Witnessing the Future of Technology at Mobile World Congress 2016

I have just returned from a very interesting and jammed-packed week at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona.  For the first time ever, over 100,000 people and 2,200 plus vendors attended this year’s premier technology festival.  Much has changed in the industry over the last year since I reported my observations of MWC 2015.  However, what is most remarkable is how the boundaries of mobility continue to expand and morph – everything now seems to be mobile?  As such, the show offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of technology and the major social and business shifts that we can expect in the next few years. 

The big take-away for me was that the show seems to have returned somewhat to its roots.  While there were still lots of new smartphones, wearables and cars scattered around the show floor, they seemed to be more wallpaper, or in the background.  Much of the buzz and marketing was around new network technologies and the core business of the mobile industry.  The new things were 5G networks, low powered networks, and the new Internet of Things solutions that are going to ride over these new networks. 

The following are my personal observations and extrapolations from the show, based on my conversations with operators, customer meetings, analysts, and colleagues, as well as from simply walking the show floor. 

1. 5G – The Next New Technology —What is a technology show without a shiny new technology?  Despite the fact that only 20 per cent of global subscribers have adopted the previous new technology (4G), and many mobile users are still back on the second generation (2G) technology, we are now entering the fifth generation of mobile technology – 5G.  The remarkable thing though is that no one really knows what 5G is.  There are no agreed up technical standards or industry agreements on the definition of 5G.  And, the best estimates are that we really won’t see 5G becoming a reality until sometime in the middle of the next decade.  However, every major vendor is now “5G ready” and promoting their 5G solutions, and plastering the fact all over their exhibit booths.  Numerous announcements were made on new 5G partnerships and tests.  Verizon is looking to deploy in 2017 and the Japanese, Koreans and Russians have all promised to have 5G networks running in time for the various global sporting events that they are hosting. 
2. From High Power to Low Power Networks – At the other extreme from the futuristic, high-powered 5G networks are LPWA networks – Low Power Wide Area networks.  These networks cover wide areas (up to 30 km and more per base station), require very low power (the batteries of attached devices can last for years), and transmit very low amounts of data at slow speeds.  Many see these networks as an essential platform to realize the Internet of Things revolution.  Everything from water meters to parking meters and agriculture sensors could be hooked up to these networks and essentially forgotten for years.  Sigfox and LoRa are the current leading contenders for these networks, but the GSMA and others are frantically working to release a LTE-based version.  Providers, such as Orange, Proximus and KPN are currently deploying LPWA networks and many others are trying to figure out their strategy.
3. IoT – The Year’s Hottest Three Letter Acronym — These 3 letters – standing for the “Internet of Things” – were everywhere.  They were on the signs of practically every booth and on the tip of everyone’s tongue.  No doubt, the ability to connect sensors, devices and “things” to the Internet is the next wave of mobile growth and presents tremendous opportunities for technology vendors to sell new products and services.  A number of key partnerships were announced and some very interesting and compelling industrial IoT case studies were promoted.  The mobile operators shouted out their relevance in IoT by displaying their platforms, capabilities and lighthouse customer engagements.
4. The Next Not So New Devices – In the shows of past, some of the biggest highlights were the highly publicized announcements of the next sleek and sexy smartphone.  While all of the manufacturers proudly displayed their range of devices, there didn’t seem to be any buzz about the “next big thing”.  Samsung announced it’s new Galaxy S7, but you had to look hard to understand how it really differed from their S6, which they announced with a big splash last year.  Similarly, wearables were on display, but not front and center like they were in 2015.  Phenomenal progress has been made in the smartphone and device space over the years, but I think that we have currently reached an innovation plateau.  In fact, I think that there might actually have been fewer, and a narrower range, of devices than in the previous year.   
5. Virtual Reality Becomes Virtually Real — Not only did Samsung demonstrate its cool new virtual reality devices at the show, but they had a temporary building in the center of Barcelona, Plaza de Catalyuna, welcoming long queues of the general public to sample these new worlds.  HTC also demonstrated its VR devices, signaling the start of the virtual reality wars.  Several exhibitors were also using virtual reality devices to enhance the impact of their messaging.  Interestingly, while VR is a hot area, the consensus of a dinner of industry experts that I attended was that VR will be like 3D TV – a niche experience a select customer segment.  However, we all expect VR to have a big impact in re-shaping many businesses – far beyond the gaming world.
