Samsung steals top cellphone seat from rival Nokia

Hail to the king

For nearly a decade and a half, Nokia has dominated annual cellphone sales over rivals like Samsung, LG and more recently Apple.

Based on a new report, Nokia's reign is about to end, as Samsung is expected to usurp the incumbent champion based on its 2012 performance.

Analytics company IHS has forecasted Samsung will finish 2012 with a hold on 29 percent of the cellphone market, while Nokia will retain only 24 percent.

In 2011, the companies actually had nearly inverse those numbers, with Nokia maintaining its control with a 30 percent share compared to Samsung's 24 percent.

 

Numbers game

"The competitive reality of the cellphone market in 2012 was 'live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,'" said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS.

For its part, Samsung definitely delivered on the smartphone front, with devices like the Galaxy S3 leading the charge.

Samsung had squashed the competition during the third quarter, selling 98 million phones (55 million of which were smartphones) on its way to a 22.9 percent share of the market.

Nokia meanwhile was big in the cellphone market during the third quarter, moving 82 million devices, though only 7.2 million of those were smartphones.

Apple has managed to hang onto third place thanks to pulling in 10 percent of the sales, but the company still has a long way to go to catch up to either Nokia or Samsung.

 

Changing of the guard

IHS attributed Nokia's declining performance to the change in direction, as the company is now moving towards Windows Phone 8.

Though smartphones like the Lumia 800 and Lumia 920 did release before the end of 2012, the phones' presence was clearly not enough to make up the ground lost to Samsung earlier in the year.

Conversely, the analytics firm points to Samsung's ability to appeal to both the high-and low-end of the smartphone market as a chief reason for its success.

Samsung saw its smartphone shipments rise 8 percent from 2011, giving it the greatest growth, and a healthy 28 percent of the market.

Meanwhile, Nokia saw the biggest dip in its smartphones shipped, and fell to just 5 percent, which was an 11 percent decrease over 2011.

Apple was then able to hold onto its second place position as far as smartphones were concerned, gaining 20 percent of the total market.

 

(Dis)honorable mention

HTC and Research in Motion both barely factored into the equation, with each company holding onto 5 percent of the smartphone market.

RIM's fortunes may be on the upswing in 2013 however, with the anticipated launch of BlackBerry 10 just a month away.

The evolution of smartphones in the current market has accelerated quickly, and it will be interesting to see just how well all these competitors perform during the upcoming year with a host of new handsets expected to take over 2013.

Source: http://www.techradar.com, written by Luke Brown

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GSMA Announces Additional Keynote Speakers For Mobile World Congress

The GSMA today announced that CEOs and senior executives from Bharti Airtel, Deezer, Dropbox, General Motors, Juniper Networks and Qtel will take to the stage in keynote sessions at the 2013 GSMA Mobile World Congress, taking place 25-28 February 2013 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. The company announced several new sponsors participating in the App Planet and mPowered Brands programmes, along with new partner events and training sessions taking place at Mobile World Congress.


"Mobile World Congress conference attendees will have the opportunity to hear from some of the most prominent individuals in the mobile industry today, as well as leaders from companies in other industries," said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. "We are particularly excited to welcome several speakers who are making their debuts in the Mobile World Congress keynote programme and will offer new perspectives."

Stellar Keynote Lineup at Mobile World Congress A number of additional CEOs and senior executives from leading companies across the mobile ecosystem and in adjacent industries have recently been confirmed to speak in the Mobile World Congress keynote programme, including:

• Sunil Mittal, Chairman and MD, Bharti Airtel
• Axel Dauchez, CEO, Deezer
• Drew Houston, Founder and CEO, Dropbox
• Stephen Girsky, Vice Chairman, General Motors
• Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks
• Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Qtel Group

These executives join previously announced Mobile World Congress keynote speakers:

