Barcelona: The 2015 GSMA Mobile World Congress is set to open its doors from March 2-5 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, with events also taking place simultaneously at Fira Montjuïc.
Even though the event kicks off on Monday, some companies such as HTC, Huawei, Alcatel and Samsung are launching their flagship products on Sunday in a bid to get a good share of the media attention.
More than 1,900 companies are expected to exhibit at the event, including new brands such as China Mobile, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Gemalto, General Motors, WhatsApp, MasterCard, Mozilla, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO and Visa.
More than 85,000 attendees from more than 200 countries are expected to descend at the event.
MWC is the next big wave of gadget launches after CES. Many companies are expected to unveil their latest technologies and smart devices which will change the face of the industry.
Smartphones and smartwatches are expected to steal the limelight as tablets are losing ground to PCs.
According to research firm Gartner, tablets fell for the first to 216.1 million units last year compared to 216.3 million due to the growth in large-screen sized phablets (smartphone-tablet combo).
This year, tablets are forecast to grow to 233.4 million units.
But, according to a study by Juniper Research, more than 400 million phablets are expected to ship in 2019, a fivefold increase compared to 138 million units are expected to be shipped this year.
Google will give more details about its Project Ara in its keynote presentation. Project Ara is expected to revamp the mobile industry as users can customise the specs and features of the phone according to their needs.
Keynote speakers
Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer of GSMA, said this year’s event is going to be more exciting and the visitors will experience more intelligent and mobile-connected products and services that will impact the personal and professional lives of the people.
Demonstrations are to span segments such as health care, home and retail, transport, among many others across both developed and emerging markets.
Apart from the launches, the GSMA has confirmed several additional keynote speakers, including leaders of mobile operators, like CEOs of Intel, KT Corp, Facebook, Bosch und Siemens, AT&T Mobile & Business Solutions, Ericsson, WhatsApp, MasterCard, Orange, Telefonica, VMWare, Vodafone, to name a few.
As machine-to-machine (M2M) communications is gaining traction due to growth in internet of things, one growing area where automobile manufacturers are focusing is the automotive technology as 4G internet connection in cars set to become the norm this year.
It is already possible for enterprises to monitor their vehicles fleet using a black box with Global Positioning System fitted inside the vehicle with SIM card access.
According to the GSM Association, more than 50 per cent of the new cars to be sold this year will offer high-speed 4G internet connectivity integrated into the vehicle or through smartphone integration.
“The growth in embedded connectivity is likely to be fuelled in part by regulations in the EU and Russia making it mandatory for new vehicles to ship with systems that are able to automatically alert emergency services in the event of an accident,” O’Hara said in a emailed statement.
He said it is vital for the mobile and automotive industries to work together to deliver scalable and pervasive connected experiences.
