3GSM: To go or not to go. Naahhhh.

3GSM: To go or not to go; that is the question;
Whether it’s nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of walking ’round the venue,
Or to take RSS against a sea of press spin,
And, by opposing, end them?

So that didn’t quite work.

Anyway my question is this: 3GSM? To go, or not to go?

Everyone I speak to. Everyone. Everyone seems to be going.

EVERYONE AND THEIR GRANNY is going.

I’ve been sat thinking about whether or not to go. Whether it’d add more to the blog or whether, upon reflection, I’d be producing a lot of content that, in the scheme of things, isn’t quite that useful. I’m in two minds.

I was chatting to a colleague last week, saying, ‘Oh, yeah, or the second week of February?’ and was quickly reminded that they’re ‘in Barcelona’. 😉

Gaaaah.

Everyone but me is going!

I’m not going. I’ve no reason to go, per se. Why, prey tell? Well, I just don’t feel like I’m missing that much.

If it was in Cannes, well, there’s that really good La Pizza restaurant on the corner of the marina next to the Police Station. And Cannes is quite a nice, small place to jet off to. Barcelona? Huge. Big. Yes there is the added bonus of the super Ritz Carlton Hotel Arts, but I just… it’s a bit tooooooooooo big.

Just looking down the site frontpage, there looks to be a ton going on. Robert Redford will be announcing the Sundance Mobile Premiers:

This groundbreaking pilot project will exclusively premier five films by six new and established independent film makers at the 3GSM World Congress in 2007

That’s cool.

There’s some mobile awards going on. Global Mobile Awards 07 to be precise. Again, cool.

I’m just not turned on by it all.

SMS Text News favourite, Arun Sarin, is scheduled to do a keynote speech, so too the chappy from Orange. A chappy from o2, a chappy from BT, a chappy from Microsoft….

It’s all a bit…….. too big. Too ‘the-same?’

What are they going to say? I mean, really: What NEW things are they going to say?

I think, perhaps, I’m a bit spoilt by Steve Jobs and the way Apple do their thing. What possible value is there in sitting in front of Mr Sarin and listening to him explain away a load of rubbish that sounds good delivered in a conference hall that doesn’t, in ANY WAY, correspond with what my friends Jo and Nat (normobs – normal mobile phone users and Vodafone customers) experience on a daily basis with their Vodafone service?

It’s that kind of thing that, when prompted about 3GSM by various people, usually leads me to respond with, ‘Mehhh.’

Flying over to check out Nokia and listen to their folks talk about the next generation, that was valuable, worthwhile. That was a turn-on!

3GSM? It’s not a turn on. Strange that. I don’t seem to have the hots for it. I’d have been well up for going last year, I reckon. In the end I was too busy.

So going-to-3GSM-because-everyone-else-is…. nah.

I may well change my mind. I’m sure I could do a good bit of reality reporting. That’s if I can hold myself together without exploding in response to the absolute tripe some speakers will be dispensing (Witness the Orange guy at the Nokia World conference giving a total bullshit answer regarding mobile data. I nearly yelled ‘HOGWASH’ at the top of my voice from the back of the hall. Very nearly.)

It’s certainly a useful networking opportunity. I grant ye that. This said, I think I shall most probably be sitting back from February 12th, reading the press releases as they come out and tracking what other people say.

I’ll be kicking myself if Arun Sarin gets up and says, ‘Right, as of tomorrow, mobile data is £3 a month unlimited for everyone of our XX million customers.’

But, chances of something exciting and dramatic as that happening at 3GSM? You tell me…. Happy to be proved wrong though!

In the meantime, if you’re going, have a good time. 🙂