The Future of Mobile & the Challenges Ahead
Mobile World Congress 2013 (Barcelona, Spain) Author: Thibaut Loilier – Market Research
TechReport March 2013
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Table of Contents
1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3
2 The device revolution is upon us ...................................................................................... 4
3 The challenge of translating big data into big knowledge ............................................. 7
4 Mobile payment reaches new milestones ...................................................................... 10
5 Cloud technology is here to stay .................................................................................... 13
6 Mobile apps: the new industrial revolution .................................................................... 16
7 Shopping and commerce at our fingertips .................................................................... 19
8 IT Trends Radar ................................................................................................................. 22
9 Additional resources ........................................................................................................ 23
The intention of this report is to make trends transparent and understandable within their context and give readers some
perspective for their business. The content has been created with the utmost diligence and GFT Technologies AG is not
liable for any errors.
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Copyright © 2013 GFT Technologies AG. All rights reserved.
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1 Introduction
If one sentence could sum up the 2013 GSMA Mobile World Congress,
which took place 25–28 February in Barcelona, Spain, it might just be:
“We are now digitally enhanced human beings”.
This year’s Congress far surpassed the 2012 event; the figures speak for themselves:
More than 72,000 visitors from over 200 countries
Over 50 per cent of this year's Mobile World Congress attendees held C-level positions,
including more than 4,300 CEOs
More than 1,700 exhibiting companies
More than 320 million Euros contributed to the local economy
This paper provides a general overview of the key trends we identified at the event, including:
The device revolution is upon us
Translating big data into big knowledge is a major challenge
Mobile payment has reached new milestones
Cloud technology is here to stay
Mobile apps are the new industrial revolution
We expect shopping and commerce to be at our fingertips
For each identified trends, this report provides:
1. A summary of the main announcements and news at MWC13
2. Key quotes from MWC keynotes and conference presentations
3. The major announcements and new developments from four of the key IT leaders
4. GFT’s market research analysis
The last section offers GFT’s predictions derived from the Congress in the form of an IT trends radar.
It is designed to help readers understand the emerging technologies and trends shown at MWC13
that are likely to affect the IT market in the near future.
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2 The device revolution is upon us
The Mobile World Congress is traditionally the showcase where mobile manufacturers present their
latest technological innovations. This year's event was no exception, as major technology companies
like Samsung, LG, Huawei, and Nokia launched new products, devices, services, and gadgets.
MWC 2013 in Barcelona was interesting for a number of reasons:
Many new devices were announced and/or launched
In general, phones are getting bigger and tablets are getting smaller
A new category of devices is emerging: Phablets. Larger than smartphones and smaller and
thinner than tablets, phablets are intended to be more convenient for users to carry.
Other hybrid devices that are a cross between a phone and a tablet were introduced by
Asus: the Asus Padfone Infinity on the one hand and the Asus Fonepad on the other.
The Chinese telecom companies and device makers are rapidly expanding their presence in
the market: last year, Huawei didn't even have a brand for its smartphones (the first Ascend
was launched a year ago)
The biggest news in Barcelona was around operating systems: Firefox launched a new
mobile operating system (more details in section 6)
Many partnerships are being developed between traditional and non-traditional mobile
companies to bring new services to market and make products more accessible: Nokia is
partnering with 3D printing company MakerBot, Samsung is partnering with payment
company Visa, LG/Huawei is partnering with Firefox OS… and that’s just the tip of the
iceberg.
The automobile industry is also trying to enter the device space; a large number of car
manufacturers were exhibiting this year, showing how the car itself is becoming a mobile
device Smartphones and tablets are becoming the primary means of accessing the web
At MWC 2013, much of the buzz was predictably about new smartphones, tablets, and mobile
operating systems. But this year’s event was marked by a huge increase in the number of next-
generation mobile devices:
Digital glasses like Google's Project Glass (a Google employee wore a Google Glass device
at MWC) will be coming to market soon. These new devices could revolutionise the way we
interact with our environment.
The intelligent watch promises to become the latest hi-tech trend. Apple is said to be
working on an iWatch, and there are persistent rumours that Japanese giant Sony is working
on a similar project. Italian company i’m promoted its i’m Watch smart watch, which can
connect to Android and iOS smartphones.
According to Corinne Lauer, Renault’s team leader, “The car will be the next connected
device”. Ford, GM, and others showed off their latest machine-to-machine (M2M)
communication technologies and the ever-deepening integration of mobile technologies into
vehicles.
You shouldn't have to care about the logo on the back of your phone or computer; it should just work with everything you have. Drew Houston,
Dropbox
People deserve the same rich experience in a handset, regardless of how much they spend.
