Last week I was in Barcelona where Dell participated in Pepcom’s MobileFocus Global press event at Mobile World Congress. By far our busiest night of the show; the place was packed with exhibitors, journalists, analysts and industry experts all mingling through the wide array of stands. We had our latest mobile products on display, including the Studio 17, Alienware M11x, Adamo XPS, and the Inspiron Mini 10. We also provided a sneak peek of a Mini 10 with an OPI cover, not yet available in Europe, as well as demos of the Mini 3 smartphone and the Mini 5 tablet which went down a storm.
And, if you haven’t seen the demonstration Adobe put on for its future Flash 10.1 demo on the Mini 5 Tablet, you have to check it out. Our Chief Blogger for Direct2Dell, Lionel Menchaca, also got time to sit down for a discussion with the new Tablet GM, Neeraj Choubey, before he headed off to MWC. The Adobe Flash 10.1 demo is embedded in Lionel’s post.
Mobile World Congress is a huge show, hosted annually in the amazing city of Barcelona. The telecoms industry gathers to share ideas and plans for the future and as expected there is a raft of new products and technology on show. The theme of this year's MWC is experience Vision in Action, as such, it's a great place for us to showcase our vision for mobile devices and solutions to connect people with their digital lives.
One of the biggest announcements anticipated at the show was from Microsoft. Dell attended the press conference where Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfiore introduced Windows Phone 7 Series and Dell was named one of the supporting hardware partners. You’ll hear more on this later this year.
There seemed to be a clear theme for the show this year which was the convergence of the PC world and the phone world, although there were many divided opinions about whether the phone should be a PC, or how far phone capabilities can go. Software and apps were big topics too – from Windows to Android to App World, the usability of the device and what it enables a user to do is more relevant than ever. The entire event was heaving with press announcements ranging from new mobile handsets, mobile software and applications services, giving a good indication of new products to come in 2010.
It’s exciting to see how mobile technology is evolving due to the demand from users. Being at a show like Mobile World Congress is not only exciting but inspiring too as you realise the technology on show is going to be in our lives and homes in the near future.