Mobile World Congress: the Star Trek years are gone

I asked Patrick Smith of telecoms specialist agency, Sonus PR, to give a brief overview of how he felt Mobile World Congress was shaping up this year.

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What is the most interesting thing about the show this year is that there is nothing really interesting to see. Lots of people that I’ve met and spoken to have commented on this – no new announcements have really taken our breath away.

I think that this is partly a sign that the industry is much more mature than it was a few years ago. Not only has the event become more business like and slightly less exciting to visit now it is Barcelona (no longer in tents on the beach in Cannes), it seems that the technologies, devices and stories that are demonstrated, launched and announced are less exciting than they used to be. We used to see things that felt as if they were straight out of Star Trek, now we just see version 3.4 of whatever it may be.

Not that I think that the show is any less important than it was, but in the world of almost complete mobile penetration what we’re all trying to do is to improve on the current mobile experience, but not bring a new experience to people.

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Thanks Patrick!

(If you’ve got a view from the floor, email it to me).