March 4, 2014

As the tail-end of February rolled around, there were only two things I felt comfortable saying about “5G” with any certainty:

1. Given South Korea’s penchant for using the international event to showcase technological wonders, Pyeongchang would likely be hosting 5G demos, along with the next Winter Olympics four years from now.

2. In the meantime, the 2014 edition of Mobile Word Congress would include its fair share of 5G messaging and positioning.

Coming out of MWC 2014, then, it’s worth reflecting on whether or not I can say much more.

The answer is: yes, but just barely. Continue reading “MWC 2014: 5G – More Relevant Today Than You Might Think” →

Wednesday afternoon at this year’s Mobile World Congress, IBM CEO Virginia Rometty presented a keynote address. It was a first for IBM and Mobile World Congress. I was lucky enough to be a part of the GSMA’s video review, giving some predictions on what she might say and then grading her performance. I wasn’t alone, and in the pre-keynote discussion, one of the other panelists said he’d hoped she would focus on service provider dynamics since MWC is a “telco show.” My big hope, I chimed in, was that she’d talk about IBM’s Watson work (she did), but the notion of MWC as a “telco show” stuck with me. More precisely, it struck me as fundamentally incorrect. Continue reading “MWC 2014: Don’t Call It a Telco Show!” →