Mobile World Congress: what to expect on stage in Barcelona
Our world has never been more connected, and it’s only going to become more so. However, there does seem to be a change in the air – a tipping point – where mobile is becoming much more than a device to programme for but rather a form of behaviour.
Kudos then to the GMSA, organisers of the Mobile World Congress, for theming this year’s event with an empathic point of view that could not be better for the global marketplace today: “mobile is everything.” Mobile is indeed everything, and increasingly everywhere.
Mobile for everyone, yet an enterprise for few
The key to the omnipotent potential of mobile is held by few. There are now nearly 7.7bn smart devices in consumer hands today, according to GMSA’s real-time tracker.
In the UK, people carry out more than 220 tasks a day on their devices. This intimate human-machine relationship presents huge implications for all kinds of businesses. Every company of scale must now have a clear digital and mobile strategy in place. While not every brand needs to be serving content and maintaining a social presence, they do need to provide the infrastructure necessary for consumers and clients to easily access information and do business on mobile.
Across the world, mobile is increasingly where commerce happens. Whether that’s ordering goods, monitoring logistics, invoicing, payments or customer relationship management – mobile is essential to enterprise.
Yet while mobile should be on the agenda of every business, only a few companies control the mobile marketplace, and greatly profit from it. Whether overtly mentioned on the stages of MWC or not, the walled garden phenomenon will be on nearly 100,000 attendees’ minds.
Today, the power of growing ecosystems like Facebook, Google, Apple and their Asian equivalents is extraordinary. The ability Facebook has, for example, to both collect data and serve content across “big blue” (its flagship site), Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other connected third-party apps, enables it to know and control what consumers experience. All scaled enterprises, from FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods like Coke) to automotive to hospitality, must reconcile not if they will work with Facebook, but to what degree.
As nearly 9,000 exhibitors share their news, every attendee will attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff. I for one will be deeply focused on what the few will allow the many to do. Will Android embrace blocking ads? Will Apple move into virtual reality? Will Google build a mobile device with wheels? They are the ones designing the marketplaces from which 9,000 exhibitors, to varying degrees, siphon.
Drawing boundaries or a land grab?
The headline speakers at this year’s event are as broad in specialism as mobile is in definition. Chief executives from WPP, Vodafone, Cisco, Huawei and yes, Facebook, will be on stage. No doubt each will be projecting a thriving business stretching beyond or solidifying its base. With Verizon’s purchase of AOL (and rumours of a Yahoo! purchase nearing), will similar businesses follow suit? Will enemies become friends or will friends become enemies? Carriers need devices, devices need ecosystems, ecosystems need content, content needs bandwidth and so the cycle continues. But, could there be one to rule them all? Who needs whom more and how is this evident on stage or inside conversations?
With such broad discussions around mobile, it’s easy to overlook the handset and other devices altogether. Apple, while largely quiet on the trade show circuits, is starting to show its hand. By accepting ad blockers and abandoning iAds, is Apple creating a premium ecosystem that starts with a coveted device and extends to iOS and payments and content consumption? Is it using its minimalist phone as a premium entry point into a larger clutter-free universe? Will its absence be felt?
As we make our way to Barcelona, news will continue to trickle in about everything from new handsets to virtual reality headsets. But don’t be distracted by the flash and stay focused on the commerce. I for one am looking forward to hearing, or not hearing, how frenemies finally chose sides.
JR Little is global head of innovation at Carat
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