The MoPR Blog

As February closed, 72,000 mobile industry players and enthusiasts from over 200 countries flocked to Barcelona for the 2013 Mobile World Conference, the world’s largest mobile industry event. While Samsung claimed the top prizes of Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology, Device Manufacturer of the Year and Best Smartphone (among others), Samsung also announced an innovative new security solution, KNOX. However, it was not the only company to make a big splash. Several others announced products and partnerships that left people talking.

Here are some stand-out impressions and reflections on this year’s congress from a few of our favorite tech blogs:

Wireless Intelligence broke down its impressions of MWC 2013 into three categories: devices, services and networks. Out of all the smartphone operating systems introduced this year, Wireless Intelligence found the Samsung-backed Tizen and Firefox OS to stand above the rest. Both systems focused on “openness” and aim to “provide a way for operators and vendors to reduce the influence of Google in the mass-market smartphone space. One of the most prominent themes of this year’s conference was the concept of connect everything from your car, home and health technologies to an entire city. Car manufacturers made their presences known with vehicles on display throughout the exhibition promoting the “connected car concept.” As for Network news, Qtel announced a rebranding effort that will affect 92 million customers. The company aims to consolidate its global efforts by operating under the new name “ooredoo,” which translates to “I want” in Arabic.

Mobile Marketer’s MWC reflections pointed out that although Android and iOS are the dominant operating systems right now, it wasn’t long ago that Blackberry was on top in the OS market. While Blackberry and Windows are trying to make a name for themselves, Tizen seems to be one of the new emerging operating systems; better watch out Android and iOS. Tizen is backed by large companies such as Intel and Samsung and the HTML5-based operating system has support from multiple European wireless carriers. HTML5 is showcased as a way of creating mobile apps that run off the Internet rather than a specific phone platform.

eWeek was very impressed with the presence of cars this year at MWC. Car companies Ford and General Motors are integrating mobile technology not only in their dashboards but into the entertainment systems as well.

A major theme which most carrier executives who spoke at MWC touched upon is the need for carriers to continue expanding revenue streams even though the number of subscribers has peaked. One of the most prominent strategies carriers are taking to address this challenge is expansion of the types of connected devices beyond the phone. Carriers are aggressively exploring how to turn cars and even household appliances into connected devices, enabling carriers to deliver more subscription services even if they cannot sell more phone service.

Forbes’s Maribel Lopez gave her take on MWC officially making the transition to become a premiere enterprise mobility show with the majority of companies actively working to improve or offer BYOD solutions. Samsung made waves on the security issue with KNOX, while VMWare demonstrated VMware Horizon Workspace, which allows employees to securely access corporate applications across mobile devices, PCs and virtual desktops.

TechHive offered its own impressions from MWC based mainly on the increased size of tablets and phones, particularly the 7-inch Fonepad, as well as some exciting products set to debut later this year like Atmel’s flexible touchscreen technology and the mobile version of the Ubuntu OS.

Strategic Analytics focused on the non-device news from this year’s conference. Specifically, Samsung’s alliance with VISA as well as Nokia’s HERE expanding to compete with WP8 devices and other operating systems. You can also check out this blog for detailed daily accounts of press conferences and other MWC events.

Nokia made a big impact at MWC this year by introducing their Nokia Lumia 520and 720, along with their Nokia 301 and 105. Nokia also brought news of the arrival of its HERE suite, which will be a great asset on any windows phone for everyday experiences such as finding that coffee shop where you are meeting your blind date. Nokia left MWC this year with a total of nine awards in hand! Some of those awards included Best Feature or Entry Level Phone: Nokia Asha 305, Best Budget Smartphone: Nokia Lumia 520 and Best Accessory: Nokia Wireless Car Holder.

Android Central gave its opinions on the Android related devices and technologies from the conference. Aside from the approving reviews of the new venue, Samsung impressed with the announcement of the Galaxy Note 8.0 and the Android-based TV streaming box, Samsung Homesync. However, the announcements Samsung didn’t make seemed to cause more of a stir.

CNET offered a video that gave an overview of the tablets announced at MWC, along with some hands-on demos of these tablets. There were so many announcements this year at MWC and there seemed to be a ton of Phablets and Tablets everywhere you turned. Chinese manufacturers, ZTE and Huawei, are looking like the next generation Samsung with the introduction of their tablets, ZTE Grand Memo and Huawei Ascend P2. Here is a closer look at the tablets and phablets announced this year. Which of these tablets would you choose?

