MWC: Top 10 mobile industry insights from Barcelona bash
The V3 team reflects on the state of the mobile market after another packed trade show
Mobile World Congress (MWC) has been and gone, giving the mobile community a chance to come together and show off their latest products in Barcelona, while no doubt enjoying the odd tapas or two.
We here at V3 were at the show to see what was announced, grabbing hands-on with numerous devices that were unveiled and hearing what those on stage had to say about their company's plans and their future-gazing for the mobile market.
Now, having returning home and enjoyed some hearty British food again, the V3 team sat down to discuss the key announcements and insights from the show that we think will have an impact on the market in the months ahead.
10. Nokia is seeking salvation in the mid-market
Nokia used to rule the roost in the smartphone world but these days it has to watch as its rivals running Android, like Samsung, and Apple with its iPhone, dominate the market. However, the firm has a plan to fight back.
With one billion people still to come online with smartphone the firm has moved to flood this market with cheap, but high-quality devices, such as the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720, both unveiled at MWC this year.
While they may be budget smartphones, costing around £150, there's nothing budget about their capabilities, and we were left impressed by their speed and features when we had a play on the show floor.
Certainly, with Apple refusing to go anywhere near the mid and low tier markets, and Samsung preferring to concentrate at the high end, this strategy could work for Nokia.
MWC: Top 10 mobile industry insights from Barcelona bash
The V3 team reflects on the state of the mobile market after another packed trade show
9. HP is open to Google's software charms
HP has always been a Windows company, churning out endless variations on the PC and laptop that faithfully ran Microsoft's operating system. However, the firm appears to be broadening its horizons, as it throws its lot in with Google and Android.
Unveiled at MWC, the Slate 7 is a near-identical device to the Asus-built Nexus 7 tablet unveiled by Google last year, and sees HP getting back into the tablet game after its disastrous foray with its webOS devices unveiled in 2011.
The device has a nippy 1.6GHz ARM dual-core processor, a 3MP rear-facing and 0.3MP front-facing camera and even integrated Beats Audio technology to rival HTC.
The launch of the device follows on from a Chromebook by HP, suggesting it doesn't have upmost faith in Windows 8 and is keen to make sure it doesn't get trapped working on a platform no-one ends up buying.
8. Car tech wants a slice of the mobile market
As we reported at the start of the year, car technology is on the rise, as a host of innovations come to the industry that has for so long stagnated. However, manufacturers are not standing still, and Ford was one of those to show its keen to innovate, announcing a new partnership with Spotify.
The integration of its Applink service will allow drivers to access songs and playlists using voice commands, the firm claimed, such as "shuffle", "repeat", "star/unstar track", "choose playlist" and "play music".
This is great because it will not only mean you can remove the clutter of endless CD cases strewn around your car, but you can look completely mad as you're seen bellowing at your car, 'I was shouting at another driver not asking for a Kylie Minogue song!'.
MWC: Top 10 mobile industry insights from Barcelona bash
The V3 team reflects on the state of the mobile market after another packed trade show
7. Huawei is aiming for the top with superfast Ascend P2
Chinese phone maker Huawei makes no qualms about the fact that it wants to dominate the smartphone market and it used MWC to underline this intent yet again.
Unveiled on day one of this year's MWC, the Ascend P2 packs a super-fast 1.5GHz quad-core chipset, and is capable of reaching LTE speeds of 150Mbit/s. Like Google's Nexus 4, the phone will feature an affordable price-tag too, and is set to hit the UK for less than £300.
While it might struggle to woo those looking eyeing up the latest Samsung or HTC flagship, it may just manage to tempt speed freaks after an affordable device helping it cement its number three spot in the market, according to some recent analyst reports
6. Rugged phones are getting smart
Both Samsung and Caterpillar used this year's Mobile World Congress to show off their latest rugged devices - the Galaxy Xcover 2 and the Cat B15, respectively.
While most rugged devices have fairly ugly designs and sluggish proprietary operating systems that seems tobe changing.
Both of the devices arrived running Google's Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, equipping the tough phones with all of the features you'll find on the likes of the Google Nexus 4.
They also both come with a dual-core processor under the hood and built-in cameras, proving that the days of frustrating, dumb rugged phones are well and truly behind us.