• Randall Stephenson, Chairman, President and CEO, AT&T
• Rene Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telekom
• Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson
• Franco Bernabe, Chairman, GSMA and Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia Group
• Suk-Chae Lee, Chairman and CEO, KT Corp.
• Gary Kovacs, CEO, Mozilla
• Susan Whiting, Vice Chair, Nielsen
• Stephen Elop, President and CEO, Nokia
• Kaoru Kato, President and CEO, NTT DOCOMO
• Paul Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Qualcomm
• Talmon Marco, Founder and CEO, Viber Media
• Lars Nyberg, President and CEO, TeliaSonera
• Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group

Beyond the keynotes, the 2013 conference will also include sessions exploring hot topics such as big data, mobile cloud, mWallets, NFC, small cells and smart cities, as well as the role of mobile in adjacent industries like advertising, automotive, finance and retail. For more information on the Mobile World Congress keynotes, as well as the full conference programme, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/conference.

Nokia, Plantronics and Samsung to Host ADCs in App Planet
 For the fourth year at Mobile World Congress, App Planet will bring together mobile industry leaders and the application development community to participate in programmes focusing on the explosive growth in the mobile apps market, as well as exhibition, product and service demonstrations, networking and workshops. The GSMA today announced that App Planet Supporting Sponsors Nokia, Plantronics and Samsung will be holding app developer conferences (ADCs) in App Planet, joining previously announced App Planet Supporting Sponsors including the Car Connectivity Consortium and Wireless Industry Partnership. The Official App Planet Sponsor is Generalitat de Catalunya - Government of Catalonia and Supporting Sponsor is Inneractive. For more information, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/app-planet-overview/.

New Partner Events and Training Sessions 
 In addition to the GTI Summit taking place on Tuesday 26^th February, Mobile World Congress will also feature partner events from companies including ClickSoftware, Fastback Networks, IBM, MasterCard, the Open Mobile Alliance and Taisys. For more information on these new partner events, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/partner-events/

Mobile World Congress 2013 will also include training sessions delivered by Andrew Seybold Wireless University and Award Solutions. These independent seminars will focus on the deployment of next-generation mobile technologies and include sessions such as "Mobile Today and Tomorrow" presented by Andrew Seybold Wireless University, and "Making an Impact with VoLTE" and "Keys to Successful LTE Networks", both presented by Award Solutions. For more information on these training sessions, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/training/

New mPowered Brands Supporting Sponsor Mobile-Loco has joined as the latest mPowered Brands Supporting Sponsor at Mobile World Congress. Designed to develop marketers' and enterprise leaders' mobile knowledge and to fast-track their use of mobile for marketing and consumer engagement, mPowered Brands comprises three elements: the mPowered Brands Zone, mPowered Brands Theatres and mPowered Brands Mobile Ambassadors. For more information on mPowered Brands, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/mpoweredbrands-overview.

Demonstration Sponsors for Mobile World Congress Media Welcome Reception The GSMA announced that Mobeam, Symphony Teleca and Trend Micro will be participating in demonstration showcases at the first official Mobile World Congress Media Welcome Reception.  Held on Sunday, 24^th February from 17:00 to 19:00 at Fira Gran Via, this networking cocktail reception will offer accredited press and industry analysts the opportunity to meet with leading players from across the mobile ecosystem and preview the week's activities in relaxed social environment. For more information on the Media Welcome Reception at Mobile World Congress, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/press/.

The Mobile World Congress is the cornerstone of the Mobile World Capital, which will be hosted in Barcelona from 2013 to 2018. The Mobile World Capital also includes the Mobile World Centre, the Mobile World Festival and the Mobile World Hub, programmes and activities that will span the entire year and will benefit not only the citizens of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, but also the worldwide mobile industry. For more information on the Mobile World Capital, visit www.mobileworldcapital.com.

About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com or Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com

SOURCE GSMA

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/17/5058947/gsma-announces-additional-keynote.html#storylink=cpy

2013 Mobile Threat Predictions

Here is a great article that we cam e acroos, which talks about the mobile era and how we may be affected, in 2013,  by what is happening in this area.

