When users will find out for certain is also subject to debate; a March launch has been suggested for the iPhone by a number of blogs, who have also suggested it for the iPad 3. Hexus, however, has claimed that Apple could make a rare announcement at February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

via Apple’s larger iPhone 5 ‘coming in March’ – Telegraph.

Generally speaking — and famously — Apple never bother with conferences unless it’s got “Mac” or “Apple” written on it.

I don’t see them breaking the habit and exhibiting at MWC any time soon.

However, I do think that it would be very, very smart if Apple made an announcement either the week before or during Mobile World Congress — especially if it was iPhone-related.

Apple already did this to an extent with CES — however, the iPhone and the mobile industry are a seriously different kettle of fish.

If Apple really wanted to upset the existing world order (and the millions upon millions of Euros being invested during Mobile World Congress), they should call a “Let’s talk about iPhone” press conference for the first Monday of MWC-week.

Goodness me.

Can you imagine?

Just speculating brings me out in goosebumps.

The world’s consumer media (mainstream and bloggers) will be flying into Barcelona on Sunday evening to record their “here’s a new Android” segment for 30 minutes on Monday morning, before flying out same-day. [Of course, the trade media will be there for the duration].

Can you imagine the shock if Apple made the media choose? Either you cover our keynote about the new iPhone in San Francisco. Or you go to that also-ran in Barcelona.

To be clear, I’m certainly not labelling MWC thus! That was me putting fighting words in Apple’s mouth.

Sparks would fly though.

And there’d be no choice. The media would flock to San Francisco. The anchors, the editors, the pundits — they’d all be in California and MWC would either be ignored or

The ramifications for the industry would be profound. Of course the mobile industry now exists in Apple’s shadow. But not officially. Not, really. And certainly not at MWC. In Barcelona, the operators can freely strut their stuff and the other platforms can have a bit of time in the media sun. Apple is always in the back of everyone’s mind at MWC, but it’s possible to suspend reality for at least a few minutes.

And it’s in this limited reality that the rest of the industry gets to pretend that it’s still relevant, that things are still the same as they were pre-iPhone. That nothing has really changed.

Look at the keynotes at MWC over the last few years since the iPhone’s announcement. iPhone and Apple has been largely irrelevant — the industry’s still under the impression it’s in control.

A serious tub-thumping press conference from Apple timed to remove all attention from MWC would illustrate the new world order nicely.

I’m a fan of this kind of hard ball because it’s one of the only measures that might prompt the rest of the mobile marketplace — the operators in particular — to actually get off their arses and start innovating properly.

Anyway.

Perhaps Apple will be too polite and give-way.

We have less than 100 hours to go until the doors of the world’s biggest and best known mobile conference swing open in Barcelona for another year, so let’s pause to see what we have to look forward to.

As all good conferences, there’s nothing like guzzling alcohol paid for by someone else (who you most likely spent most of the day bitching about). The MWC veteran @LisaWhelan has put together an excellent MWC party list at so start clicking (or tell your PA to). Many are free and not all are yet full.

For something a little more interactive the Mobile Woodstock crew have created an unofficial app. Download it here.

What will be in the news?

The PR machine of companies large and small will be in overdrive. Here are my picks:

• Tablet nirvana – tablets will be the “touch” of last year
• Shrinking femto cells, 4G, smart downloading – everyone will be promising “it will be faster”
• App Store arguments will rage on – it’s the new “who’s king of content” conversation of old
• and finally, Nokia will announce something big in terms of O/S direction and be criticised for it
  ..or they won’t and they’ll be criticised for that too.

View of the madness from the steps going up to the Museum of National Art of Catalonia, Photo credit: Philipp Deprez

The Social Network

I’m always sceptical when unwieldy organisations try and build their own “social network”. In their wisdom the GSMA are no exception and if you attended last year you can go ahead and login; otherwise sign up provided you have a pass. To be fair to the GSMA you can download the Powerpoint presentations post the event although I do find page loads terribly slow.

• Did you use the MWC Social Network last year? Useful or a complete waste of time? Let us know in the comment or tweet @mobileindustry

First time at MWC?