5. Sony nailed it with the Xperia Z Tablet
It's no secret that we were only lukewarm on Sony's flagship Xperia Z smartphone. For this reason, when we got our mitts on the firm's new Xperia Tablet Z on the MWC showroom floor, we were gobsmacked by how much we really liked it.
For a start the tablet looks great, featuring the same distinctive omnibalance design as the Z smartphone. It's also the thinnest in the world measuring in at a tiny 6.9mm and weighing 495g - making it nearly 100g lighter than most other 10in tablets.
For remote workers, it also has the benefit of being IP57 certified. This means it is scratch, dust and even water resistant. Handy for those tough British summers.
Add to this its super powerful quad-core processor and slick 10.1-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel LCD screen and all in all Sony may have finally nailed it with the Xperia Tablet Z.
MWC: Top 10 mobile industry insights from Barcelona bash
The V3 team reflects on the state of the mobile market after another packed trade show
4. Android security services have BlackBerry scared
One of the few issues that has held back the otherwise relentless rise of the Android operating system has been security. The open nature of the platform means there are numerous concerns with the platform, with vulnerabilities and malicious apps plaguing the device with regularity.
However, there have been moves to try and quell these fears, and Mobile World Congress saw these gather pace. Samsung, the largest Android partner, used the event to unveil its improved security service for the platform, called Knox, that offers a partition for the device between work and play.
This followed on from an announcement by General Dynanics that it was also launching devices secured for enterprise use. The rise of offerings prompted BlackBerry to issue a response, dismissing these challengers and claiming only it can offer true enterprise security.
5. Phones are getting bigger - again
For years now phones have been getting bigger. This started with the arrival of the first 5.3in Samsung Galaxy Note, which was one of the first devices to bring plus-sized screens to the mass market.
Since then things have started to get downright silly with phone manufacturers creating bigger and bigger handsets.
However, it was at MWC 2013 that phone makers pushed it the limit, with Asus and Samsung unveiling their Fonepad and Galaxy Note 8.1 tablet/phones.
The Galaxy Note 8.1 and Fonepad are the first 7in-plus devices actually able to work as fully functioning smartphones.
While the two look good as tablets, we're not sure we'd want to use them as a phone - after all we look silly enough holding a 5in device to our face, let alone a 7in one - but we're sure some will have no issues.
MWC: Top 10 mobile industry insights from Barcelona bash
The V3 team reflects on the state of the mobile market after another packed trade show
2. Firefox OS was the star of the show
Mozilla's Firefox OS was the star of the show and the number of firms lining up to back it suggests it could have an impact when it comes to market later this year.
Unveiled in 2012, the OS is based on the HTML5 coding language, meaning apps running on it should be device and ecosystem agnostic.
Mozilla claims this is an intentional move designed to end Google and Apple's vice-like grip on the mobile internet.
Clearly the idea has proved a popular one, with numerous phone makers and network carriers signing up to build and carry Firefox OS come its release later this year.
On the device front, Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel One Touch and LG have all confirmed plans to create low-end Firefox phones. Seventeen of the world's biggest network carriers are also confirmed to carry the devices.
For this reason, while we doubt the OS will topple Apple or Google anytime soon, we are pretty confident it will carve its own small slice of the smartphone market.
1. Mobile World Congress is changing, maybe for the better
For some time now MWC's character has been changing. This is because larger companies are increasingly deciding to avoid competing for the limelight in the hustle and bustle of a trade show and instead choose to host their own unique events.
The trend was started by Apple, which has never deigned to appear at MWC, and prefers its own high-profile, invite-only iPhone and iPad launch events.
Following Apple's success with the tactic, Android heavyweights Samsung and HTC have followed suit. This meant that HTC unveiled its new flagship One smartphone several weeks before MWC and Samsung is launching the Galaxy S4 in New York several weeks later in March.
Because of this, unlike previous years, MWC 2013 didn't have one standout flagship handset that stole the show.
While some will be disappointed with this development, we think it was actually a positive. This is because the lack of one key player at the show has opened it up for all to grab some headlines.
This has meant some pretty interesting products got attention they may otherwise have missed out on in noise made by the larger firms.
These included the CAT B15 rugged phone, Firefox OS and an Ubuntu touch tablet.
For this reason we hope that in the future, even if the big players continue to disappear from MWC, the event will continue as a platform for smaller, innovative firms to showcase their wares on the world stage.