Android dominates attention at Mobile World Congress

Samsung - a Google Android partner

Guest Post from sister site: Pocketinfo.net

The Mobile World Congress  is an annual event held in Barcelona widely recognised as the must-attend event for those that count  in the mobile industry. 



Corporations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to show off their technology and position their marketing message for the year ahead.
Exhibitors invite customers to the event and if you want to attend without an invite then the  cheapest ticket is about  €600.00 (more that the annual income of many African people) .They charge this amount to keep undesirables out of the congress and in Barcelona there would be plenty sweeping into the event if it was more affordably priced.

Nokia made many of the news feeds in the early part of the week through its announcement about its strategic alliance with  Microsoft Windows for its mobile O/S. (the ins and outs of that announcement won't be discussed in detail here but it is a significant and potentially fatal move for the Finnish mobile maker). Alcatel Lucent had a complete hall to itself (which must have cost upward of US $3 Million) a black and purple ambiance hall, somewhat isolated from the other shared halls with a bored looking app engineer manning each bland product station.

Upstairs on the Android stand at MWC2011

Inside the other halls it was all about a little green droid which definitely stole the show in 2011.


Google's marketing strategy for the week  was clever - get a logo and a bunch of designers (like Andrew Bell at  Dead Zebra) to play around with it .Manufacture some relatively cheap  collectible items and create a frenzy amongst the Android brethren  visiting the congress. Give some of the same items to Android O/S partners  around the halls and release the items over the course of the week -  result an android pin frenzy amongst visitors and exhibitors.

The Android Mini Collectibles and pins

The success of making everyone Android aware was so good that by the end of the week many executives from rival companies were shaking their heads in disbelief and putting signs up on their stands 'sorry we don't have pins' (Samsung Stand). or 'Noooooo pins ' as placed on the Huawei stand'. Even today at the close of the 4 day show there were still hundreds of  people crowding the Android stand in anticipation of more promotional material. One US executive in his late 40's had collected all but 4 of the 86 pins released by Google during the course of the week and at 3.20 today there was a stampede on the main counter when they opened boxes of the mini collectible series.

Dead Zebra designed some of the material

The downside was apart from the people manning the application booths on the ground floor most of the other Google stand staff were one trick ponies who could only help with their pre-ordained task - making a smoothie or helping you to design your own Android anime! - Q : errr so what about collaborating in Asia Pacific - A: so what color do you want to draw on your Android boxer shorts?


My favourite picture was the one below of the guys manning the adjacent 'ghost town like' NEC stand whilst the hordes invaded with regular frequency the Google Oasis.

NEC Exec's not impressed by the Android hordes!

 As far as the success of the show goes ....as every good salesperson knows - its in the follow up after-wards that counts. See you in 2012 - possibly in Amsterdam or Rome is the whisper!

Editor's View - Android blitzed the huge hall 8 at the MWC and I chuckled at the disdain and frustration of the 'old school' exhibitors. (particularly NEC , Samsung and Huawei) .The "pin fever" they created on their partner stands may be a stunt that 'Android Partners' don't want to be a part of again in future shows. Watch out for eBay particularly for the Dead Zebra designed Android collectibles.