The Mobile World Congress 2013, going on at Barcelona, had been one mega event the tech world waiting for. Started on 25th February 2013, the event will be winding up on 28th February. Analysing the events took place so far, was it worth the anticipation? A true answer will be negative, we fear. Lets go through what went wrong with the much acclaimed MWC.
MWC had been a harvest time for the reporters past few years. The stage has seen the scene of reporters rushing with cameras and microphones. But this time, it was somewhat frozen.
The main problem with the MWC was that, none of the 'new phones' were really “new”. Most of them had their release in their home country. Some of the phones' pictures and specs were leaked earlier. So, it didn’t give an impression of novel ones.
There were nothing unexceptional other than the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Of course the Firefox phones and Android games were attractive too. LG had released all the devices it brought for MWC, in a press release, nearly a month ago. HTC One's specs and pictures were so popular. And Sony's “big release” was a Tablet, which was released in Japan a month ago!
What put down the “hotness” of the event? Let's try to find out a convincing answer. Well, first of all the timing. February is not a good time for new phone releases. Usually new phones get released in May, July or October. February is not at all a good choice as the pocket of so many will be empty, owing much to the year end party, new year party, and of course the Valentine's Day. So, anything released now, will have to wait a few more months to be the hot cakes. Then why don't hold them up and release anew later?
Another reason is multiple releases. It is so obvious that when a bunch of devices are releasing, some might go unnoticed. That will not happen if it had been released in a separate event, right? Holding a separate launching event will make the device the centre of attraction for sure. Then why risk a multiple release?
But there is a positive side to the lesser releases. Fewer devices released means deeper analysis right? The fewer the number of new devices, the greater will be the discussions.
But of course it is not a satisfying event. Remember how it was a two years back. The computer key board of the reporters might have cursed them to a handful of dust for torturing them day and night. The amount of caffeine the reporters might have taken to stay awake for bringing the news to you as hot as possible will enough for a small family to make rich coffee for a month. Samsung Galaxy S2, LG Optimus 3D, Sony's Xperia Play phone with play station, the dais of MWC was so rich. The situation has changed now. We can never expect the good old richness to come back again it seems. Whether it will come back or not, the event is still an anticipatory one for the tech freaks.