The coolest stuff coming from Mobile World Congress
Cool new Android phones, more Internet of Things things, top-draw tech executives—the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region turns into the world’s mobile capital starting this weekend, with the annual Mobile World Congress tech conference.
Some 100,000 industry professionals and journalists are invading this cosmopolitan city to see these new product launches, do business, and weigh in on topics ranging from speedy next generation “5G” networks to artificial intelligence.
Just about every important company in the business is here in some capacity, though some—I’m guessing you’re among them, Apple—like to keep their presence quiet.
I’m here too. Here’s how my next several days shake out.
Saturday
No rest for the weary overnight U.S. traveler, but I have enough internal bandwidth to pick up my MWC press badge at the airport. It was a fast and smooth process, but most of the crowds don’t arrive until Sunday.
On Saturday evening, I attend my first press event of the conference, put on by TCL Communication Technology Holding, which now has the dubious task of turning around the fortunes of BlackBerry hardware. The signature product will be an Android smartphone with the kind of Qwerty keyboard that BlackBerry loyalists loved back in the day. I got an early peek at CES at the phone, which was then identified by codename Mercury. Saturday night we presumably get an official name, pricing, specs and so on.
Sunday
BlackBerry may have kicked things off, but Sunday is the big product launch day. I begin with an LG Electronics press event, during which the Korean company is expected to spill the beans on the G6 smartphone it has teased.
There are also press events for Huawei, Motorola, and another once dominant company hoping it can regain past glory, Nokia, whose phones are now under the auspices of the Finnish outfit HMD Global. Look for a phone that brings to mind the popular pre-iPhone era Nokia 3310.
The day ends with a press conference from Samsung, presumably to hear about new tablets (yes, tablets). What everyone really wants to hear about, though, is the Galaxy S8 smartphone, but Samsung has made it clear that that phone isn’t launching in Barcelona. Still, we may hear something.
Monday
Monday is officially the first day of the show. The opening “Next Element” keynote in the morning features CEOs from global operators, most notably SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. SoftBank owns Sprint so I want to hear if Son addresses the recent Reuters report that T-Mobile-Sprint merger talks might resume.
Otherwise Son and his counterparts from KT, Telefonica, and Bharti Enterprises are expected to discuss topics of the day, including 5G, virtual reality, 4K video consumption, IOT and more.
The primetime Monday evening speaker is Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Netflix has made a big push in mobile and a big push internationally, though it hasn’t been able to crack the Chinese market.
In between: I’ll be patrolling the halls of the Fira Gran Via conference facility, and, time permitting, attend a session on connected vehicles.
One booth I’m eager to check out is the Chinese company ZTE—all signs are pointing to it unleashing the “Gigabit Phone,” so named because of the blistering download speeds it can theoretically handle. It too has been teased.
Tuesday
More meetings, more exploration. I’m also planning to attend a session on 5G, with, among others, new Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai.
Wednesday
Much the same. Meetings. Booth visits. Catchup.
Thursday
The flight home.
Stick with USA TODAY Tech for MWC coverage. And follow me on Twitter@edbaig.