Mobile Trends from Barcelona
Software and services will be the focus of the year's biggest conference dedicated to mobile technology. The Mobile World Congress convenes in Barcelona with the industry undergoing negative growth.
The rising stars of the industry are tipped to be in areas surrounding mobile broadband and applications for devices such as cloud computing, and there will also be announcements of new handsets and mobile gadgets.
The economic downturn is likely to be a dominant theme of discussion. But the sense of a downturn for the mobile industry was made more tangible when Nokia - the leader among handset manufacturers - recently announced it foresaw a 10% fall in mobile phone sales for the coming year.
But that is not to say that the industry as a whole will suffer. Even if fewer people are buying handsets, analysts say the market for software and services based on mobile devices may be recession-proof.
The number of attendees at this year's congress is down by 10%, but Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer for the GSM Association - the umbrella organisation representing the mobile communications industry worldwide that hosts the Congress - remains hopeful.
Mr O'Hara points to the spectacular growth of mobile broadband as a sign that parts of the industry have no cause for concern.
"We are going to hear a lot of discussion about how to find your way out of an economic crisis," Mr O'Hara told BBC News. "But I think you are going to hear that this isn't an industry looking for bailouts, it's an industry ready to invest.
Source : BBC Technology