Just about back to normal after spending a few days at the Mobile World Congress last week. Had never been before, so it was great to be there (thanks to Helene and Grace at Nubiq). My initial reaction after I got over the size of the event itself, was to be amazed by the sheer scale of the Mobile Industry, an industry that to all intents and purposes did not really exist 15 years ago! To see over 1300 exhibitors, 80,000 attendees at a show for an industry only 15 years old, and to realise the extent of the mobile ecosystem was breathtaking! Who knows what shows, expo’s or congress’ they’ll be holding in 15 years from now for an industry we’ve not yet woken up to (social networks anyone?)
So, about the show itself? Firstly, and others have said it already (Pat Phelan, Niall Larkin), hats off to Enterprise Ireland for their stand. Amongst the other “Nation” stands (UK, Canada, Belgium etc) it really trounced them on many levels - great location, good design, use of space and above all, an interesting set of companies exhibiting (see http://www.3gsmireland.com for a full list). Oh, and they had a free bar too - always helps 
The folks from Sentry Wireless (www.sentrywireless.com) - Ciaran, Matt & Sharon, were using MobaNode’s BlueTooth Access Point to deliver a short video demoing their software “Kidsafe”. I was delighted that they used my delivery platform and am grateful to them for the opportunity - thanks guys. I got some really good feedback from it (and hopefully contacts and business!)
Outside of the Irish companies, I was slightly underwhelmed by the lack of true innovation at the show. The main halls were dominated by the big players intent on out-doing each other’s stands and the only real hall that showed promise was Hall 7 - the infamous “content” hall (though tamed down this year I hear!). Here there was companies such as Taptu (Hi Vero - another cool company with a bar instead of Demo space), Vringo (Video Ringtones) and Yahoo (cool stuff, even cooler ice cream), Zyb (online contacts & social networking - crap name) and Gypsii (mobile social networking - not the best name either, esp in Ireland “hey, let’s connect on Gypsii!”). However I was disappointed to see that there were tons of people in the Mobile Portal space and mobile web design - how long are we going to have the “web” and the “mobile web” battle? Converge now please, ala iPhone!
Where were the Voip companies? Where was Apple? Where was Google Android (ok - it was on the Texas Instruments stand), where were the disruptor’s (ala MaxRoam - yes I know you were there Pat, but not exhibiting), the innovators, the hungry start-ups? Is there another World Conference for them? If so, book me a place…
Outside of the congress there was plenty to do and see with many events organised around various spots in the beautiful (but dodgy late at night!) city of Barcelona. Mobile Sunday was on in a Bar called Belchica, which kind of became the place to drop into if your were anywhere else over the few days. Indeed, the Irish contingent ended up gate crashing the Swedish Beers party there after Pat Phelan’s generous Maxroam party on the Tuesday night where I won a Cubic Telecom GSM and Wifi phone - thanks Pat.
Hasta luego Barcelona - who knows, perhaps I’ll be on the EI stand next year, or better still, in Hall 7 on a MobaNode stand!