Forecast for the year ahead in mobile malware distribution methods, profit-making schemes and privacy threats.



The mobile era is underway, and 2013 will find people more dependent than ever on their mobile devices to control countless aspects of their personal, public and business lives. The possibilities of this trend are exciting, but heavy reliance and a trove of information on devices are enticing to attackers, putting people, businesses and their most sensitive data at risk.

In 2013, people will purchase more than 1.2 billion mobile devices, surpassing PCs as the most common internet access device in the world. Mobile platforms will continue to expand at breakneck speed, as people are forecast to download over 70 billion mobile apps in 2014.

2013 Prediction Highlights

• Globally, we estimate 18 million Android users may encounter mobile malware from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2013.^[1]
• Toll fraud will continue to dominate as the chosen monetization strategy for mobile malware writers.
• Mobile spam will increase in volume, become a growing nuisance and turn into a new threat vector.
• The use of surveillanceware (like FinFisher) for political espionage will increase.
• Finding the right balance between protection and employee empowerment will be the business challenge of 2013.

Before diving into next year, let’s take a look back at 2012.

2012 Retrospective

• Toll fraud, malware that charges money to a user’s mobile phone bill, matured as a significant application-based mobile threat. In 2012, 72 percent of Lookout’s malware detections were classified as toll fraud malware.
• Privacy has become a major concern for smartphone users with a number of threats emerging on both Android and iOS.
• Earlier this year, roughly 5 percent of the Android apps Lookout analyzed used an aggressive ad network—these apps accounted for over 80 million downloads.
• Theft and physical attacks related to mobile devices are increasing as a greater number of people now carry one or more expensive phones and tablets.^[2] We estimate that stolen and lost mobile phones cost US consumers $30 billion in 2012.^[3]

 

2013 Likelihood of Encountering a Threat

Lookout’s State of Mobile Security 2012 report established a new methodology for measuring the likelihood of encountering mobile threats. Based on this new methodology, the global likelihood that a new Lookout user^[4] encountered a mobile threat from June to October was 0.84 percent.




Figure 1: Global Mobile Malware Infection Rate – New Lookout Users
The likelihood that new Lookout users will encounter malware or spyware is heavily dependent on their geography and behavior, varying from 0.20 percent in Japan to 0.40 percent in the US and as high as 34.7 percent in Russia. This chart looks at country-based mobile malware and spyware infection rates of new Lookout users in October 2012.





Figure 2: Mobile Malware Infection Rate – New Lookout Users, October 2012
Each of these threats have been and will continue to be driven by financial, political and/or publicity motivations. Lookout’s team of security engineers and data researchers took a look at these trends and motivations from 2012 to offer insights into the evolution of the mobile threat space for 2013.

 

 

2013 Predictions

 

Toll Fraud Takes the Cake in 2013

Toll fraud will continue to dominate the 2013 mobile threat space, despite forward momentum on the platform to block these types of attacks. This is due to the following:

• Systems Architecture: Premium SMS protections are only baked into the latest versions of Android (4.2 / Jelly Bean); the first devices are just now shipping with this firmware version, and will not significantly penetrate the market until late 2013.

• Ease of Attack: Toll fraud will remain the easiest path to monetization for malware authors within the base of mobile consumers. It does not require significant technical sophistication and provides considerable ROI that is built into most mobile networks via pre-existing billing channels. A 2012 example, FakeInst, pretended to act as an installer for legitimate popular apps such as the Opera Browser (hence the names ‘OpFake’ and ‘Fakebrows’) or WhatsApp Messenger.

