The Mobile World Congress kicked off yesterday, in Barcelona, Spain. Host to 47 000 visitors in 2009, the conference and exhibition is a showcase of the mobile world. This year's event kicked off with news from Microsoft, Ericsson, Google and Nokia, among others.
Hans Vestberg, Ericsson's new CEO and president, on the job for 45 days, gave the assembled media a rundown of the trends the company is seeing in the global mobile market.
He noted the most significant trend the company saw last year was the economic climate, which “impacted the whole industry. We saw some impact on the network business in the latter half of 2009, mainly cautiousness on the part of the operators in emerging markets, plus [the impact of] currency degeneration.”
The year also saw accelerated data growth, which Vestberg said is set to continue this year. “For this first time we sold more 3G handsets than 2G handsets, and we're seeing 4G and LTE coming with contracts signed with operators, which combined have some 240 million subscribers.
“We also saw more focus on network efficiency from operators wanting to maximise efficiency of their operations, which was good for us as it gave us managed services opportunities.
“We had a couple of markets with good growth - China, for example. India was very strong, but less so in the fourth quarter. Japan continued rolling out, and we have the North American business, which we cemented last year. It saw 100% growth over the last quarter of last year and an average of 40% growth for the year.
“We're continuing to work with Verizon, AT&T and other operators. We signed up to be a vendor for AT&T last week and I think that will be very important for us,” he added.
According to Vestberg, there are 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions in the world, half a billion broadband users and 1.7 billion people on the Internet. Eighteen billion or 19 billion SMSes are expected to be sent during the Chinese New Year, he said.
“In five years' time, we expect to have seven billion subscriptions - people will have more than one - and we expect to see three billion broadband connections in five years' time.”
Internet on the move
Mobile broadband was the focus of Google's press roundtable too, more specifically, the mobile Web.
Speaking to a small group of journalists, Vic Gundotra, Google's VP of engineering for mobile and developer programmes, outlined the search giant's mobile strategy, which is dominated by its desire to ensure it continues to drive revenues to its search business.
“Google's growth has largely mirrored that of the Web,” he commented, saying that even two or three years ago it was not clear how the Web would work on a mobile basis. Today, it's apparent that what's available on a desktop is now available on a mobile as far as the Internet experience goes. For Google to ensure its revenues, he noted, it has to ensure users can get the same experience on a mobile device as they can on a PC.
“Google's strategy is to make the Web happen faster. We do that by introducing things like Android that act as a catalyst in the system and spur innovation. We also do so by offering services like Google maps, applications, e-mail and such, via these mobile platforms.”
Me go?
These mobile platforms include MeeGo, the new mobile platform announced by Nokia and Intel. Combining Maemo and Moblin into one open source operating system, MeeGo will be hosted by the Linux Foundation, representatives of the two companies announced.
MeeGo, said Renee James, VP and GM of Intel's software and services group, is a converged software platform, governed by open source software best practice. It is targeted at hardware manufacturers, OEMs and software developers of and for a wide range of devices, including phones, netbooks, tablets and connected TVs, she explained.
Kai "Oist"am"o, executive VP of Nokia's devices unit, commented that the companies believe it will be a compelling offering for consumers, operators, developers and manufacturers, as it offers a complete Internet, computing and communications offering with rich graphics, multi-task and multimedia capabilities.
Meanwhile, Microsoft launched what chief executive Steve Ballmer, unveiling the device, called “a different kind of phone”. While the company's statement said it's re-entering the mobile market with a bang, journalists and analysts at the launch didn't seem overly impressed.
According to Ballmer, the new Windows Phone 7 Series, set to be available in SA by the end of the year, would “redefine what a phone can do for people” and will “integrate the Web, applications and content in an intuitive way, and could potentially bring services such as music player Zune and games platform Xbox to the phone for the first time”.
“In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience,” said Ballmer. “We believe Windows Phone 7 Series is a phone that truly reflects the speed of people's lives and their need to connect to other people.”
Microsoft hopes the new offering will help the company strengthen its position in the highly-competitive mobile industry, the company's press statement said.
* Samantha Perry is being hosted at Mobile World Congress by Ericsson.
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