This week has seen lots of market data, especially in MDM, as analysts frantically worked on Q4 data and the 2017 results. I was doing the same as we hurried to finalise the Q4 data. We’ve also been working on the ISE report for LDM, which should be available around the middle of next week. Just to keep us occupied, we have also been dealing with requests for meetings at MWC.
MWC is a strange show. One of my favourite questions to ask people who haven’t been, is to ask them if they can guess the cost of a ticket to ‘walk the floor’ at the show. Few get near. It’s €799. If you want to attend conference sessions, it costs ‘real money’. €799 is a lot of money, so the quality of visitors on the show floor is very high. It also makes it a nightmare to try to get press credentials as the organisers get a €799 reward each time they find a flaw in the application! Fortunately, I think I’ve worked out how to do it – it only took a short argument this year!
Arguably the most important smartphone brand, Apple, is, of course, not present and the number of significant smartphone releases is small. Most years Samsung releases its flagship device at the event and we expect that this year and Sony will also have a new top of the range device. So, there’s not that much product news, and last year the biggest crowds on day one were for the retro Nokia device that was being shown! The show covers the whole of the mobile world, including infrastructure, so if you know the TV shows, it’s a bit like a combination of IFA and IBC or CES and NAB. Several halls just won’t be interesting to us as they will be about transmission systems and billing.
On the other hand, it’s usually a good place to spend time with the supply chain as there are usually fewer clients and less interest from the media than at, for example, CES. One that always frustrates us at MWC is Samsung Display, which is usually only showing ‘secret’ products to its OEM customers. We go by each year and double check, but have never been let into the ‘inner sanctum’.
As with CES, this year I expect to see much more related to Automotive at the show. MWC was the first show that we interviewed Harman, a couple of years ago, but the very, very rapid development of autonomous cars is going to see huge requirements for communications and data communication, which will feed the impetus to develop 5G, which I expect to see ‘everywhere’ in Barcelona. I’m not expecting to see a lot of innovation in displays at the event, but I can hope! It should be a good chance to catch up with component suppliers such as Tianma and Qualcomm. There are also some unexpected novelties most years, especially in small companies from Asia.
As well as the main show, there is a fascinating section called 4YFN (which stands for Four Years from Now) and that has lots of start ups, university projects and small companies and is like the Eureka Park at CES. It’s always interesting to me, so I aim to get down there.
If you will be there with something that might be interesting to other readers, let me know and I’ll try to get by!
Bob
4YFN is a good place to look for start-ups