 

Spam Heats Up on Mobile

SMS-based spam will increase in its volume across mobile networks in 2013. We recently observed a number of malicious applications, toll fraud-based and otherwise, such as ConnectSMS, actively collecting contact information from infected devices. It’s not a stretch to expect that malware writers will seek to monetize these datasets via spammers. Its only a matter of time before writers send spam in-network, infecting devices to appear they have come from inside as the have on PCs in the past.

 

Mobile Banking/Payments Top of Mind But Have Little Payoff

Mobile banking has become mainstream, and mobile bank fraud has continued to remain an issue, predominately for European users. The majority of mobile banking threats begin with PC-based malware and include a malicious mobile app that intercepts verification codes, known as mTANs, sent to customers’ devices via SMS. Standalone mobile banking fraud without a PC component is not yet prevalent. Because PC-based banking fraud is still a viable business model, we do not expect attackers to significantly change their ways in 2013.

Mobile payments are still in their early stages; currently no platform or technology dominates the market. Card-based fraud is simple and enjoys an ample payoff, suggesting that fraudsters may not have the motive to shift to mobile payments fraud yet. Attacks against mobile payment systems have been limited to, academic proofs, like NFC, that are typical for an emerging technology. While McKinsey predicts that by 2013, almost 50 percent of consumers expect to use their mobile phones to access their financial accounts or process payments, this space will not reach the maturity needed to become a legitimate target in 2013.

 

Mobile Becomes Hotspot for Targeted Political Surveillance

In 2012, FinSpy provided the first evidence that mobile surveillanceware is actively being used to monitor political targets. Marketed to law enforcement personnel, FinSpy software was discovered targeting human rights activists in Bahrain. We expect to find more politically motivated targeted surveillanceware emerge in 2013. 

Businesses Challenged with Employee Empowerment vs. Control

Finding the right balance between protection and employee empowerment will be the challenge of 2013. Over the past few years, there has been a surge in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon. More than 80 percent of organizations allow employees to bring their devices to work. Not only that, but employees often use consumer cloud services to store / transfer sensitive corporate information, broadening the target, often accessing these at work, or Bring Your Own Network (BYON). As corporate IT administrators seek to gain control over mobile devices, there is potential that by over-correcting for the problem, employees will seek new ways to subvert processes and policies that constrain the pure consumer experience.

 

Mobile App & Browser­­ ­– Constant Threat Vectors

Mobile applications will remain the central collection point for our personal data – from location information, messaging, calendars to social circles. They will also remain the most straightforward channel for privacy attacks that seek to collect that data.

Meanwhile, the mobile browser will continue to be the largest remote attack surface on mobile devices. Attacks of this type provide a vector for intruders to attempt to break in, independent of creating a trojanized mobile application, making it a target for a broad-based attack.

 

Privacy Crackdowns Happen Across the Board

Mobile privacy will be a major issue in 2013, as long as applications continue to access personal or device-specific information without gaining proper informed consent. There will be continued pressure on app developers in the form of government action, industry self-regulation and consumer pressure. The State of California has started to crackdown on apps and developers that do not provide sufficient mobile privacy policies. This is a first step towards a broader set of industry standards around mobile privacy.

 

How to Stay Safe in 2013

 

Individuals

1. Avoid toll fraud, regularly check your phone bill: Always review your monthly phone bill statements for suspicious charges. Contact your carrier if you identify something you believe to be fraud.
2. Double-check URLs on your mobile: After clicking on a web link, pay close attention to the address to make sure it matches the website it claims to be, especially if you are asked to enter account or login information.
3. Protect your privacy, understand app permissions: Be cautious about granting applications access to personal information on your phone or letting the application have access to perform functions on your phone. Make sure to check the privacy settings for each app before installing it.
4. Be smart about device settings: Keep network connectivity such as NFC / WiFi, or Bluetooth ‘OFF’ when not in use. Be sure to disable settings such as debug mode that can open a device up to illicit access.
5. Download a security app: Download a security app that scans the apps you download for malware and spyware, helps you locate a lost or stolen device, and protects you from unsafe websites.
6. Update your phone and apps: Make sure to download and install updates from your mobile operator as soon as they are available for your device. The same goes for apps, download app updates when they are available.