6. Virtualization Reality — Virtualization and the cloud have finally hit the core mobile network elements.  Not only will this make it less expensive for operators to build networks, but it will provide them with much greater flexibility and responsiveness and allow the network to extend well beyond the boundaries of the traditional mobile network.   SDN (Software Defined Networks) are also critical to the new network architectures.  Network virtualization is finally hitting the mainstream.    Mobile operators, such as Telefonica, China Mobile, AT&T and NTT DoCoMo, announced fully operational NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) deployments.  And many others announced their plans for getting there.
7. Mobile Monetization – An Industry on the Edge — At one time, service providers were the kings of the show.  They are now just one of the participants in the massive and rapidly changing mobile industry.  The decline in voice traffic, loss of messaging and competition to their data business from over the top providers and alternative access networks such as Wi-Fi, means that they desperately need to find new ways to make money.  Most of the world’s major mobile operators now have their own large and prominently placed booths on the show floor.   They are proudly displaying the latest business solutions, cloud services, gaming, IoT and other innovative mobile offerings that they have to sell.  They are hoping that these new revenue-generating opportunities will move them beyond merely connectivity providers and deliver the next wave of monetization opportunities.
8. The Battle for the Great Indoors — Changes in devices, applications and social behavior are re-defining mobility from an on-the-go activity to a more nomadic activity, which takes place largely indoors.  Traditional macro networks have a tough time penetrating buildings and reaching indoors.  Hence operators are struggling to provide 5 bar coverage in homes, offices and public spaces.  Traditional mobile technology vendors are now showcasing their small cell, Wi-Fi and DAS solutions as the answer to this challenge of lighting up the indoors.  At one time, these solutions were relegated to the back corner, but they are increasingly becoming center stage as a solution to this new and growing problem.  Not to mention, they offer an attractive new revenue opportunity for traditional macro network vendors.
9. The Mobile Ad Battles – A big bomb was dropped during that show was the announcement that the mobile operator Three was working with the Israeli start-up, Shine, to block mobile ads from being displayed to their subscribers.  Unlike ad blockers installed on smartphones, this blocking would be done in the core of the operators’ networks.  Mobile operators estimate that up to one-third of the traffic on their networks is generated from mobile advertising.  In addition to reducing the demand on their networks, operators argue that blocking this unwanted traffic is providing a valuable service to their customers who end up paying for these invasive ads from their data plans.  The counter argument of the advertising industry is that ads pay for the Internet and the services that users enjoy.  The majority of the operators who I spoke with suggested that There Mobile was not unique and that they expected many other operators to follow suit, banning mobile ads on their networks.  Let the mobile ad wars begin.
10. Mobile Payments – Maybe Next Year? — The last point that I always seem to make on these reviews of MWC is on mobile payments.  At last year’s show I was hopeful that with the launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay that 2015 might finally be the year of the long awaited mobile payments.  Alas, that does not seem to be the case.  According to one analyst, only 6% of eligible Apple users actually use Apple Pay.  And, the number is even lower for Samsung and Google Pay.   This despair in the adoption of mobile payments was evident on the show floor.  Besides, a few small vendors scattered at the edges of the more distant halls, Master Card and Visa were they only exhibitors that I saw actively promoting mobile payments.  Well, there is always next year…

Observations from Mobile World Congress 2015

I have just returned from a very interesting and jammed-packed week at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona.  A record 93,000 plus people are estimated to have attended this year’s premier technology festival.  Much has changed in the industry over the last year since I reported my observations of MWC 2014.  However, what is most remarkable is how the boundaries of mobility continue to expand and morph – everything now seems to be mobile?  As such, the show offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of technology and the major social and business shifts that we can expect in the next few years.
The following are my personal observations and extrapolations from the show, based on my conversations with operators, customer meetings, analysts, and colleagues, as well as from simply walking the show floor.

