Impressions
This year’s Mobile World Congress felt a lot calmer than in previous years. Sure, there was still plenty of bright lights, shiny phones, and massive crowds but the mood seemed more about speculation than showcasing. The most newsworthy event might have been the weather with snow falling in Barcelona, and temperatures dipping close to 38 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 0 degrees Celsius).
The biggest buzzword of the show wasn’t IoT, and surprisingly, it wasn't blockchain. It was 5G with telcos and associated companies talking about standards, connectivity, preparation, and planning. If anyone was center stage, it was 5G raising the tide of the efforts of handset makers to unveil new devices.
Verizon announced plans to offer 5G networks this year. AT&T announced in January that it would begin rolling out its mobile 5G network later this year. ACCIONA and MWCapital have announced plans to work together in the application of 5G networks in the industrial sector, prior to these networks becoming commercially available. Sprint announced that it’s bringing “5G-like capabilities” to six big American cities in early 2019. Then there was Intel, who announced ambitious plans for Tokyo 2020 blanketing the city in 5G. While a true roll out 5G isn't expected until 2020 (with variances across regions and countries), big telcos and a significant number of companies are investing, researching and planning in preparation for the new mobile wireless standard.
The usual suspects including Huawei, Nokia, and Samsung unveiled their latest hardware and Google unveiled new Android Go devices as well as maintaining a strong presence with Google assistant, arguably gaining on Amazon Alexa’s grip on connected devices. The sheer abundance of copycat devices (including air pods and iPhones) could have kept keen spotters immersed in a copycat bingo drinking game for days. Technology such as AR and VR, autonomous cars and a number of spirited robots was on show, all in term waiting for the option of 5G innovation and the introduction of faster and more efficient services.
Nokia’s banana phone got a lot of press interest for its retro references, but more interesting was their continued role as a partner in the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter. It’s a set of shared principals adopted by key players in the mobile industry to support improved access communication and information for those affected by crisis in order to reduce the loss of life and positively contribute to humanitarian response. Nokia provides innovative, rapidly deployable, compact and ultra-compact LTE solutions with different form factors for emergency and disaster recovery situations and to establish coverage in remote areas. They can establish connectivity in minutes and work as standalone systems and can be connected using IP-based backhaul.
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The autonomous ride sharing taxi, the Volocopter, was on show and is predicted to be available in five years leading to pretty of spirited discussions among attendees. |
Momenta also attended IoT Stars, hosted by the delightful Marc Pous from thethings.iO and IoT Meetup Barcelona, a great opportunity to see a diverse range of IoT startups pitch.
The corresponding 4YFN conference is a startup business platform that enables startups, investors and corporations to connect and launch new ventures together. There are opportunities for startups to network with VC’s, speed pitch to the press and a cornucopia of 650 startups from all around the globe staffed their booths and put themselves at the whim of the masses. If you want to connect with the leaders of the future, this is the place to be.
Momenta's Venture Associate, Alberto Cresto took to the stage Tuesday morning, speaking to a packed room as part of the panel "IoT 4 Years from Now" with folks from Belron, Worldsensing and the IoT Consortium.
Ultimately, MWC and 4YFN may not have the product hype of CES, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. As well as product unveiling, one of the biggest strengths of Barcelona’s annual convergence is the opportunity for like-minded people to meet and connect, debate and discuss all things connected. Everyone knows that sometimes the most interesting conversations and opportunities happen not during a booth spiel but in line for a coffee, or during a happy hour, or plate of tapas. MWC brings people together and Momenta was delighted to be part of the discussion.
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