Let us walk you through the MWC 2017 (in less than 4 minutes – it’s worth every second)
Mobile World Congress (MWC) has evolved as a major go-to-event for the mobile industry. It is much more than an expo. It is a meeting point of business leaders from mobile industry, tech-geeks, enthusiasts, startups and other eco system players. It has amazing product launches that make waves around the world. It has thought-provoking
keynote and panel sessions, and last but not the least – a peek into the future through 4YFN (4-years-from-now) expo and innovative exhibits.
In recent years, we have seen an exponential increase in business executives from totally unrelated business
domains, which is a clear indication on the impact of digital on every business, and mobile’s leading role in the same.
As a premium mobile technology company, MWC finds a permanent place in our annual calendar. This year we saw
four major trends that are worth thinking through:
And, not to forget the media stunt pulled by Nokia, by bringing back a new colorful avatar of Nokia 3310,
which was its iconic phone in early 2000. It was great fun, generated a lot of interest on social media, got Nokia a brand boost – but that was the end of its impact, to be honest.
VR/AR is for real, and has application.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) seems to be coming of age.We now see widespread adoption,piped up due to the major sale of VR headsets last Christmas. Every gadget manufacturer – Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Nokia, etc. have their own headset to cash in the demand of this new gadget.
We strongly believe that VR and AR will continue to gain traction with more applications and commercially
feasible use cases emerging at every corner. Bharat Berlia, CIO of Indus Net Technologies states – “Certain industries like training and education, real estate and complex engineering have gained massively from using VR and AR. VR can provide a real world interface, and AR can set the context.” He further cites the example of a major engineering company which uses VR to conduct training on airline engine maintenance across their workshops around the world, without getting into logistics nightmare.
VR and AR are also finding major application in advertising and communication. Did you know a 360-degree
immersive video advertisement of Hong Kong Airlines was 35x more effective than the same advertisement in 2D format?
The increasing importance of immersive VR videos was one of the most-discussed topics at MWC. Brands and advertisers will soon be rushing to create VR content driven by emotional storytelling, to engage better with their target audience.Indus Net Technologies also develops VR and AR content and applications, including mobile games; for its global clientele.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay
Artificial Intelligence (AI) finally seems to be stepping out of the academia and making its impact felt in
the hyper-competitive commercial world of digital. And, it has moved at a faster speed than we imagined even few years back. We have near perfect voice-to-text conversion, which might eventually change the way we interact
with computer or computer driven systems.
Our image recognition is improving beyond believe, and it is visible in form of the autonomous car madness, that we see and hear everyday. Robocar, a self-driving electric racing car using Artificial Intelligence (AI), manufactured by Roborace, drew a lot of attention when it was launched at MWC this year.
LINE also announced that it is developing an AI digital assistant, called Clova. Olay also unveiled an AI-powered selfie skincare app, which will help women with skin problems. Yes, it goes without saying that AI has taken the global tech community by storm.
According to Global Market Insights, the global AI market is likely to grow nearly 81% compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) from 2016 to 2024.
Interestingly, Abhishek Rungta, CEO, who juggles multiple responsibilities has been using bots, powered by AI to
streamline his daily plans. He is enamoured by Eva bot, which helps him in sending gifts to his business clients. Abhishek also uses Amy Ingram, a bot, to schedule his meetings. “This saves time and helps me to organize my day
better.”- admits Abhishek.
Innovation Multiplier through SDKs
We also met several startups and businesses who are doing innovative stuff, and are letting you build those
innovations within your business app through their SDKs and APIs, which are licensed on pay-per-use or pay-per-build. The range of innovation is mind boggling, starting from:
The list is endless. This area will become extremely busy in years to come and innovation from the smallest
companies will find it way to the largest corporation through such an ecosystem.
5G is round the corner
Though still in discovery mode, and mostly in labs, 5G is being talked about a lot. 5G is expected to change
the way mobile works and how it is used. The impact is far beyond speeds,higher throughput or greater energy efficiency. The applications that will evolve with connected societies will be far more critical – be it sending
senses across the network, app as a service, friction-less shopping experience, or driverless vehicles, or banking for the unbanked.
Technology leaders from across the value chain have been hard at work to develop 5G concepts and prototype
use-cases, many of which will serve as the backbone of modern 5G networks. It was a great experience to watch some of the research demos and learn about the use cases.
And, last but not the least, we saw and experienced those phones which we will see in commonplace in next few
months and years. There were lots of interesting product launches, but we were so overwhelmed by the above areas, that we did not really feel like checking out the phones and devices! May be, next time!
Did you keep a track of MWC 2017? If yes, share your thoughts with us which technological innovation blew
your mind or which gadget you want to get your hands on.