1. 5G – The Next New Technology — What is a technology show without a shiny new technology? Despite the fact that less than 5 per cent of global subscribers have adopted the previous new technology (4G), and over half of mobile users are still back on the second generation (2G) technology, we are now entering the fifth generation of mobile technology – 5G. The remarkable thing though is that no one really knows what 5G is. There are no technical standards or industry agreements on the definition of 5G. However, every major vendor is now “5G ready” and promoting their 5G solutions. And mobile operators like KT and SKT in South Korea are aggressively promoting their pending 5G deployments.
2. IoT – The Year’s Hottest Three Letter Acronym — These 3 letters – standing for the “Internet of Things” – were everywhere. They were on the signs of practically every booth and on the tip of everyone’s tongue. No doubt, the ability to connect sensors, devices and “things” to the Internet is the next wave of mobile growth and presents tremendous opportunities for technology vendors to sell new products and services. A number of key partnerships were announced and some very interesting and compelling industrial IoT case studies were promoted. The mobile operators shouted out their relevance in IoT by displaying their platforms, capabilities and lighthouse customer engagements.
3. Smart Phone Wars – Samsung won the unofficial market launch of the show with its slickly executed unveiling of the new S6. This stunning new device is Samsung’s attempt to get back into the game – trying to recover some of the ground lost to the new iPhone 6 and to firmly establish itself as the Android leader. While many other manufacturers launched new smartphones, Samsung was by far the most talked about brand at MWC. In the continuing saga of the smart phone wars, it looks like we might be back to a 2 player game again for a while?
4. Building the New Mobile — For those of you who follow me, you will know that I have long been a proponent of a “Wi-Fi Max-Mobile Min” strategy to create a new mobile service.   With the near ubiquity of Wi-Fi enabled devices, Wi-Fi access in homes and offices and the growth of public Wi-Fi, there is an opportunity to create a new type of mobile service running largely over Wi-Fi. While there have been a number of smaller, niche players (e.g., Republic Wireless, Scratch), it wasn’t until Google announced that they were getting into the game that it started to get serious. Sundar Pichai of Google gave an unsettling (at least for the traditional MNOs) keynote describing how Google’s MVNO would be primarily based on Wi-Fi, and when that was absent it would select the best, and cheapest, cellular coverage from a number of the big mobile providers.
5. The Connected Car Show — At times you could be forgiven for thinking that you had wandered into the auto show in Geneva or Detroit instead of MWC. There were cars everywhere. The industry sees these as “smart phones on wheels.’ Operators, such as AT&T were crowing about their big deal to connect all new Audis. Auto manufactures, such as Ford, were demonstrating the cool things that you could do with their connected cars. And for some reason, even exhibitors like Visa had cars at their booths. These were not just any cars – they were Porches, Audis, Mercedes, Maserati’s and every other high-end auto you can imagine.   Fancy cars are now the standard “eye candy” at big technology shows.
6. Virtual Reality — Samsung demonstrated a very cool technology for adapting one of their Galaxy Note 4’s or the new S6 into a virtual reality device. Not only does VR make games incredibly cool, but it has lots of applications to industry, enhancing solutions and business processes. HTC is working on a similar VR adaptor for its mobile devices. Several exhibitors were also using virtual reality devices to enhance the impact of their messaging. As virtual reality becomes integrated with cost-effective, and near ubiquitous smart phones, we can expect it to have a big impact on re-shaping many businesses – far beyond the gaming world.
7. Virtualization Reality — Virtualization and the cloud have finally hit the core mobile network elements. Not only will this make it less expensive for operators to build networks, but will provide them with much greater flexibility and responsiveness and allow the network to extend well beyond the boundaries of the traditional mobile network.   This is the year that the promise finally started to become a reality. Mobile operators, such as Telefonica, China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo, announced fully operational NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) deployments. AT&T reiterated its desire to move 75 percent of its network to a cloud architecture by 2020.
8. Making Wearables Wearable — There were 53 wearable devices on display at the show – 10 of which had their own SIMs to connect directly to the mobile network. The majority of these were smart watches and fitness trackers. The challenge, however, seems to be getting people besides device geeks to wear these. Huawei made a very interesting debut in this category with a high-end watch with a round-faced classic design. It looked like something that even James Bond might wear. And, although Apple was nowhere to be seen, rumors (and subsequent launch) of its new Apple Watch presented additional hope that wearables might in fact become wearable.
9. Mobile Monetization – An Industry on the Edge — At one time, service providers were the kings of the show. They are now just one of the participants in the massive and rapidly changing mobile industry. The decline in voice traffic, loss of messaging and competition to their data business from over the top providers and alternative access networks such as Wi-Fi, means that they desperately need to find new ways to make money. Most of the world’s major mobile operators now have their own large and prominently placed booths on the show floor. They are proudly displaying the latest business solutions, cloud services, gaming, IoT and other innovative mobile offerings that they have to sell. They are hoping that these new revenue-generating opportunities will move them beyond merely connectivity providers and deliver the next wave of monetization opportunities.
10. The Battle for the Great Indoors — Changes in devices, applications and social behavior are re-defining mobility from an on-the-go activity to a more nomadic activity, which takes place largely indoors. Traditional macro networks have a tough time penetrating buildings and reaching indoors. Hence operators are struggling to provide 5 bar coverage in homes, offices and public spaces. Traditional mobile technology vendors are now showcasing their small cell, Wi-Fi and DAS solutions as the answer to this challenge of lighting up the indoors. At one time, these solutions were relegated to the back corner, but they are increasingly becoming center stage as a solution to this new and growing problem. Not to mention, they offer an attractive new revenue opportunity for traditional macro network vendors.
11. Selfie Journalism – TV Production in the Palm of Your Hand – It was truly amazing to watch journalists reporting on the show holding their smartphones at arms-length in one hand and an attached professional-grade microphone in the other. In the past crews of cameramen and soundmen would have been needed to produce professional quality reporting from remote locations. The mobile revolution has created “selfie-journalism”, replacing these crews with one reporter, a smartphone and some clever software. The BBC did an interesting story on how they filmed, edited and produced their coverage of MWC entirely on mobile devices.
12. Mobile Payments – This May Be The Year? — The last point that I always seem to make on these reviews of MWC is on mobile payments. Once again, mobile payment solutions from banks, credit-card companies, MNOs and other providers were all competing to create a wallet-less world. However, unlike the promises of past shows, this may be the year that mobile payments finally take-off. With the launch of Apple Pay earlier this year and the big announcement that Samsung’s new S6 would incorporate technology from their recent acquisition of Loop (making mobile phones work with any existing magnetic card reader) we may finally start to leave our wallets at home.