Stephen Elop,
Nokia
The car will be the next connected device Corinne Lauer,
Renault
We're an ambitious young brand that plans to be one of the top 100 companies in the world in the not too distant future
Amy Lou,
Huawei
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Four of the biggest players in the mobile world were notable for their activities (or lack of activities) at
MWC 13:
Huawei is on a fast track to mobile device world domination, with a number of
announcements clearly directed at increased consumer market penetration (better, faster,
cheaper)
Samsung’s partnership with Visa puts it squarely in competition with Apple’s Passbook, and
the planned open API could take them past Apple fast. The company is also targeting Apple
with its new mini tablet, the Galaxy Note 8
Nokia, meanwhile, is still playing catchup and will compete head-to-head with Huawei for the
budget-conscious consumer. At the same time, the company is betting on Windows Phone
integration for its enterprise push.
Apple simply did not show up (although we’re willing to bet there were plenty of Apple people
in Barcelona that week!)
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
This year, the device manufacturers’ strategies can be categorized into four major groups:
Penetrating or extending presence in developing world markets with very cheap
smartphones (e.g. Nokia)
Competing against the iPad’s dominance with new tablets or/and phablets (e.g. Asus,
Samsung, Sony)
Building a new ecosystem around smartphones (e.g. Samsung with extended NFC
capabilities and Visa partnership)
Building buzz (e.g. Apple’s absence, Huawei's big ambitions, Samsung’s upcoming
“Unpacked” event to unveil the Galaxy S4 phone)
With the announcement of two new mobile operating systems – the Firefox OS and Ubuntu for
phones – mobile phone manufacturers and developer communities will face new challenges in
the coming years as multiplatform mobile development is likely to become the norm.
In the smartphone space, there are no more monopolies; technical specifications are becoming
more important than brands in mobile. What users really care about is whether the device meets
their needs and how easily they can access the best content and services.
Yet more connected devices are expected to enter the market this year to assist us with a wide
range of daily tasks. These new developments will impact many sectors – for example,
healthcare, education and retail – in the coming years.
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3 The challenge of translating big data into big knowledge
Big Data was a central topic at Mobile World Congress 2013, as it is at almost every IT event this
year. 90% of all the data that exists today has been created in the last two years, according to figures
from IBM. Several conference sessions were dedicated to the question of the value of Big Data, and
the tangible opportunities offered by mobile big data.
Not surprisingly, the promise of applying big data technologies to mobile systems was widely
discussed during the congress. More and more telecom and mobile companies are seeking valuable
business insights and looking to extract relevance from mountains of data. Speaking during the
conference, Unilever’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed explained how the role of big data in the
mobile industry is driving new opportunities for marketers and consumers.
Much attention has been focused on the real value of big data in the mobile ecosystem, but also on
many other key challenges of big data management including privacy, security, standardization, and
compliance. One key finding from several conference sessions was that big data technology benefits
are not limited to increased profits, but also improved existing technologies across many sectors,
including electricity, education, healthcare, or environment. As an example, Linus Bengtsson, co-
founder of data aggregator Flowminder, explained the potential role for big data in disaster
management. He cited the 2010 Haiti earthquake, where mobile positioning data was utilised by aid
relief organisations to find disaster victims of the cholera epidemic: “In a disaster, it’s the opposite of
normal life – in a disaster, you really want other people to know where you are”. But these new
insights into different situations will also bring new challenges for organizations, including data
management, data distribution, data architectures…
Paul Bloom, CTO for Telecom Research at IBM, presented the company’s cognitive computing
technology in the form of Watson, an artificial intelligence computer system capable of answering
questions posed in natural language. The machine was originally developed to answer questions on
the US quiz show Jeopardy. According to Bloom, big data computing is opening the door to a new
realm of technologies such as cognitive computing and fundamentally changing the way businesses
interact with their customers.
A large number of big data solution providers were present during the four- day event, most of them
offering services to the telecom industry and in particular to mobile operators. As the range and
volume of data from mobile devices continues to grow at unprecedented rates (there are currently
1.6 billion mobile Internet users worldwide according to Deutsche Telekom), mobile operators need
a way to translate that data into usable knowledge and manage the sheer weight of the traffic. Once
the challenges of storage and data centres have been resolved, the industry will have to turn its
attention to network traffic load issues.
