According to an article in the UK's Daily Telegraph, three future trends will emerge in the mobile industry at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona: mobile payments, the comprehensiveness of Google's Android platform, and the domestication of mobile services.
Below is the main content of the article:
Mobile Payments
Nowadays, many companies hope that customers can make purchases through mobile payment services instead of bank credit cards. Therefore, UK mobile operator O2, Barclaycard issued by UK Barclays Bank, credit card service provider Visa, and Google have all entered the mobile payment market.
Early this month, Barclays launched the PingIt app, which does not require a third party like PayPal, directly linking user's phones with their bank accounts. This allows users to easily make payments via their mobile phones whether they are in the UK or Africa. Moreover, it can integrate coupons and provide users with real-time, personalized personal consumption information. Austrian Orange has introduced the entire mobile payment system into Nice, France, and launched "Quick Tap Treats," allowing British users to use NFC wireless payment technology.
However, the biggest challenge for mobile payments in the UK might be convincing Britons to give up using cash and credit cards.
Google Android Takes Center Stage
At this year's MWC in Barcelona, almost all major product launches are based on Google's Android operating platform. The only ones unrelated to the Android platform are Nokia and Microsoft, who will launch new mobile communication products, but their market share is not large. Many analysts have noticed the contradictory relationship between mobile operators and software developers.
The Google-Motorola Mobility acquisition deal has now been approved, and predictions that Google will emulate Apple, developing both hardware and software simultaneously, will increase. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will deliver a keynote speech at this conference. CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood expects that Schmidt will not mention any news about Motorola Mobility in his speech. However, even if Google starts producing its own mobile devices, Apple will not be concerned.
Domestication of Mobile Services
Another hot topic at this MWC will be machine-to-machine communication, also known as M2M communication. For example, information exchange between mobile phones and security systems, or automatically issuing alerts by identifying the cork of wine bottles in a wine cellar, prompting the server to put the bottle of wine in the refrigerator. Such automated systems will become more complex, much more so than users turning on lights at home through an app.
Motorola will focus more attention on this field, and Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility resonates with the release of "Android@Home" smart home automation applications. Google's smart home automation strategy started with streaming music services, and the next service it provides will be more comprehensive. Thus, whether there are new mobile phone releases at this MEC conference is not important; what is important is that the mobile communications industry is integrating into people's lifestyles.
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Opening of the 2012 MWC World Mobile Communications Conference in Barcelona
Opening of the 2012 MWC World Mobile Communications Conference in Barcelona