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Mobile World Congress 2012 (MWC) saw smartphone launches from Huawei, HTC, ZTE, Sony Mobile, Nokia, and LG catering to the premium and mid segment. A day before the event, Huawei and Sony Mobile launched their smartphones. Huawei launched the world's fastest quad-core smartphone, the Ascend D1 Quad, an entertainment dynamo with high definition touchscreen, and powerful 32-bit true color graphic processor. Sony Mobile unveiled the latest additions to its Xperia NXT series, the new Xperia P and Xperia U. Xperia NXT series is a connected entertainment experience and is incorporating the best of Sony technology and premium entertainment.
HTC unveiled its new HTC One series of smartphones catering to the premium segment with a new level of iconic design, amazing camera and authentic sound experience. ZTE launched Era series, one of the thinnest quad-core devices delivering significant advances in power, high-definition multimedia capabilities, and design. Nokia launched Pureview 808, a 41 megapixel bits cameraphone with superhuman proportions. LG displayed Optimus 3D MAX smartphone with 3D photos and videos.
MWC also saw Lava International and Intel announcing the launch of XOLO X900, India's first smartphone in May, 2012 based on Intel's smartphone reference design featuring the Intel Atom processor Z2460 with Intel hyper-threading technology and supporting HSPA+ with the Intel XMM 6260 platform. Intel also signed up strategic new engagements with Orange, ZTE, and Visa.
MWC also saw focus on mobile apps and M2M (machine to machine), a new area which will open up future revenue opportunities for operators. M2M will also help in facilitating new business models in automobile, smart metering, traffic management, building automation, healthcare, security and others. According to Machina Research, the number of connected devices worldwide will reach 24 bn by 2020 and it will help in creating a global business impact worth $4.5 tn. M2M will also help in revenue enhancement, cost reduction and service improvements.
For speeding M2M, 3GPP along with CCSA, China; ATIS, US; TIA, US; ETSI, Europe; TTC, Japan; ARIB, Japan; and TTA, Korea are joining hands to form one M2M standards organization. This body will help in laying down M2M standards for different verticals along with leading industry associations in different verticals. Once the unified version of service layer standard for M2M is accepted by the standard body, we can expect commercial product/solution related to M2M by 2014.
The Mobile World Congress 2012 was a big hit as it was attended by more than 67,000 visitors from 205 countries. The four-day conference and exhibition was attended by 3,500 CEOs from across the spectrum-be it mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, internet players and media and entertainment organizations, as well as government delegations from across the globe. Apart from this, the congress also saw participation from other verticals-be it automotive, health, finance, and others.
In terms of space, the congress hosted more than 1,500 companies which occupied 70,500 sq mts of exhibition and business meeting area. This year the focus was on smartphone, M2M, cloud computing and applications. Apart from all this the MWC stressed on embedded mobile, mobile advertising, mobile health, mobile money, and next-generation technologies.
Pravin Prashant
pravinp@cybermedia.co.in