Businesses

1. Raise employee awareness: Help employees understand the threats and risks out there so that employees can take action to safeguard their phones.
2. Protect employees’ phones: Ensure that every phone – personal or company – is protected with a mobile security app for business that finds malware, scans apps, and locates and remotely wipes the device.
3. Patch known vulnerabilities: Keep employee phones’ operating system software up-to-date by enabling automatic updates or accepting service provider’s updates when prompted. Stay up to speed on what vulnerabilities are not patched across device types and carriers to maintain a proper threat model. The National Institute of Standards and Technology offers a database of device vulnerabilities.

***

This report was prepared and written by security researchers and engineers Kevin Mahaffey, Derek Halliday and Tim Wyatt from Lookout.

---

^[1] To estimate the total number of mobile users that will encounter malware from the beginning of 2012 to 2013, we used the likelihood rate of infection in October 2012 from global top markets. By extrapolating this detection rate across Android user base for each market (reference Canalys) in 2012 and the expected shipment base in 2013 for each market, Lookout estimates that as many as 18.4 million will encountered malware/spyware from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2013. We combined shipment data from 2012 and 2013 to get an accurate representation of the number of phones in the market based on the average two year cell phone contract.

Source: https://blog.lookout.com/

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Nearly 50 Catalan exhibitors at Mobile World Congress 2013, doubling local presence at MWC 2012

Nearly 50 mobile technology companies from Spain’s autonomous region of Catalunya will participate as exhibitors in the Catalan Pavilion at Mobile World Congress 2013, set to take place Feb. 25-28 in the new Fira Gran Vía venue in Barcelona. That’s nearly double the number of Catalan tech companies that participated in MWC 2012 last February.

The 48 Catalan exhibitor companies were selected from among 96 respondents to the call for submissions issued through the regional government’s idigital program, which forms the technology cornerstone of its 2011-2014 economic development for the region of Catalunya. Final section was carried out by a judging panel formed by the regional government’s General Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Society and its ACC1Ó business development agency, which announced the winners in a press release earlier this month.

The Catalan exhibitors include a broad range of mobile hardware and software companies, ranging from providers of back-end telecoms services and infrastructure companies to mobile business solutions providers and developers and publishers of business- and consumer-oriented mobile content and software applications.

The list of companies who will be exhibiting in the Catalan Pavillion at MWC 2013 includes: 9smart, ADI, Adsmedia, Albedo, ArtificialSolutions, BeRepublic, Captio, Code Factory, Connectis, Coupies, Digital Legends, Emovilia, EyeOS, Gamedonia, GiroPark, GlobalComm, Good Deal, iBoo, Icar vision, Infocket, iSoco, Kailab, Kriter, LaFactoria, Lona, MagazApp, Mass Factory, MasVoz, MediaLab, Mobetia, Mobile Jazz, MultiActiva Mobile, NO2, OpenTrends, Robot Media, Scytl, Sensing Control, SlashMobility, Soft for you, TeamBox, Tempos21, TwoNav, Ubiqua, Urbiotica, Verasat, VozTelecom, Yuilop and Zyncro.


Source: http://bcntechtalk.com (Michael Tangeman)

If you are visiting Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, MWC or GSMA in 2013 or just want to make a Tour, Day trip, Attractions or Excursion or are interested in any other tour services, then check out the picture above at the top and if you can't find what you are looking for, call us on +34 663 801 325, because you can be sure we can do it. 

 

Are you App’d up yet? Get ready for App Planet at Mobile World Congress 2013 …

Are you App’d up yet? If you just can’t get enough of mobile applications and everything in, around, by and for apps … then you’re probably looking forward to the fourth annual edition of App Planet at Mobile World Congress 2013.

For the uninitiated, get an official overview here of what App Planet is all about.