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Observations from Mobile World Congress 2014

I have just returned from a very interesting and jammed-packed week at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona. More than 75,000 people were estimated to have attended this year’s MWC, and its fabulous new conference facilities proved a great place to celebrate the industry’s accomplishments and catch a glimpse of its potential future.  Much has changed in the industry over the last year since I reported my observations of MWC 2013.  However, what is most remarkable is how the boundaries of mobility continue to expand and morph – everything now seems to be mobile? 

The following are my personal observations and extrapolations from the show, based on my conversations with operators, customer meetings, analysts, and colleagues, as well as from simply walking the show floor. 

1.       Awaiting the Next New Technology—Like last year, there was no big “buzz” technology pervading the show.  At previous shows everyone was talking about LTE (Long Term Evolution) as the latest mobile network technology.  This year it was virtually impossible to see those letters anywhere, and they didn’t seem to be on the tip of anyone’s tongue.  Though many countries in the world still lack 4G coverage and many others are just beginning to deploy LTE, the industry seems to have moved on but doesn’t yet know what the next new, shiny network technology will be.

2.       Next Generation Mobile Monetization — Mark Zukerberg’s keynote address and Facebook’s $19 B acquisition of WhatsAp made clear what MNOs already know – their business model is changing rapidly.  The decline in voice traffic, loss of messaging and competition to their data business from over the top providers and alternative access networks such as Wi-Fi, means that they desperately need to find new ways to make money.  Hence, there was a big focus on what that next wave of monetization looks like with everything from mobile cloud, network enhanced services and new solutions and services on display.