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
• 8-inch display
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Wi-Fi only (in U.S.)
• Available spring 2013
• Price TBA
• ZTE Grand Memo
• Huge 5.7-inch display
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Quad-core snapdragon processor
• Price and availability TBA
• Huawei Ascend P2
• “World’s fastest 4G smartphone”
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• 4.7-inch display
• Quad-core processor
• 13 megapixel camera
• $525
• Available mid-2013
• HP Slate 7
• 7-inch android tablet
• Dual quad-core processor
• Front and rear camera
• $169
• Available April 2013
• LG Optimus Pro Phablet
• 5.5-inch display
• 4.1 Android Jelly Bean
• Quad-core processor
• 13 megapixel camera
• Price is dependent on the carrier
• Available spring 2013
• Asus Padfone Infinity
• 5-inch LTE smartphone that docks and can become a 10 inch android tablet
• 4.2 Android Jelly Bean
• Quad-core snapdragon processor
• $999 EU
• Available April 2013, but only in the UK

Intomobile offers several hands-on posts and reviews of the conference’s top products as well as detailed booth tours of the companies that unveiled them. Check out all these posts here.

On the YouTube channel, Mobile World Live, subscribers were given a simple 4:00 minute wrapup of this year’s conference. While there were multiple launches for new handsets and tablets, even bigger ideas seemed to be affordability of and accessibility to handsets for everyone.

What stood out most to you at MWC 2013?

Mobile money in 2012 and preview of 2013

It has many names and many elements, but in the end it all comes down to money, specifically “mobile money.” 2012 was a big year for mobile money, and one can only assume 2013 will be even bigger. As the mobile industry starts to count down the days to its biggest trade show of the year, Mobile World Congress, which for the fifth year features a Mobile Money Pavilion, we asked three executives about their view of the biggest development in mobile money in 2012, and what they anticipate will be the biggest development in 2013.

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Marc Gardner CEO of PayAnywhere

Siva Narendra CEO of Tyfone

Brad Singer Executive VP of PayOne

2012

Each of these executives agrees that 2012 was the watershed year in which mobile money started to become widespread and mainstream. 2012 saw several new entrants, a lot of news coverage on mobile money and forecasts for explosive growth. In August last year, industry analyst firm Juniper Research indicated the market is at the base of the hockey stick effect, forecasting that in 5 years, by the end of 2017, the mobile money market will be worth $1.3 trillion.

Marc Gardner, CEO of mobile point of sale (mPOS) company PayAnywhere says, “The acceptance of credit card payments on smart phones and tablets,” was the biggest development in mobile money in 2012. In fact, 2012 was the first year that credit card payments made on smartphones and tablets topped $10 billion (closer to $20 billion) in the United States alone.

Brad Singer, executive vice president of direct-to-bill mobile payments provider PayOne, saw an ecosystem solidifying around mobile money. Looking back at 2012, Singer notes how all the major players in the financial ecosystem finally recognized “the importance and potential of mobile money and all the surrounding 1:1 personalized mobile engagement value.” These players include the major financial institutions, wireless operators, payment providers, brick and mortar retailers, traditional and new networks, as well as major technology and Internet companies.

As further evidence that we may all look back at 2012 as mobile money’s tipping point, Siva Narendra, CEO of Tyfone, technology provider for mobile banking, NFC payments and secure identity, sees the rising tide of a power struggle between the various stakeholders in the payments ecosystem around mobile money. In the end, Narendra predicts that the banks will own the major piece of mobile payments citing as evidence developments in 2012 that included “congressional hearings on mobile payments essentially asking for new regulations if banks don’t own it, to Visa’s cease and desist letter to Google, and Verizon’s blocking of Google Wallet.”

2013

Looking ahead to what will happen this year, the three executives agreed that simplification would be a key theme, but they differ on when and how that will happen.

Singer predicts 2013 will be a year of both simplification and reality in mobile money. Says Singer, “This early phase of mobile money is too confusing and complicated, with overwhelming, conflicting and over-hyped choices for the average consumer.” Singer predicts that consolidation and simplification in the space is inevitable this year, and views the bridging of online and offline commerce as a must this year as well.

