MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
MWC 2019:
5G, SECURITY
& OVERDUE
INNOVATION
There were no prizes for one buzzword that was going to
crop up this year. With 5G airwaves less than three months
away, at the earliest estimation, Barcelona was the best
place to be to work out how to harness the new speeds.
But thanks to Samsung and Huawei there was some
alternative topic for debate. BY ELLIOT MULLEYGOODBARNE
Mobile World Congress is an
FEATURE event we are all familiar with
for all who have spent over
a year in the technology
26 www.technologybusinesstoday.com April 2019 industry. Nestled nicely between the
start of the calendar and the end of a lot
of financial years, the show is a great
barometer for what we can expect over
the next 12 months and more.
Since it’s beginning in Cannes as 3G
SM World, through rebranding in 2006
and up to today, the show has provided
a key platform for announcements from
vendors, predictions from experts and
opportunity for key decision makers to
meet up.
Welcomed by many who were bored
of the ‘sea of smartphone sameness’
foldable devices grabbed headlines.
Samsung and Huawei were among half
a dozen manufacturers who launched
or announced plans to launch foldable
devices including LG and Nokia brand
owner HMD Global at the end of
February.
Samsung corporate vice president
Conor Pierce says he is “confident” of
the success of its foldable device adding
that it may spell the end for tablets in the
workplace as “people see the foldable
device and question why they would
need a tablet.”
However, the path to the enterprise
world is fraught with questions around
protection, cost of repair and uses
resulting in Westcoast head of mobile
Darren Seward betting foldable phones
will remain a “consumer play”.
“Most people who are looking for
tablets in the B2B environment want it
ruggedized or want the ability to have a
rugged case. A phone that is also a tablet
is great, but I think it is a consumer play
and for those who have lots of money
and need the latest and greatest.
I don’t think it will be a massive
volume play, but it is an exciting change
in technology.”
BACK TO THE (IMMEDIATE) FUTURE
Despite the lack of clarity around uses
(sound familiar?), the foldable devices
provided a welcome distraction from 5G.
With the new airwaves set to be
launched before the turn of the new
year in the UK, Tutela vice president
Tom Luke points out the “real focus for
attendees this year was advancing 5G
from aspiration to reality.”
According to Future Source research
analyst James Manning Smith, where
the uses for 5G in the consumer world
are limited, networks see 5G as “great
for industrial”.
MOBILE WORLD
CONGRESS 2019
109,000
ATTENDEES
2,400 EXHIBITORS
1 9 8 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES 5 5% OF ATTENDEES HELD
SENIOR POSITIONS
120,000
SQUARE METERS
OF EXHIBITS
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