3.       Building the New Mobile – With the near ubiquity of Wi-Fi enabled devices, Wi-Fi access in homes and offices and the growth of public Wi-Fi, non-traditional mobile operators are exploring how they can create a “Wi-Fi Max-Mobile Min” mobile service.  Cable companies and other fixed line providers are asking if they can extend their voice and video offerings outside of the home and office, by anchoring the Internet connectivity with Wi-Fi access.  To avoid costly network builds and spectrum purchases, they would fill the 10-20% of the time that the user cannot access Wi-Fi by purchasing mobile connectivity from a MNO.

4.       Small Cells 2.0, From Legitimacy to Money Maker — Wi-Fi is now accepted as an integral part of the mobile network architecture.  Beyond delivering in-building coverage and offload relief, Wi-Fi is beginning to deliver alternative monetization opportunities.  For example, sophisticated location-based, Wi-Fi-enabled solutions that enhance the users experience and deliver benefits to the company’s bottom-line.  Operators are now seeking the same advanced monetization opportunities from licensed small cells.

5.       Virtualize Everything — Virtualization and the cloud have finally hit the core mobile network elements.  A number of vendors, including Cisco, announced that they have virtualized many of the EPC (Evolved Packet Core) components.  Not only will this make it less expensive for operators to build networks, but will provide them with much greater flexibility and responsiveness and allow the mobile network to extend well beyond the boundaries of the traditional mobile network.

6.       SPs Manning the Booths, Turning the Tables — At one time, service providers were the kings of the show, being courted by vendors and other companies looking to sell them their mobile products and services. The tables seemed to have turned somewhat. I was surprised by the number of prominent service providers from around the world who had their own large and prominent booths.  Now, it seems that SPs are keen to show off and sell their latest applications, cloud services, gaming and other innovative mobile offerings. These services are seen as new revenue-generating opportunities that will hopefully deliver the next wave of monetization opportunities

7.       Bigger and Better — Not so long ago mobile devices kept striving to keep getting smaller and more compact, whereas their TV cousins were all about getting bigger and brighter.  As the smartphone market starts to mature, device manufacturers are trying to bring the TV to our hand by creating larger devices.  The tablet and phone are merging to create the “phablet” - devices with a 6 to 7 inch screen that were on display at every manufactures’ booth.  Equally, the smartphone is getting bigger with Samsung launching the 5.1 inch S5 and LG’s 5.2 inch G2, almost a full inch larger than the original models.

8.       From M2M to the Internet of Everything — Pervasive, fast, mobile connectivity is finally creating a real market, not just for machine-to-machine but for everything that can be connected wirelessly.  As at the Consumer Electronics Show, connected devices such as wearables, appliances, home automation and cars were everywhere.  With the prevalence of things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sensors and big data it seems like we are finally at the dawn of a new world where all animated and inanimate objects are connected. 

9.       Making Cities Smarter — When the Internet of Things, mobility and cities all collide good things begin to happen.  Barcelona is actually one of the best places to see the future of cities.  Its smart city initiatives not only greatly reduce costs and improve efficiencies, but improve the quality of life for its citizens.  I personally spent considerable time touring the city with customers to show how Barcelona is deploying such things as smart bus stops, parking, garbage collection, lighting, and providing municipal information to create the world’s leading smart city.

10.   Enterprise Mobility, the Next Phase— Most companies are beginning to embrace bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies to allow employees to use their own mobile devices for business.  Many vendors are helping this trend along through better device management, security, and dual-persona solutions.  A number of innovative companies, consultancies and service providers are now developing unique solutions to take enterprise mobility to the next phase—beginning to truly transform businesses and industries using mobility.

11.   Security — While security has always been paramount in mobility, it seems like a couple of three letter acronyms (IoT and NSA) are escalating its importance.  For the Internet of Things to really take off people have to be certain that their car’s operating system, home sensors or information collected about their personal health is absolutely secure.  One of the most interesting devices launched at MWC, the Blackphone, is designed to protect users from unauthorized surveillance.  Presumably, in response to government spying controversies. 

