Disqus
The GSMA is launching the “Mobile World Capital” to extend far beyond the annual Mobile World Congress event and include a “range of academic and business development opportunities, cultural festivals and programmes, and the creation of a permanent centre of the industry.” All of the six finalist cities vying to host the Mobile World Congress from 2013 to 2017 — including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Cologne, Milan, Munich and Paris — are developing proposals to become the Mobile World Capital for the same time period.
In addition to hosting the Mobile World Congress, which is the industry’s single largest gathering in the world, the Mobile World Capital city will also feature:
- The Mobile World Centre – located in the heart of the city and designed as the permanent flagship element of the Mobile World Capital. The Centre will include technology exhibits, museum features, a retail area, a mobile café, office space and more.
- The Mobile World Festival – which is envisioned as a range of festivities that will be targeted to the general public and will take place separate from the Mobile World Congress. Among the festivities that will take place, GSMA mentions concerts, music and movie festivals, competitions and awards, and dialogues and debates, among others.
The question is – which city will win. If I had to pick, I would select Barcelona once again. After all, no other city on the list has a nice weather in February…
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
