Never before has the statement “the atmosphere is electric” been more apt. With electronic devices and innovation as far as the eye can see, the Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona is buzzing.
Day one included keynote addresses by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. The queue for the auditorium was already out of the door an hour before the presentations.
Talking to a full-house, Ballmer announced that MS will release Internet Explorer 9 for Windows phones this year, and multitasking will be brought to Windows phones.
According to Ballmer, 93% of Windows phone users are "delighted" with their devices. The benefits of Windows phones that Ballmer attributes to their success, are what he calls "smart-design" and "hubs".
"We want our users to have the advantage of access to the full Web, full Internet on their phones - like we are accustomed to on our PC," said Ballmer.
"IE 9 takes advantage of not only Web but all the hardware in the PC, like the graphics processor, to increase performance and really deliver the beauty of the Web through the power of HTML5."
This same hardware and graphics acceleration will also be brought to the mobile phone, said Ballmer. "It's a great example of bringing assets together from across Microsoft."
Another innovation demonstrated by Ballmer is the improvement of the Office hub on Windows phones. Consumers and small business owners will be able to access documents on Skydrive, the document-sharing service that already has 70 million users to tap into.
During the address, the enhanced capabilities of IE 9 were demonstrated on both PC and the Windows phone. Much to the amusement of the crowd, the speed of a Windows phone running IE 9 was directly compared to an iPhone 4 running Safari. There was no contest.
With IE 9's support of HTML5, the new browser also offers native support for video, eliminating the need for video-support plug-ins. As Murphy's Law would have it though, the video streaming froze during the demonstration. Microsoft was, however, quick to point out that the code is still preliminary and not final (and that connectivity in the auditorium was poor).
In terms of multitasking, the functionality of a new Windows “back button” was demonstrated, with close to instantaneous switching between tasks.
Nokia CEO Steven Elop also made a guest appearance during Ballmer's address, to speak about the new partnership between the companies.
"This is a significant moment in how we have seen mobile industry evolve," said Elop. "It is no longer a battle of devices, but a war of ecosystems."
Ballmer said Microsoft is confident the new partnership with Nokia will help consumers to get new hardware and "fresh choices".
"The Windows Nokia ecosystem will be unquestionably, the most operator-friendly ecosystem that exists today," said Elop. "Our focus shifts today to delivering those devices, and changing the industry."
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