A recap of the key highlights, trends and announcements.

MWC 2014

Index

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Introduction

Mark Zuckerberg & internet access for all

Key device announcements: Samsung

Key device announcements: Nokia

Wearables and IoT

Beacons & mobile payments

Mobile advertising 2.0

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IntroductionWith more than 85,000 visitors from 201 countries, the

2014 Mobile World Congress set a new record for the

mobile industry’s premier event.

More than 1,800 exhibiting companies showcased cutting-

edge products and services across 98,000 square metres

of exhibition and hospitality space, spread over 8 halls.

Upwards of 3,800 international media and industry

analysts also attended the event reporting on key industry

announcements.

This year, the Mobile World Congress expanded to include a

number of partner-led events at Fira Montjuïc (the previous

MWC location in Barcelona), drawing more than 5,000

attendees.

Events hosted included mPowered Industries, EyeforTravel,

Mobile Media Summit, the WIPJam and GSMA DEVCON

and HACKATHON, as well as 4 Years From Now (4YFN), a

mobile entrepreneurship and innovation event created by

Mobile World Capital.3

Mark Zuckerberg used his keynote to communicate Facebook’s

vision to connect the entire planet through the Internet.org

initiative. He also discussed the potential with Whatsapp to

disrupt mobile communication including messaging and voice to

be integrated. Zuckerberg said: “WhatsApp is a great fit for us.

Already half a billion people use it for messaging. It’s the most

engaging app we’ve ever seen exist on mobile by far. About

70% of people who use WhatsApp, use it every day, which kind

of blows away everything else that’s out there.”

Mark Zuckerberg& internet access for all

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What we think

We think that Internet.org will help connect more people, grow

Facebook to 2 billion active users over the next year and

Whatsapp will prove to compete with Skype and other VoIP

services as well as mobile operators’ voice services over time.

WhatsApp may disrupt the market for voice calls but we won’t

see advertising in WhatsApp for at least a few years to come.

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Key device announcements:Samsung

The consensus is that Samsung stole the show at MWC

with no less than 3 new wearable devices and the Samsung

Galaxy S5. A quick recap of the Galaxy S5 specs include

a harder and more premium-feel shell, faster processor,

bigger screen, higher resolution, faster and better camera,

water resistance, enhanced battery life, faster Wifi and 4G,

health tracker as well as a fingerprint scanner.

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What we think

Just like the iPhone 5S, this is an evolution rather than a

revolution but nevertheless, the device surpassed most of our

expectations. Rather than loading it with lots of new features,

Samsung has done a great job taking a fantastic device to

the next level in every single way. One of the most exciting

functions was that the fingerprint scanner also enables payment

authentication. The S5 will be a winner in 2014.

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Key device announcements:Nokia - Nokia X

Nokia scored a hat trick releasing three devices that run

on Android. The Nokia X for $122 with a 4-inch screen,

Nokia X+ with an SD card at $136 and Nokia XL with a

5-inch screen, 5 megapixel camera and 2-mega pixel front

facing camera at $149. They won’t be available in the US,

Canada, Korea and Japan in part to avoid competing with

Lumia phones.

Nokia also announced two even cheaper phones including

the Nokia 220 which comes with Facebook, Twitter and

some games, meant as a starter phone for $40 and Asha

230 with more offers for apps at $62.

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What we think

We are very impressed by the amount of smartphone for money

you get with Nokia X. It has a lot of potential to do well in

developing countries which make up a huge segment of global

smartphone growth. The question is whether Nokia still has the

brand and distribution power to strike back with these devices.

Brands targeting emerging markets should definitely plan on

supporting this device.

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Wearables and IoTIoT and wearables were the most talked about topics at

the congress – Procter & Gamble’s Oral B launched and

showcased a connected toothbrush. The device gives

personalised advice and helps users improve their brushing

via the help of an app which the device connects to by

Bluetooth 4.0. The Fitbit fitness band became the wearable

of the congress itself with a great many attendees sporting

one throughout MWC week.

The Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo both have heart rate

sensors, pedometers and various tools to measure exercise,

sleep and stress levels. The other difference vs the original

Gear is that they now run the Tizen OS rather than Android.

Huawei on the other hand launched the TalkBand B1 which

is a smartwatch, fitness tracker and bluetooth earpiece all

in one.

Motorola launched its MotoACTV to track work-out stats

through a pedometer and GPS, and may be showing the

trend for wearables to come - a smartwatch that resembles

“more a piece of jewellery rather than ugly tech.”10

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What we think

The Samsung Gear 2 is a major improvement and the focus

on fitness will help its appeal to fitness fanatics and geeks with

Android devices. It’s still not a mainstream smartwatch and not

a fashion accessory as people expect the iWatch to be, but we

expect to see some good traction. For brands, it could be good

PR to launch their apps early but don’t expect much traffic.

The Huawei device is unexpectedly slick with a low price tag

(135 USD) so also has a good chance of gaining traction when it

launches outside of China.

Overall the range of devices presented was impressive, however,

the majority of them are not able to talk to each other nor

provide open access. To make the devices truly life-enhancing,

we need to be able to combine the information from all

sources for a global picture. The other challenge is that

developers find it hard enough to keep up with iOS, Android and

Windows so launching additional OS and versions of OS will be

a limiting factor for developer support.

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Beacons &mobile paymentsWe visited a couple of companies including Indoo.rs,

WiseSec, Wirecard, Nordic Semiconductor and Mobisfera

to see how beacon technology can be used in different

combinations.

Indoo.rs presented a strong solution for indoor mapping,

navigation and communication.

WiseSec showed how Beacons and BLE can be used in

solutions that require a high level of security.

Wirecard had a demo of how Beacons can be used as a

payment enabler in stores/restaurants.

Nordic Semiconductor showed various examples of BLE

used for glasses, hearing aides and a low energy heart

monitor.

Paypal showcased examples of hands-free mobile

payments using beacons.

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What we think

Apple rolling out its specifications for iBeacons while

simultaneously beginning to certify devices that use the

technology through its MFi program will help hardware

manufactures improve credibility for use of the standard.

However, Golden Gekko expected more in terms of demos and

show cases. The lack of bigger companies in this space

shows that the technology is still relatively immature.

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Mobile advertising 2.0Here are just a few of the interesting companies we

met with:

Fiksu: Top providers for optimisation of app download

advertising across publishers / ad networks.

AdBrain: Tool provider for mobile advertising buying,

managing and optimisation across ad networks.

TAPCommerce: Engagement and retargeting advertising

related to mobile apps with social network integration.

MobileAppTracking: Platform for app marketers to

attribute app installs, in-app engagement and purchase

back to ad partners.

Airpush: High performance, exceptional ad formats and

targeting technology.

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What we think

Mobile banner ad formats are still alive and kicking but the

industry is changing faster and faster, with innovation coming

from only a small proportion of new startups. The traditional

media companies are historically slow to try new things, so

brands need to allocate a proportion of their budgets to

testing and driving innovation. We’ve seen some very fast

results for brands and apps in terms of ROI.

Fighting for a world full of mobile solutionssince 2005

web www.goldengekko.com email info@goldengekko.com