The Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest exhibition for the wireless industry. Vendors of tablets, smartphones and other devices showcase their newest product that have been eagerly anticipated by consumers. But there’s even more. Mobile gaming app and related mobile marketing companies are also in attendance to court businesses. Do you play the Facebook casual game “What a Stupid Pigeon”? Well, the French company, Adictiz, along with 1200 other app developers will be swapping amusing ideas.
1.The Mobile World Congress used to be called 3 GSM World
Before 2006, the Mobile World Congress was called 3 GSM World and the event was held in Cannes. In 2013, Mobile World Congress will be held in Barcelona from February 25th to 28th. More than 70,000 attendees are expected.
2. Nokia won an award for having Best Windows Phone at MWC 2012
At the Mobile World Congress 2012, Nokia Lumia 610 won as Best Windows Phone. At the time of the award, CNET praised Nokia for its intuitive Windows interface and called Android’s operating system “befuddling”.
3. LG Optimus L Series II L7 model will arrive in Russia first
LG announced they will be revealing the L-series at the Mobile World Conference. The L series includes L7 II, L5 II and L3 II. Russia will be the first, in the world, to receive one of these three second generation smartphones by LG. Expect the L7 to have the capacity to hold two SIM cards. This means you won’t have to carry two phones. According to Softpedia, those on the ground at MWC, might hear about the availability and pricing of the mid-range Android phones.
4. Nokia’s mystery phone will look like a blend of the Lumia 920 and 822
Don’t overlook the Nokia Lumia 920 ad playing in the Netherlands. You catch a preview of Nokia’s mystery smartphone in the hands of the protagonist’s blonde crush. The mystery phone has some elements of the 822 but its tapered body and camera belly button is different. Attendees at the MWC will be able to witness if Nokia’s mystery phone packs a wallop and wins an award for high performance at a value.
5. Samsung will reveal a Tizen-powered smartphone
Samsung is collaborating with NTT DoCoMo to create a new side project unrelated to Google. Rumor has it that this handset uses an open-source Tizen operating system. Samsung plans to launch the new Tizen powered device at MWC 2013. Can a smartphone like this leap over the barrier to entry and jostle for its own place when Android and iOS are the big dogs? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
6. You will need to wait until May for Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie
As you might imagine, Google France will not be holding an Android booth at the Mobile World Congress. Instead Google will reveal its Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie in May at its self-sponsored Google I/O event.
6. Galaxy Note 8.0 will be present but Galaxy S4 will be absent
According to The Droid Guy, Samsung decided that its Galaxy S4 will have its own debut party. CNET’s Scott Webster writes that Galaxy S4 will have a gesture monitor so that the screen will be touchless. However, Galaxy Note 8 will be at the congress and it is rumored to be priced for less than $300.
7. Apple will steal the show with some cool invite equivalent to a better afterparty.
Apple’s not going to let attendees forget who is numero uno in America. In previous years, Apple handed out invites on the second day of Mobile World Congress to its own sponsored exhibition. Apple never quits.
8.Intel will show off dual-core Atom smartphone chips at MWC 2013
According to the Verge, a sneak peek of the Atom Z2580 was seen in the Lenovo K900 at this years CES. With the Atom Z2580 you can expect a more powerful performance than the previous Atom, in its new dual-core processor.
9. Attendees will get to see the ZTE Firefox OS Phone
(Photo Credit: Gizmorati)
ZTE recently announced they will be unveiling the ZTE Grand Memo, and a certain ZTE device thats in a relationship with Mozilla. Our best guess is that ZTE will launch the ZTE Firefox OS Smartphone.
10. Barcelona nightlife is beckoning
AskMen called the MWC host city of Barcelona “Catalonia’s bastion of urban cool.” What will be the most popular nightlife hotspot frequented by the 1500 exhibitors during the congress? Will makers of app-makers of Space Dog be dancing the night away to electro at Razzmatazz? We’ll just have to wait for the juicy gossip on Dlisted.