At MassTLC’s
recent Mobile World Congress Debrief on March 7, 2014, an audience of mobile
app developers, infrastructure providers, investors and analysts gathered to
hear our panel discuss their observations from the 2014 Mobile World Congress
(MWC). Nitzan
Shaer, Managing Partner at High Start Group, moderated the panel, which
included:
recent Mobile World Congress Debrief on March 7, 2014, an audience of mobile
app developers, infrastructure providers, investors and analysts gathered to
hear our panel discuss their observations from the 2014 Mobile World Congress
(MWC). Nitzan
Shaer, Managing Partner at High Start Group, moderated the panel, which
included:
- Gene Dolgin, Senior Manager, Endeavour Partners
- Meredith Flynn-Ripley, CEO, Heywire
- Mads Lillelund, VP and GM,
Bluesocket Business Group, ADTRAN - Victor Milligan, CMO, Nexage
- Stuart Taylor, Managing Director,
Service Provider Transformation Group, Cisco
All of
the panelists agreed that applications have now taken center stage at MWC. Carriers have seen their influence at the
event decline and are now trying to attract attention to their services. Among the big ideas that the panelist took
away from MWC are:
the panelists agreed that applications have now taken center stage at MWC. Carriers have seen their influence at the
event decline and are now trying to attract attention to their services. Among the big ideas that the panelist took
away from MWC are:
- There
is a widening divide between carriers and applications developers - Carriers
are trying to sell services now and are no longer the center of the mobile
universe - Every
player on the periphery of mobile is struggling to understand the apps world - Europe,
Asia and to a lesser extent the U.S. are working on city-wide mobile
deployments (smart cities) - Ancillary
spaces like healthcare are getting pulled into mobile but do not understand it - Big
device makers are getting close to or surpassing the smaller plays in terms of
UX/user design
Other
observations from our panelists included:
observations from our panelists included:
- GPS-driven apps, especially in the
healthcare/exercise space, were big at MWC - IoT is finally real, after years of buzz about
it; this is related to the smart cities trend - A large
number of cars were present at the
show, highlighting the integration of mobile apps in a traditional heavy
manufacturing industry - M2M, even more than wearables, is experiencing the
fastest growth. Healthcare and
automotive are two verticals that are driving M2M - Security was much discussed at MWC
- Data
analytics companies had a limited presence at the conference, but advertising was center stage
Mobile in the enterprise was also discussed. The panelists felt that getting the right
apps and content under the enterprise’s control was the biggest issue for the
enterprise. There was a belief that the
mobile enterprise strategy is moving beyond IT’s control. Hyper-adoption by consumers is impacting
enterprises as workers bring their devices and apps into the workplace. The upside for the enterprise is that costs
get passed onto employees who pay for their own devices and apps, and
productivity increases as employees tend to work more hours because they are
always connected.
apps and content under the enterprise’s control was the biggest issue for the
enterprise. There was a belief that the
mobile enterprise strategy is moving beyond IT’s control. Hyper-adoption by consumers is impacting
enterprises as workers bring their devices and apps into the workplace. The upside for the enterprise is that costs
get passed onto employees who pay for their own devices and apps, and
productivity increases as employees tend to work more hours because they are
always connected.
When
asked for predictions about what will be big at 2015’s MWC, our panelists had a range of answers, including:
asked for predictions about what will be big at 2015’s MWC, our panelists had a range of answers, including:
- Mobile
payments - Cars/wearables
- Virtualization/software
defined network solutions - In-home
mobile apps - 5G
- Monetization
of apps independent of carriers - Use of
data intelligence - Apps
mirroring how users act and live.
Thanks to everyone that joined us, to our moderator and
panelists and to the Workbar team for hosting us.
Please feel free to share your observations about MWC or mobile
trends in the comments section.
panelists and to the Workbar team for hosting us.
Please feel free to share your observations about MWC or mobile
trends in the comments section.
