Mobile World Congress ends

After an impressive display of the latest mobile gadgets and technology, this year’s Mobile World Congress has come to an end in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

The 4-day event attracted at least 1,800 exhibitors and at least 80,000 visitors.

The highlight of this year’s MWC was the unveiling of the new flagship phone of Korean phone manufacturer Samsung, the Galaxy S5. Its unveiling dwarfed several phones that were also unveiled during that the well-attended event.

The new Galaxy S5 -- yet-to-be-released, benefits from a revamped S Health app and a new heart-rate sensor on its back. The new S Health app can sync with Samsung’s Gear line of wearables including the Gear Fit fitness band.
Wearable technology includes accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies.

Another peak of the event was Nokia’s announcement of its first Android phone for emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Nokia has traditionally favoured Microsoft’s Windows operating system to Google-owned Android.
Another game-changer at this year’s event was the US$25-priced phone released by Mozilla Foundation, owner of Firefox Internet browser. The phone is targeted at low-income earners in emerging markets, typically in the Africa region.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, who was making his first public appearance since Facebook acquired WhatsApp for US$19 billion, the instant messaging service is on course to connect one billion people around the world, and is worth more than what Facebook paid for it.

"About 70 percent of people who use WhatsApp use it every day, which kind of blows away everything else that's out there.

"What we see is that WhatsApp is on the path to connecting more than a billion people, and there are very few services in the world that can reach that level -- and they're all incredibly valuable," he said.

Commenting on activities that have marked this year’s MWC, Guy Rolfe, Head of Global Mobile Practice at Kantar, an IT market research company said: "The mobile sector is now more competitive and aggressive than ever before.

“The carriers and the content providers are all fighting for vital revenue: for example, WhatsApp announcing it is going into voice. We are seeing the diversification of many business models as everyone fights to grow new revenues; for example, mobile ad servers seeking to extend their value proposition," he said.

Kantar’s Head of the Digital Incubation team Mardien Drew, who has participated in the last three MWCs, added that: "A few years ago the mobile operators all talked about getting handsets into the hands of consumers; now they talk about connecting the next 3 billion people. This desire to connect people is how Mark Zuckerberg described the purchase of WhatsApp in his Mobile World Congress keynote.”

On his expectations of the new event, Guy Rolfe added that he expects the trends from this year to intensify: "I expect the aggressive competition between carriers and content providers will continue to heat up, and as this battle unfolds, we'll start to see market sector consolidation. From a consumer point of view, I'd like to see real innovation that delivers consumer benefits -- for example, improved battery life. There is speculation Google and Apple are both working on a new generation of batteries, but there is no indication yet just how close they are to making this a reality."

The next Mobile World Congress will be held March 2-5, 2015, also in Barcelona.

By Richard Annerquaye Abbey, Barcelona