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Mobile World Congress 2013Review

Mobile World Congress 2013 A report from the floor

Insights from MWC 2013, the worlds biggest mobile event- coverage of the latest mobile devices and operating systems as well as trends in mobile retail, mobile payments and enterprise mobility.

Introduction

This years Mobile World Congress was the first to take place in the events new home, Fira Gran Via, still in Barcelona. The event had to move to a new home as a result of the demand for space from both exhibitors and attendees.

MWC 2013 featured 1,700 exhibitors spread across 8 halls, and attracted over 72,000 attendees from 200 countries.

Safe to say this years event was huge!

Introduction

This years show featured an exciting array of speakers from mobile operators, consumer brands, and industries touched by the mobile market, but for me the most exciting part of MWC is seeing the latest technology unveilings and hearing the latest announcements.

Introduction

MWC provided further evidence of how mobile is exploding, with the effect on retail being a recurring theme.

For those of you that were unable to attend, OMD Digital have putted together a selection of some of the most interesting things we saw at this year at MWC.

DEVICES: NOKIA

Nokia made head-line news by announcing the Nokia Lumia 520, 720, the Nokia 301, and the 105. The new devices are Nokia’s cheapest windows8 smartphones, with prices ranging from €15 upto €345.

I’m used to seeing companies introducing high-end devices at MWC, it was a bit surprising but also refreshing to see Nokia unveil a series of low-end phones. This is a clear indication that their strategy is very much focussed upon increasing their share and maintaining their dominant position in developing markets.

DEVICES: SAMSUNG

Samsung had a large presence at this year’s event, and although had no new announcements, were making lots of noise about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and we can see why! This new ‘phablet’ is a perfect example of the blurring of the lines between tablets and smartphones.

Some of the features are quite breath-taking, all controlled by their new ‘S-pen’ which makes operating the device much easier.

We feel Samsung’s dominance of the smart device market is set to continue.

Sony unveiled two ‘next generation’ smartphones at MWC, the Experia P and the Experia U.

The handset designs are distinctly different compared to their HTC, Apple and Samsung rivals. The Sony focus is on providing premium content experiences to consumers through the Sony entertainment network. Consumers can watch films or access millions of music tracks via unlimited services.

Best of all, their new handsets are completely waterproof, making dropping your smartphone down the toilet a less traumatic experience!

DEVICES: SONY

OS: MOZILLA

Mozilla unveiled their new firefox operating system which is designed to solve their mobile issues. Their new system is entirely based on HTML5 which means it should be able to run across any device type. Mozilla’s mobile foray is being supported by the launch of a new low cost device from ZTE (shown opposite), which is going to be sold by 18 mobile operators.

Up until now the mobile operating system landscape has been dominated by Apple and Android. The emergence of new operating systems from Window, Mozilla and the imminent launch of Samsung’s own OS, show the race is far from over.

OS: WINDOWS 8

There was lots of focus on Windows phone 8 thanks to a combination of Microsoft being a platinum congress sponsor, Nokia launching their new W8 devices, and HTC pushing windows handsets. The HTC stand hosted talks about the competition between windows phone, Mozilla, and Blackberry as the third major OS.

We feel that Windows 8 is best positioned in this new battle for the third operating system, although the new Blackberry 10 has been a welcome boost to that flagging company!

RETAIL: NFC

The GSMA, Samsung, Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal were all pushing the powers of NFC. Paypal and Visa launched their point of sale services, which presents an interesting opportunity for retailers. The technology allows consumers to make payment wherever they are in the store as opposed to needing to go to the check-out.

The complexity surrounding standardization and simplification of consumer focussed services still exists. Unfortunately NFC is not yet ready to live upto the hype, but the industry will continue to develop as consumers are increasingly demanding these services.

There was a huge focus on in-store mapping technology at this years MWC. The various demonstrations highlight the possibilities for retailers to communicate with consumers throughout their in-store stay, and improve their experience.

In the future we are going to see retailers having the ability to combine individual customer in-store movement data with purchase history to influence the communication with that consumer when in store. We predict when this technology is combined with NFC payment, will change the face of retail.

RETAIL: STORE MAPPING

ADVERTISING: DATA

Hall 8 was the home of the advertising solutions section of MWC, and it was bigger than ever. This area was populated by global mobile ad-networks and data collection companies. The recurring theme was ‘super-targeted advertising’, and the various data-points mobile offers to advertisers in the quest to maximize relevance and impact of message.

We were very excited by the growth of advertising solutions on offer, and inspired by the promise of success delivered by the combination of reach, engagement and relevance. Mobile advertising sophistication means it is here to stay!

ADVERTISING: CREATIVITY

The advertising hall was characterised by a range of companies offering mobile rich media ad building capabilities. As mobile usage increases hand in hand with handset technical capabilities, so does the creative opportunity.

Companies such as JustAd, Celtra, InMobi all showcased their self-serve mobile platforms. This trend highlights that the creative opportunity offered by mobile to deliver content in a way that allows consumers to touch, play and interact.

We are very excited by the opportunities offered by HTML5, check out some of our examples at OMD.IO on your smartphone.

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Ford unveiled the new B Max at MWC this year. This is the first time an automotive manufacturer has unveiled a new model at MWC, and demonstrates Ford’s vision for the connected car.

The car is loaded with blue-tooth pairing, voice activation from smartphones, mp3 player connectivity and live emergency assistance.

Ford are working on a pilot to bring voice activated smartphone app technology directly into the cockpit of its vehicles. We can’t wait to see how auto-manufacturers incorporate smart technology into future vehicles.

COOL STUFF

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A new theme this year was the connected city. The idea was to turn a stand into a technical demonstration of a futuristic city. This showcased technology and future trends that we will see in smart homes, robots, cars, scooters, public transport, eco food bins, energy efficiency amongst many more.

The smartphone will be the controller of all the above, and will be the one device you cannot live without!

The vision for the future is pretty mind-blowing! Click below to see a video tourhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21581347

COOL STUFF

Conclusion

OMD Digital trip to the Mobile World Congress has reinforced our view that mobile technology is having an increasingly important impact upon the world.

This document has not mentioned the interesting work we saw in the areas of health, education, industry, but suffice to say mobile is having a real impact in all of these areas.

We were also blown away by the focus upon the ways in which today’s children are already making use of new technology in their every day lives.

Conclusion

Our view is that the mobile technological explosion is hugely exciting and important for all facets of society. At OMD we concentrate upon the impact technology is having upon consumer behaviour and in particular the ways in which content is being consumed.

MWC has shown us that our ambition of joining up content creation/consumption with advertising and product purchase can be achieved by technology.

We think this has huge ramifications for the future. If you would like to discuss this further, please do get in touch.

INSIGHTS • IDEAS • RESULTS

Zaiga LazdinaPHD Digital strategist+371 67282815 | +371 28857187 | zaiga.lazdina@omnicommediagroup.lv