A busy week in Barcelona. One more year GSMA Mobile World Congress announced record of attendees, CEOS and exhibitors in MWC 2015. If the organization continue increasing the number of exhibitors, conferences and parallel events we will need more days. This does not think it will be a problem, except for pockets of companies and individuals. Enjoy another day of tapas and jamon will be greeted with applause by the thousands of foreign visitors included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg loves Spanish ham known as jamn serrano.
The Internet of Things the Start of MWC 2015
The star of MWC 2105 was The Internet of Things. For the first time, IoT was one of the dominant themes at this years Mobile World Congress. In the event agenda, exhibitors panels the word IoT was the most repetitive and pronounced by speakers, panelist, exhibitors and attendees.
Parallel events like IoT Stars, where 10 IoT startups was pitching in front of a top-notch jury at the emblematic Agbar Tower in Barcelona on Monday, March 2, 2015. Other interesting startup event, 4YFN focused on building ideas and forging lasting relationships for international startups, investors and corporations. The GSMA Innovation City brought a fully immersive mobile experience to visitors in 2015.
Almost every company have announced its support for the rapidly expanding ecosystem of connected things and wearables. Network Operators, Telco Equipment vendors, Device Vendors, IT Vendors, System Integrators, all have incorporated in one or another in their speech and booths product, services or marketing material about the internet of things.
In MWC the focus of IoT is the connectivity. I agree with the former Mediacom mobile chief Jon Hook in MWC 2015 the real battle in the Internet of things is for the backend not the gadgets/:
Connected cars, smart washers, chatty fridges, intelligent garage doors and the latest generation of phone, fitness bands, watches or other various wearable devices arent the real battleground. It doesnt matter what the big trend is its the simple question of what connects all of these wearables, mobiles, beacons, NFC and advertising solutions. Without that, all you have are great innovation, advertising and mobile partnerships sitting in isolation. Whats the tech or the software quietly working in the background to connect all of this?.
The Time for BYOW (Bring your Own Wearable) Will Take Some More Years
In 2014 at Mobile World Congress wearable tech products created lots of buzz. Many industry heavyweights and electronics giants chose the conference to make significant wearable technology product announcements.
It is logical that 2014 has been a year of transition for wearables and we have to wait some more years to see substantial progress in miniaturization, new wearables, connectivity, usability, integration, and applications for both consumers and businesses.
I only have had time to take some pictures and a couple of discussions with some wearable vendors, but is you really want to know more I recommend to read this post MWC 2015: Whats new in wearables.
Smartphones, tablets and IoT claimed the attention at Mobile World Congress 2015 and wearables did not stole this year the spotlight of last year. The time for BYOW (Bring your Own Wearable) will take some more years.
Congratulations to LG Watch Urbane LTE for the Wearables Top Tech of MWC Digital trend Award.
What I Expect for MWC 2016
There are traditions that people do not want to lose in spite of innovation like sharing business cards. It is time to let our smart devices communicate and share our business cards and LinkedIn profiles.
Please guide me. Productivity is key in this colossal event. I need my smart device can be connected with beacons and my personal agenda tools and recommend me the best way to go to the booths without reading maps and labels in the wall.
I want to see real integration of things allocated in different IoT Service providers using different networks.
I want to see how the GSMA Innovation City really bring a fully immersive mobile experience to visitors in 2016. It is time for new IoT services and apps replacing the very trite M2M apps like smart parking, smart transportation or smart wasting.
I want to see real IoT innovation in MWC 2016, but anyway I lok forward to see my friends, colleagues and share tapas and jamon.
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Thoughts ? Comments ?