Or, browse the summary descrips of the App Planet Pavilions and Zones, here.

But, what and who will you see if you buy your pass to Mobile World Congress 2013 and expect to spent a goodly amount of your time at App Planet?

Click on the App Planet ever-evolving floor plan (above) and you’ll get a pretty good idea of who’s signed up so far to exhibit in the App Planet Hall 8.1 in the New Fira Gran Via venue.

What you’ll see is actually pretty interesting. As the partially-booked floor plan here shows, industry big dawgs Intel and Mozilla are there with large pavilion size booths. Japanese and Korean development agencies have booked large booths for their apps-related exhibitors and there’s a large Catalan pavilion, as well. The hall is filled with buyers and sellers of everything app-related, creating a vibrant four-day mobile apps eco-system within four walls, as it were.

But, what is equally revealing from the floor plan are all the mobile advertising players in App Planet this year and how the number and size of their exhibition booths (larger than others, on average), would seem to indicate they’ll be a significant presence in the hall this year.  Check ‘em out: MillenialMedia, Velti, InMobi, Adfonic, TapTap, Smaato, Leadbolt, BuzzCity, plus smaller networks like Madvertise, Airpush and others, are all in the hall this year. Barcelona’s own AdsMedia will be in the Catalan pavilion, while Amobee – the 2012 Global Mobile Awards winner in the “Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year” category (not repeated this year) — so far has a meeting space near the entrance to Hall 2 at the Fira GV.

What’s it all mean? Does this signal the onset of the year of ad-based monetization for mobile apps? Or, is it all just a mad scramble for visibility in the global mobile advertising market, following Millenial’s much-toutred IPO at the end of March?

Or, maybe it just reflects  the obvious: that you can’t (never could) wrap advertising in any medium around thin air. You’ve got to have content and what the lineup of mobile advertising players at App Planet says is that in the mobile universe, content is still king — and for mobile advertisers, the king of content comes in the form of mobile apps.

So, what does one do when you know the king is going to be in the room? You make sure you’re there, too! The mobile ad networks recognize that their action at Mobile World Congress is taking place in and around App Planet and to be in on the action, they’ve nearly all moved early to reserve their space. They’ll be there, trying to sell to mobile apps developers and publishers the notions that their network is the biggest, the most revolutionary or most sophisticated, delivers laser-focused targeting, more ROI, greatest number of downloads and installs.

Any way you look at it, what is clear from the map so far is that the mobile ad networks will be in town end-February for Mobile World Congress 2013 and anyone stopping by App Planet will be hearing the messaging, loud and clear!

Source: http://bcntechtalk.com (Michael Tangeman)

If you are visiting Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, MWC or GSMA in 2013 or just want to make a Tour, Day trip, Attractions or Excursion or are interested in any other tour services, then check out the picture above at the top and if you can't find what you are looking for, call us on +34 663 801 325, because you can be sure we can do it. 

Mobile World Congress 2012 Highlights and What to Expect for 2013

Mobile World Congress 2012 Showcased How the World is Redefining Mobile

Last year’s industry-defining event, Mobile World Congress, hosted in the Mobile World Capital Barcelona, featured attendees from 205 countries who were treated to a wealth of learning and networking opportunities; product showcases and announcements; inspiration and innovation, including:

Conference
An exciting lineup of inspiring speakers from mobile operators, consumer brands, organisations, and industries touched by the mobile market including advertising, health, entertainment and education presented at more than 40 conference sessions at MWC. Keynote speakers included:

