked about products at this year’s World Mobile Congress since it was developed exclusively for emerging markets. Also, Nokia released different low-cost Lumia smartphones and other handsets that can meet the needs of regions with middle income.
Handsets Continue to be Big-Sized – One of the most unexpected mobile technology trends is the bigger size of new phone models. As a result, smartphones and tablets are now being replaced by phablets ro phablet-sized devices. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 is a small 8” tablet computer that is only slightly bigger than the average smartphone. Similar is that case with 5” HTC One, 7” Asus FonePad, 5.5” LG Optimus G Pro and 5.7” ZTE Grand Memo. Samsung released a number of Galaxy S3 look-a-likes which too can fit into the phablet category. But why is this sudden rise in the popularity of phablet devices? That is mainly because more and more people want to use their phones not only to make calls, but also as a main web device.
No Flagship Devices – Major mobile companies did not showcase any flagship products at the 2013 World Mobile Congress. That is due to the fact that companies want to present their new devices in momentum-building tailor-made events. For example, HTC introduced One a few days prior the event, while LG did the same shortly before the congress. Samsung, on the other hand, will unveil its long-awaited Galaxy S4 only three weeks after WMC.
Chinese Manufacturers Keep Growing – Chinese mobile companies continue to showcase a great amount of their products at mobile technology-dedicated events and expos. Among them are TCL/Alcatel and Huawei which are growing steadily in developing countries, where a big number of consumers still do not own a handset.
Mobile Sector is Growing – When MWC first started, it was not comparable to the event of the past week. In 2013, there were more companies, more business visitors, more media coverage and more new mobile technology trends. This shows that the industry has grown and will continue to grow. Although, the event is now more formal and less fun, it is clear that it has become a global business hub for the mobile industry.