Narendra doesn’t see this market simplification happening until late this year. “More fragmentation and consumer confusion in the market on ways to use mobile for payments will dominate the market conditions in the first 3 quarters of 2012, followed by the last quarter spent realizing the need for consolidation and a unified consumer message.” Narendra predicts that it will be the banks and credit unions that will drive these important changes.

Gardner sees the credit card issuers driving the big changes in mobile money in 2013. His prediction on the big event in mobile money this year? “The massive marketing launch of Visa’s V.me digital wallet on smartphones.” Gardner further expects that in 2013 we will start to see tablets replace cash registers and traditional payment processing peripherals and terminals not just in small businesses that are more mobile in nature, but in mainstay retailers with brick and mortar locations. He believes the companies embracing this evolution will benefit from being a first mover in deploying what will be the mainstream way to provide point of sale solutions in the near future, which not only replace traditional systems, but also add new features and capabilities to enhance the customer experience and create new levels of business intelligence.

What do you predict will be the biggest development in mobile money in 2013? We invite you to share your forecasts for this year in our comments.

Last week we shared our observations of Chetan Sharma’s Mobile 2013 event which looked into what next year has in store for the mobile industry. The mobile space is hot and there are lots of people looking into their iCrystalBall apps to predict the future. We thought we’d share some of the articles that we believe have the most interesting predictions:

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• At GigaOM, Stacey Higginbotham examines an intensified “chip wars” as makers of mobile device processors turn the heat up on each other; Kevin Fitchard looks at how the wireless carriers are planning to address increased demand for mobile data; and Kevin Tofel looks at how Wi-Fi will improve for consumers, enterprises and operators. Both Kevins’ predictions should be welcome news to Mobility PR client WeFi.
• Echoing observations by Zaw Thet at Chetan Sharma’s Mobile 2013 event, Macworld reports that UK analsyst firm Juniper Research predicts smart glasses and wearables will be hot next year.
• Lookout Mobile Security has issued its mobile threat predictions for 2013, ranging from mobile malware plaguing an estimated 18 million Android users to businesses facing the challenge of empowering employees vs. protecting their networks.
• AdMaxim CEO Sultan Khan writes in ExchangeWire that multi-screen campaigns and rich media will dominate advertising in 2013.
• TechTarget agrees with Mobility PR client appMobi that the mobile Web and HTML5 will be a big factor in mobile in 2013.
• In Mobiledia, Margaret Rock sees 2013 welcoming the era of the “Smart Life” as every aspect of or lifestyle becomes more interconnected.

Some of our predictions

We spend all day involved in the trends and changes in mobile, and Mobility Public Relations has its own predictions for 2013. Here are a few:

• In 2013 we’ll see the rise of mobile apps that interact with other apps installed on your device. Mobile apps are function based, letting people perform narrowly defined and specific tasks like check the weather, find a local merchant or check your bank account balance. But new capabilities will allow apps to communicate with one another, in effect creating new application suites that add more power to each task.
• Emerging smartphone platforms like Firefox and Sailfish will embrace the mobile Web and HTML5. Because the availability of apps is a key factor that guides smartphone purchase decisions, HTML5 based apps will allow new smartphone platforms to more quickly level the playing field and make tens of thousands of apps available to their users. Existing smartphone platforms that may find themselves struggling, perhaps Windows Phone and BlackBerry, may also adopt this open Web approach, giving app stores their first significant threat.
• The battle for who owns the digital wallet will kick into high gear as banks, credit card issuers, carriers, smartphone manufacturers and OS makers all vie to control mobile commerce. Will consumers and regulators step in to find a neutral entity to control the wallet? One thing we think is sure, despite advances by Isis and the smartphone makers, consumers’ trust in their financial institutions will eclipse mobile finance efforts by carriers and smartphone OEMs.
• 2013 may become the year of M2M communications, and smartphones will become another sensor platform extending the range of M2M networks and applications.
• Mobile health will hit its tipping point in 2013 in the same way mobile banking did in 2012. With so many people using smartphones, hospital systems and physician networks will discover great inefficiencies by embracing already existing mobile health apps and inspiring the development of many more.

We welcome your comments on the predictions above and invite you to share your predictions for 2013.