• Franco Bernabè, Chairman & CEO, Telecom Italia Group
• Ben Verwaayen, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent
• Warren East, CEO, ARM
• Ralph de la Vega, President & CEO, AT&T Mobility
• Sunil Mittal, Chairman and MD, Bharti Airtel
• Li Yue, President, China Mobile
• Dan Callahan, COO & CTO, Citigroup
• René Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telekom
• John Donahoe, President and CEO, eBay
• Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson
• William Clay Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company
• Dennis Crowley, CEO, Foursquare
• Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google
• Peter Chou, CEO, HTC
• Michael Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group
• Michael Abbott, CEO, ISIS
• Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks
• Stephen Elop, President & CEO, Nokia
• Ryuji Yamada, President & CEO, NTT DOCOMO
• Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Nextel
• Santiago Fernandez Valbuena, Chairman & CEO, Telefonica Latin America
• Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President & CEO, Telenor Group
• Jo Lunder, CEO, VimpelCom
• John Partridge, President, Visa
• Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone
• Shi Lirong, President, ZTE

Keynote speeches by Ford Motor Company’s Bill Ford, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and Ericsson’s Hans Vestberg were broadcast live and archived for viewing on Mobile World Live.  So visit the site today to hear them speak for yourself!


Additional learning opportunities at MWC included the Forum Series, a sponsored programme which brought together industry players to discuss and debate a range of topics in focused sessions. 2012 Forums included the Augmented Reality Forum, the LTE Forum, the Mobile Cloud Forum and the Mobile Security Forum, as well as the GTI LTE TDD/FDD International Summit.

The GSMA also hosted the GSMA Seminar programme, educating attendees on industry initiatives such as Mobile Spam, Mobile Privacy, Spectrum, and Disaster Response.


Exhibition
Nearly 1,500 companies showcased their organisations through exhibition stand and hospitality space across eight halls at Fira Montjuïc. Visiting the exhibition halls provided glimpses of exciting new phones, tablets, technologies, applications, back-end solutions, accessories and more.

Between the GSMA Pavilion in Hall 8, the Connected House in The Courtyard and several initiatives pavilions in Hall 2, the GSMA highlighted several important initiatives benefitting the industry, including Mobile Money, Mobile Health and Embedded Mobile.


App Planet
Hosting more than 12,500 app developers in 2012, App Planet was once again the Centre of the Apps Universe. App Planet was packed with an exciting app-focused exhibition, an App Lounge for networking, and App Developer Conferences hosted by:

• BlackBerry
• developerprogram.com
• IBM
• IMGA
• Nokia
• Samsung
• WIP

 

mPowered Brands
New for the 2012 event was mPowered Brands, which focuses on building marketers’ knowledge and accelerating their use of mobile as a marketing medium. The mPowered Brands programme provided an indispensible opportunity for professionals across the mobile marketing ecosystem to gain important and timely insights, practical knowledge and innovative solutions from the companies at the forefront of mobile marketing today, such as McCann Worldgroup and Nielsen. Learn more about mPowered Brands here.


Highlighting the Best of the Industry
Mobile World Congress 2012 hosted the 17th annual Global Mobile Awards, which recognised outstanding offerings in a number of categories, covering topics from apps and entertainment to devices and innovation. For a full winner list, please click here.


Outstanding Networking Opportunities
A key component of Mobile World Congress 2012 was networking with fellow attendees and mobile leaders, both before the show, via My MWC and at Congress itself.  Attendees also enjoyed two ‘Networking by Moonlight’ events held at the Magic Fountain in the Upper Village.  Take a look at the amazing 360-degree photograph we took, here.



Source: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com


If you are visiting Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, MWC or GSMA in 2013 or just want to make a Tour, Day trip, Attractions or Excursion or are interested in any other tour services, then check out the picture above at the top and if you can't find what you are looking for, call us on +34 663 801 325, because you can be sure we can do it.

Samsung Youm Display - Flexible Display - AMOLED and Transparent OLED Screens

Take a look at this video, which shows the latest Samsung displays.



If you are visiting Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, MWC or GSMA in 2013 or just want to make a Tour, Day trip, Attractions or Excursion or are interested in any other tour services, then check out the picture above at the top and if you can't find what you are looking for, call us on +34 663 801 325, because you can be sure we can do it.