Mobile World Congress 2013

The world’s biggest mobile industry event Mobile World Congress 2013 has now finished. We can now look back at the event and analyse the main points. If you want to see all of the most talked about devices in the mobile market, you can do it one week before and a couple of weeks after MWC. This isn't a joke as it's actually want is starting to happen as more and more companies are running their own events to launch flagship devices. Here are a few examples

• Sony announced the Xperia Z in January.
• HTC's flagship device "The One" was announced a week before MWC.
• Samsung are launching the Galaxy S IV ten days after the event.
• Apple has traditionally been absent from the event.
• Microsoft was predominately represented by its partners.
• Google didn't even have a booth.

This doesn't mean that the event didn't have any announcements as ZTE, Huawei, LG and some other smaller names have given us new product launches with their latest flagship devices. Samsung did show off the Galaxy Note 8.0. Nokia launched a group of low-end phones which should do very well in the African and developing markets. Plus Sony was giving out its Xperia Tablet Z to a select few to try out. 

So for news from the big players, MWC isn't  the Mecca it once was, however, with more exhibitors focussed on areas such as application development, hardware, accessories, mobile device management and unified communications, it really is a great event. From a business standpoint, MWC provides a chance to see all of the aspects of the mobile, connected world in one place and gives insight into the trends and opportunities for the future. It’s all about data.