Be there or be square
We already knew that the convergence of the IT and mobile phone markets is the single most significant trend in the technology world right now. But for an illustration of that fact you just need to take a look at the keynote speakers already committed to Mobile World Congress 2011, over three months before the event starts.
MWC 2010, which HEXUS attended, had a strong convergence theme. The biggest announcement was probably that of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, while Nokia and Intel revealed their collaboration on a mobile OS. A lot of major tech CEOs flew into Barcelona for the last one, but MWC 2011 is going to make that pale into insignificance.
Take a look at this list of keynote speakers that have already been confirmed:
- Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil and Telcel
- Randall Stephenson, Chairman, CEO and President, AT&T
- Li Yue, President and CEO, China Mobile
- Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google
- Peter Chou, CEO, HTC
- Paul Otellini, President and CEO, Intel
- Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft
- Stephen Elop, President and CEO, Nokia
- Ryuji Yamada, President and CEO, NTT DoCoMo
- Paul Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Qualcomm
- Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion
- Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank
- Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square
- Evan Williams, Co-Founder, Twitter
- Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone
- Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive, WPP
- Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo!
Basically, who isn't there, apart from Steve Jobs who doesn't like sharing the limelight with anyone? This is the strongest line-up of keynote speakers we've ever seen for a tech show, and is indicative of what a crucial juncture we're currently at in the mobile convergence market.
The mobile Internet land-grab is in full swing and any market real estate acquired now may pay massive dividends in the future. The stakes are high and as a consequence every major tech CEO wants to be seen to be addressing this market. The only thing they haven't considered is how the hell journalists are supposed to cover all of them.
