Mobile World Congress 2012: The Big Consumer Themes and the Importance of B/OSS

This IDC Insights discusses the mobile industry's biggest annual gathering, Mobile World Congress, which took place February 27–March 1, 2012. After the show, the GSM Association announced a record attendance of 67,000 delegates, up 12% from attendance at the 2011 event.

As in previous years, IDC analysts attended the event in force. In addition, for the first time, IDC also hosted an informative brunch meeting for our clients at the Shoko restaurant on the day before MWC opened. Over sushi on the waterfront, senior IDC analysts laid out our views of the big themes and trends that are shaping the development of the mobile industry and identified some companies and other things we felt were particularly noteworthy to look out for at MWC. The IDC event was well attended and well received, and we were encouraged in our belief that the IDC pre-MWC brunch is worth adding to the list of Barcelona fixture events.

The value of Mobile World Congress lies in the diversity of what's on show, what gets talked about, and who's there talking about it. But as the biggest and most all-encompassing event of its kind, Mobile World Congress also offers a valuable opportunity to "take the temperature" of the mobile industry as a whole. In this Insight, we identify and discuss some common themes underlying the products, services, systems, and solutions at Mobile World Congress as well as those underlying just some of the many meetings and conversations that we had during our visit to the event.