Not going to Mobile World Congress

I’ve been thinking carefully about whether to go to Mobile World Congress.

Part of me thinks it’s important to be there and to see what’s going on. Part of me reckons it’s a total, 100% waste of time and energy.

Last year I was not impressed to find that 3GSM had banned bloggers. Thus I didn’t go. In the end I was absolutely delighted to avoid the total arse particularly as it was a no-news event. Nothing happened. Nothing memorable. I think one or two people caught a glimpse of some previously announced Nokia handsets — the E90 if memory serves. That was it, if memory serves…. Ah no, hold on. I do remember a rather cool showdown between eMoze and Blackberry (eMoze won the challenge). That would have been fun to witness.

It’s about this time of year that the marketing teams attending the event in February are getting things organised. I’ve been getting invitations to connect with lots of companies who are going to be there and who’d like some coverage on the site here. I’ve been graciously declining and offering to arrange an interview at another date or time and not in Barcelona. I’d much rather spend an hour with them on the phone, in person or over lunch — instead of a hurried 7 minute ‘briefing’ standing on the hall floor followed by a quick swap of business cards and a parting nod.

So if you’re going along to Mobile World Congress, enjoy!