Barcelona beckons

I'm busily preparing for Mobile World Congress, taking place in Barcelona between 16 and 19 February. It's organised by the GSM Association that represents the world's mobile operators and it's a colossal event. 

I've been involved already as one of the judges of the Mobile Awards (being presented on Tuesday night) and as moderator of the panel examining synergies between broadcasting and mobile (and boy, there's lots of opportunity there). 

AIB will be at MWC in force, helping AIB members to get connected to the people they need to talk to - people searching for content, for example. There's lots to see and do, and lots of people from all over the planet with whom to start interesting conversations.

See you there?

Mobile's the future

I spent four days in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress last week (11-14 February). It was an eye-opener for me on my first major foray into the world of mobile telephony.

My impressions: lots of people making lots of money from the mobile industry; a confidence that they're getting it right; a move towards content being made available on mobile devices, with devices equipped with DVB-H rolling out.

So where does the media fit in all this? It's up to content owners to start courting the mobile operators and handset manufacturers to ensure that their material is available to handset users in markets all over the world. And then it's a question of mobile operators pricing access to the content at sensible, affordable prices to avoid "bill shock".