12.   Mobile Money, Again, Again, and Again—The last point that I always seem to make on these reviews of MWC is on mobile payments.  Once again, mobile payment solutions from banks, credit-card companies, MNOs and other providers were all competing to create a wallet-less world. But, once again, that still seems to be some distant future world.  While there were lots of interesting technologies and solutions on display and evidence ofsome consumer adoption, I think that we still have a long way to go and I suspect that I will be reporting on the future promise of mobile payments yet again next year.

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Observations from Mobile World Congress 2013

I have just returned from a very interesting and jammed-packed week at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. More than 70,000 people were estimated to have attended this year’s MWC, and its fabulous new conference facilities proved a great place to celebrate the industry’s accomplishments and catch a glimpse of its potential future. The mobile industry continues to grow while moving from success to success. And though much has changed since I reported my observations of MWC 2012, I would characterize the process as more evolutionary than revolutionary. 

The following are my personal observations and extrapolations from the show, based on my conversations with operators, customer meetings, analysts, and colleagues, as well as from simply walking the show floor. 

1.       LTE Has Evolved—At previous shows everyone was talking about LTE (Long Term Evolution) as the latest 4G wireless technology. This year you had to look pretty hard to see those letters, and they didn’t seem to be on the tip of most people’s tongues. Though many countries in the world still lack 4G coverage and many others are just beginning to deploy LTE, the industry seems to have moved on and is taking LTE as a given.  This leaves us in a technology trough, awaiting the next new, shiny network technology.

2.       SPs Manning the Booths, Turning the Tables—At one time, service providers were the kings of the show, being courted by vendors and other companies looking to sell them their mobile products and services. The tables seemed to have turned somewhat. I was surprised by the number of prominent service providers from around the world who had their own extensive booths or were part of the GSMA’s “Operator Village.”  Now, it seems that SPs are keen to show off and sell their latest applications, cloud services, gaming and other innovative mobile offerings. These services are seen as new revenue-generating opportunities that will counter similar OTT offerings.

3.       Wi-Fi 2.0, From Legitimacy to Money Maker—Last year Wi-Fi moved from the back corner to become a viable part of the mobile architecture, delivering in-building coverage and offload relief from the exponential consumer demand for mobile data. This was the year of Wi-Fi monetization— moving beyond cost savings to find new sources of revenue from deploying Wi-Fi.  Nearly every operator I spoke with asked the same question, “How do I make money from Wi-Fi?” My recent blog during MWC provides some of the answers.

4.       Small Cells in the Great Indoors—The shift of mobile users to more “nomadic” and indoor usage—and the need to cope with growing demand and limited spectrum—has MNOs scrambling to find ways to provide better in-building coverage and capacity.  Small cells, with much smaller footprints and power output, provide much of the solution. All vendors are now actively promoting licensed small cells as part of their network-access portfolio. Often, these are integrated with Wi-Fi access points for a combined licensed and unlicensed solution. Check out some of the insights from me and my fellow Big Thinkers in Small Cells.

5.       Devices Are All About the Software—Now that all smartphones, tablets and newer mobile devices (Phablet anyone?) look remarkably alike, the real battle for differentiation is in the software.  Windows and Blackberry (remarkably absent from MWC) and the recently announced Firefox OS are battling the Apple and Android mobile-operating-system hegemony. But device manufactures are also adding their own unique applications, software controlled features, and cloud services in an effort to differentiate their iPhone-like devices from competitors. Everything from advanced camera technology, to cloud music and gaming, to Samsung’s reputed eye-movement-controlled scrolling are being jammed into new devices.

6.       Mobile Cloud, Making Smarter Apps—Mobile cloud seems to have moved from a stand-alone topic to something that is increasingly just part of an app or a device.  Many of the cool and exciting new apps—including those for social networking, file sharing, and entertainment—have cloud at their core for storing and retrieving of information, processing, and providing the core functionality.

7.       Big Data, On the Move—The combination of Big Data with location, presence, and other mobile-specific information promises not only cool and useful applications but new ways for operators to monetize their terabytes of customer and network information. Companies were demonstrating how very accurate (2-5m) location tracking from Wi-Fi and small cells could be combined with customer information in a retail store; this will provide hyper-targeted promotions to shoppers on their mobile phone, resulting in increased store purchases.

