More than 60,000 players in the telecommunications industry are gathered in Barcelona, Spain for the Mobile World Congress 2012 where technology companies will discuss future of communications and the networked society.
The annual conference, which kicked off on Monday, has attracted over 3000 chief executive officers from the telecommunications sector around the world and is expected to give a platform for players in the mobile industry to make announcements of their latest innovations. According to the proponents of the networked society more than 50 billion electronic devices such as fridges, television sets, washing machines, iron boxes, ovens among others will be connected to the internet by 2020. "We shall have machines talking to one another and all this will be made possible through internet connectivity.
"For example, an alarm clock and the lighting system can be connected in such a way that when the alarm goes, the lights automatically come on," Mr Steven Shovel, an exhibitor from Ericsson, a network infrastructure manufacturer told the Nation at the sidelines of the conference. Ericsson plans to launch new products during the conference around the areas of Mobile broadband, operation and business Support systems. Other participants showcasing the latest innovations include GSMA, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony among other gadget makers. Network security, cloud computing and mobile money transfer will also be discussed in light of how they fit into the world of connectivity.
Proponents of the networked society say gadgets which won't have capability for internet connection at the turn of this century will be seen as 'dead' items and difficult to use. Already manufactures of electronic gadgets and mobile network infrastructure developers attending the conference are formulating acceptable standards that will guide this internet revolution. The conference will end on March 1. According to industry data, over 400 million smartphones will be sold this year and by 2016, over 4 billion others will be deployed. Players in the mobile industry are also discussing innovations around the smartphones and tablets as well as how to develop gadgets that can be accessible to price sensitive gadgets for markets such as Africa.
By PAUL WAFULA, pwafula@ke.nationmedia.com IN BARCELONA, SPAIN
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