For first timers at MWC, read the seven top tips for Mobile World Congress which have been posted on Mobile Industry Review the last weeks; or follow my quick 5 reminders are below:

• Stealing is rife. Barcelona has it’s charms but also it’s problems. Yes you always think it won’t happen to you; but it may well. For Valentine week Barcelona is literally the bag-snatch and petty thief capital of the world. Adopt absolute vigilance.
• Eating is a hassle. Cues for “lunch” consisting of a dry baguette with slice of dead pig can be long. Restaurants nearby are booked or full. So eat at unusual times and plan ahead.
• Accommodation is expensive. Oh wait, you didn’t already book? Good luck…you’ll need it.
• Consultant constipation. There will be more social media gurus and corporate consultants this year than ever before as the role of Twitter and Facebook for businesses grows rapidly. A lot of these people haven’t actually done that much in tech, mobile or social media. The latter is the new gold rush – the new SEO. It is valuable – so don’t underestimate your lack of strategy – but sharlatons are rife. You’ve been warned.
• Meetings madness. Don’t meet with people who come from where you live. It amazes me how many people ask to do this! With 50,000 delegates find those from a far flung place whom might benefit your business who you don’t usually see. In anycase, you’ll magnate back to familiar faces after the fifth or six beer anyway…
• Bonus tip: Did I mention Barcelona is full of thieves? On my 13^th trip to Barcelona, in a posh restaurant, sitting with 3 Googlers my bag including laptop, camera & passport disappeared; with the restaurant staff claiming no knowledge. Petty crime is so bad it’s almost worth leaving a phone on INSIDE your bag running Google Lattitude just incase some crook dressed in a suit scuttles off with it. You think it won’t happen to you – it will. The Police don’t care, the locals accept it and many bar/restaurant staff turn a blind eye. Be careful!

So, feeling prepared? If you have an interesting product, service, technology or application you’d like me to cover, please contact me.

See you in Basque country!

At that very same ‘small (but select) gathering at INQ HQ last night, we were informed there will be no new INQ phone unveiled in Barcelona in a few weeks time.

INQ’s marketing director Jeff Taylor said in a semi private briefing to MIR there will be no product announcements at MWC. Where many of us traveled the several hundred miles to the event, for such an insider scoop – journalistic instinct FAIL.

We then raised the bar and posed another question in light of the recent news of INQ touting their phone(s) *cough* around to other networks. All with a view to improve the profile of the fledgling ’3′ venture and expand their market dominance, by bringing INQies to the little people.

We have it on good authority, even from Jeff himself they have been traveling far and wide talking to other networks. We’re guessing by the amount of air miles discussed, INQ’s carbon footprint is so vast they’d have to replant the forest moon of Endor to balance things out.

Back to the most difficult of difficult questions raised – are INQ going to announce the INQ1 on another network, at Mobile World Congress?

Jeff’s reply was along the lines of he could not confirm or deny there will be any news of this nature, only there will be no product announcements in Barcelona.

Companies such as INQ will be there to make deals of this ilk,  for journalists their presence there falls into two camps, product or carrier news.

As there isn’t a new INQies (noun: a word describing any phones by INQ) being taken and shown off to all their splendor at the event, then it’s a network being announced to carry the phone.

We’ll bring you more news at the time, of that exact announcement.

In nearly a month from now, Mobile World Congress will be over, done and dusted, put to bed, an ex-event, acabado – finished.

What are we expecting to see, what are we likely to experience, what will astound us and what will we all be talking about five weeks from now?

From what we’ve already seen aired at CES and the meeting requests with various companies – the following is what we believe will be the main themes from the event. Along with the topics that could be addressed, and the avenues of discussion that we suspect will be throughout the event.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, the very large grey beast that is the OS. We doubt the whole event will be taken up by talk of platforms, but they will have a significant presence at this year’s MWC.

With the inclusion of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer as a keynote speaker, the attention will turn to the next generation of Windows Mobile on phones. At least we’re assuming he’ll be there to announce a product, as we doubt he’s just going along to increase his air miles.

Rumours have been around for a while now as to what Windows Mobile 6.5 will most likely contain, from the likes of multi-touch to the known IE version 6 being included. All that anyone can really wish for is that the new OS will fix the issues that plagued 6.1. Saving us all the bother of downloading cooked ROMs from the xda-developers website to resolve them.

Motorola has already spoken publically about their new handsets running this OS, due in the second half of this year which realistically means Q4. We’re wishing good things for that company too, as they need all the luck they can get right now.

We’re assuming, as most will be, 6.5 will be more of a service pack than a long term OS that will be with us for many years to come. As we’re hoping the attention will be on Windows Mobile 7 at MWC. If we’re all led to believe the hype, this will include the likes of Zune-esque features and an integrated live mesh mobile version.

With the world’s economy being what it is right now, the cost of Windows Mobile will be undoubtedly drawn in to the argument this year. As the alternatives around will be surely weighed up as a comparison, now they’re all here and phones around running them all. At the end of last year, a slide was shown at Orange Partner Camp just highlighting the cost associated with WM as compared to the others. To quote a tweet from Rafe Bladford “in open platform session – cost of platform – Symbian, Limo, Android = $0; Windows Mobile $14 (est). not often you see that slide comparison”. Seeing this in black and white just hammers home what Windows Mobile will have to achieve, if it wants to survive in these times.