8.       Enterprise Mobility, the Next Phase—Employees can now readily access their email, calendars, and business information from anywhere. And most companies are beginning to embrace bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. Many vendors are helping this trend along through better device management, security, and dual-persona solutions.  However, many in the industry realize that this is just the first phase—enterprises are now looking to understand how they can truly transform their businesses and industries. A number of innovative solution companies and consultancies are beginning to show the way.

9.       From M2M to the Internet of Everything—Pervasive, fast, mobile connectivity is finally creating a real market, not just for machine-to-machine but for everything that can be connected wirelessly.  Next-generation telemetry and entertainment systems for cars, as well as remotely controlled sensors and machines were on display. Operators and vendors alike expounded on the dawn of a new world where all animated and inanimate objects are becoming connected.

10.   Mobile Money,  Again, Again, and Again—At yet another MWC, solutions for  providing mobile payments were on display. Mobile payment solutions from banks, credit-card companies, MNOs and other providers were all competing to create a walletless world. But while lunch and coffee from the convention’s food vendors could be purchsed with mobile Paypal, I think that we still have a long way to go. I suspect that I will be reporting on the future promise of mobile payments again next year.

The Road to Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress 2013 promises to be bigger and better than ever. The new venue will attract even more members of the mobile industry to Barcelona this year to celebrate the industry’s success and catch a glimpse of its potential future. The recently released Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) indicates that this will be a rosy future indeed. The study predicts that global mobile data traffic will increase 13-fold from 2012 to 2017, reaching 11.2 exabytes per month. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. 

Once again, all of the players in the mobile industry ecosystem are convening in one spot, promising excellent insights into the challenges, opportunities, and potential future of the mobile industry. I will be meeting with customers, analysts, and partners throughout the show, and, of course, wearing out my shoes walking the floor.

Here are some of the key themes and pressing questions that I expect to see, hear, and explore:

·         Next-Generation LTE—What is the status of LTE deployment?  What has been the record of success?  How has LTE changed the mobile world? Where to next for LTE? Is there life beyond LTE?

·         M2M—The Internet of Everything and pervasive, fast, mobile connectivity are finally creating a real market for machine-to-machine mobile communications.  What are those applications?  What are the new business models?

·         The Great Indoors—Many countries now have pretty good outdoor mobile coverage. But how do we extend that coverage indoors?  Especially given that new devices and applications are creating more “nomadic,” rather than mobile, usage patterns amongst users.

·         Wi-Fi—Wi-Fi really came out of the hidden corners at last year’s show to be on the agenda of every mobile operator. I think that this will be the year of Wi-Fi monetization. How do I make money from Wi-Fi? (Look for my blog during the week of MWC where I will share my thoughts on the answer to this question).

·         Small Cells—Small Cells and Wi-Fi are fraternal twins. They both provide excellent wireless access with their own unique attributes. How will licensed small cells and Wi-Fi coexist and complement each other? What are the new business models for small cells? Check out some of the insights from me and my fellow Big Thinkers in Small Cells.

·         Enterprise Mobility—Workers can now readily access email, calendars, and business information from anywhere. However, research by Cisco IBSG reveals that mobile business users expect much more. And enterprises are trying to understand how they can really use mobility to transform their businesses and their industries. What is the future for Enterprise Mobility? Who will be the big winners?

·         Big Data—The growing conventional wisdom is that mobile operators will need to learn how to carefully mine and analyze, and act upon, their terabytes of meaningful customer and network data to make their business more profitable. I will be looking for interesting startups in this space and case studies of operators who are really executing on this.

Of course, I can’t wait to get my hands on all of those sexy, new mobile devices that will be everywhere.  It will be interesting to witness how the Apple versus Samsung battle is evolving.  Do the interesting new devices from Nokia and Blackberry have any chance of challenging this battle of titans?  No doubt, the relationship between the over-the-top services (OTTs) and the mobile operators will be the topic of heated discussions. As will the topic of spectrum.

There is definitely a lot to look forward to and a lot to learn from this year’s Mobile World Congress. As in previous years, I will blog about the highlights and my key takeaways following the show. 
Please stop by to say hello and see some really cool things at the Cisco both, located at 3C54.

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