There’s bound to be a heated, intense discussion of this nature, which we’ll enjoy and throw some spanners in to the works in order to get some decent feedback. Arguments will be made from all corners, which will be interesting to say the least on what everyone will say. Some will be diplomatic on the costs, although we’re hoping to hear from the European against the North American perspective. As it’s no secret the Americans love their Windows Mobile handsets, so we’re unsure if they can give a balanced opinion.

It’s been a year since Android was first shown off on a few phones at last year’s MWC, and only a few months since the HTC manufactured G1 came out. Since then there’s been a lot of rumours as to who will have the next Google OS powered device, who will be the first to market, who will be known as leader with these handsets in the future and not tied solely to a network.

CES saw a few models of not all that well known companies doing the rounds, with a few whispers of who really will be next. With leaks of late coming from HTC, Asus and others all showing they supposedly have Android phones in the mix. Perhaps one of those will show up with a ready-to-market model. Let’s not forget that only two months ago 48 of the biggest players in the mobile world all signed up to the Open Handset Alliance, so we’re all expecting good things from everyone soon.

We have it on good authority, the next one will be around very soon so keep your eyes peeled and stay reading MIR. We are expecting everyone and their dog, to be making some noise over their Android handsets either publically, or behind closed doors. Our money goes with HTC and we’re taking good odds on that spread right now.

They’ll also be talk of the next Android version or the updates, in the form of ‘cup cake’ and possibly how this will be rolled out. If not that, then at the very least what it will possibly contain, if not how the development is going. Although most of what’s what is already known, there’s bound to be some news to be aired as they’ve been rather quiet of late.

Not to be out done, and in the realm of keeping up with the Joneses, there’s bound to be news from Nokia’s Symbian platform. This time last year the world was completely unaware of the grand scheming going on. As far as we all knew Symbian was just a good OS running phones, which included Nokia and that was that. A few months later, the landscape of the platform world would change forever, with Nokia announcing its intentions.

We doubt we’ll hear anything great from Symbian at the event, perhaps some minor announcements but nothing too much. We do however expect to hear rumblings from Nokia, perhaps leading with an update on the N97 and when it’s actually due. Perhaps more on location based services, along with how well Ovi mail is doing on the Series 40 handsets, plus how that service will be expanded.

Some other rumours we’re hearing are that nVidia possibly, maybe, could be, might have something to say at MWC this year. This is all to do with them entering the mobile graphics world on phones, with a possible association with HTC being in the pipeline or so we hear. Whether or not this holds any water is yet to be seen, but it sounds like an interesting concept and partnership.

There’s bound to be noise over LTE, WiMAX and HSPA+ with some networks, carriers and handsets being spoken about. Don’t hold your breath in seeing any of this on the horizon anytime soon, just watch and read with glee and think of flying cars.

We’re even hearing completely unsubstantiated mutterings that even DELL will be making an appearance. This is with a view to be showing up with a Smartphone in tow, of all things. This rumour is picking up even more and more worth in the last week, as more and more sites have begun reporting on it. Why not have a phone; DELL seems to have everything else. They’re turning out to be like a large Sainsbury’s, a one stop shop for everything you need.

Other keynotes that have been booked in already come from large companies such as Vodafone, to even MySpace’s CEO and its co-founder. With the latter obviously appearing to let everyone know MySpace is still around, despite the fact Facebook jas stolen all its limelight and people have completely forgotten about them.

Many CES delights will surely make an appearance, there’s no getting away from that. The LG watch phone and the palm pre will be shown off to the coos and the wonderment of the Europeans. It’ll be interesting to see if the Palm phone and webOS will have the same reception as it did in Las Vegas, also if they’ll be tougher questions to answer now the dust has settled on the announcement.

It’s bound to be a veritable smorgasbord of mobile delights and treats, we’ll undoubtedly bring you as much information as your eyes can handle.

Over the next few months I’m aiming taking the MIR Show crew to various cities across Europe to track what’s moving in the industry on a localised basis.

We plan to do some mini Unlimited Drinks in each city along with an array of interviews and editorial pieces (both video, audio and text).

As a result we’re hunting for people and companies to profile in each city, particularly if you’re a mobile developer, mobile marketing specialist or if you’re working in and around mobile.

I’d also appreciate your suggestions for people and companies that you rate as AAA* ‘Shit-Hot’ that we should be meeting and telling the planet about. Our schedule isn’t fixed yet so I’m really keen to try and find out who we should be meeting — so that if there are bunch of geniuses in, for example, Budapest, then we’ll try to include that in our itinerary.

Will you email me or post here on the site if you’ve got some suggestions?

As always, I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.