Just to provide a snapshot of how the quantity of information generated during the event, CartoDB
and BBVA join forces to analyze and visualize the economic impact of the Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona using Big Data technology and the CartoDB geospatial cloud (see here). Using the same
approach, Barcelona Media Research Foundation (a member of the Tecnio network) analysed
The role of big data in the mobile industry is driving new opportunities for marketers and consumers
Keith Weed, Unilever
As connections grow to 40G and 100G, the Big Data velocity and volume challenge is further intensified
Dana Cooperson,
Ovum
Within five years, 90% of all network traffic will be video content Hans Vestberg.
Ericsson
The network blinked, and functions are starting to move into the data center. It's happening faster than I thought it would
Jim Hodges, noHeavy Reading
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tweets containing ‘MWC’, ‘MWC13′ and/or ‘Mobile World’ – they found that nearly 100,000 tweets
were generated every day during the event (see here).
Who’s doing what in big data?
IBM is focused on smart cities and urban decision-making, with the help of Deutsche
Telekom
Ericsson has its sights firmly set on the big data opportunities offered by mobile network
traffic
BBVA leveraged its global financial knowledge to chart the economic impact on Barcelona of
MWC 13
Gigamon is developing technologies designed to turn big data from mobile networks into
usable data
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
When discussing big data, the question of how to extract value from the data is central. Industry
leaders have already jumped on the big data train, but the best is yet to come. Hyper-connectivity
and high Internet usage are driving the telecom industry to quickly adapt their existing data
centres, networks and data analytics to harness big data to enable innovation and competition.
At the MWC, analytics had the place of honour, and many next-generation big data analytics
were being shown off: BBVA opened new horizons in “data-imaging”, adding space and time
dimensions to payment card transactions. New data visualisation technology is enabling banks to
understand and capitalize on payment data that has historically been hidden away in databases.
Visualising payment data provides fascinating customers insights and represents the first step in
transforming big data into big knowledge: data prediction. Whether in the financial, telecom,
medical, marketing, or information technology fields, the opportunities really are big: the ability
understand, interpret and predict customer behaviour and habits based on mobile usage will
have a radical impact on the way we do business.
Big data analytics are also the keys to “Big Marketing,” enabling organizations to implement
context-aware and personalized marketing campaigns. More and more, real-time data analytics
are becoming a business reality and increasingly important in strategic decision-making.
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4 Mobile payment reaches new milestones
Mobile payment had the position of honour at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Almost
all the payment industry's main players were present, and this was a hot topic for many conference
attendees and keynote speakers.
Spain’s CaixaBank, Visa Europe and mobile operator Telefónica, along with technology vendor
Gemalto, chose the MWC as the venue to offer the NFC mobile payment experience across the city
of Barcelona. The intent was clear: to encourage the global adoption of mobile payments as an
effective cashless payment mechanism. Visitors were able to pay for goods and services at Visa
terminals across the Fira Gran Via conference centre as well as at 16,000 points around Barcelona
and in 700 taxis.
MasterCard, Visa's biggest rival, announced its new MasterPass digital payment system, the next
generation of its PayPass e-commerce wallet; with MasterPass, customers’ information will be stored
in an online “secure cloud”. The digital wallet service will support NFC, QR codes, tags, and mobile
devices at the point of sale. MasterCard also offers banks, merchants, and partners the option to
offer their own branded wallets, including the use of cards other than MasterCard.
Much attention has been focused on the partnership between Visa and Samsung, in which the Visa
payWave application will be preloaded onto the embedded secure elements in NFC-enabled
Samsung devices. This agreement is a clear threat to the current SIM-based model for NFC that
dominates the mobile operator sector.
According to PayPal, NFC based payments are unlikely to gain mass adoption in 2013; instead, the
company believes that the cash register will go mobile. PayPal presented its point-of-sale payment
mobile app, and highlighted some interesting business cases, including the recent partnership with
Toys’R’Us.
This year, GSMA awarded Etisalat for Flous (The Etisalat Commerce Program) Best NFC /Mobile
Money Product or Service. Flous was developed in partnership with MasterCard and Oberthur
Technologies and has been commercially available since 2012.
The topic of brand trust and value was also addressed; the role of trust in consumer adoption of
mobile payment systems is crucial, since consumers are more likely to trust established brands and
payment systems that are familiar to them. Bankers and other experts highlighted privacy issues in
mobile payments. Speaking during one conference session, Barclays Bank’s managing director of
digital banking Sean Gilchrist, admitted that one mistake can ruin customer relationships and
destroy customers' trust, adding that companies needed “to be sensitive” to the customers’ concerns.
The mobile payments space is still in an early stage, and so we saw a new generation of mobile
payment start-ups participating at MWC 2013 in addition to the traditional leaders. Mobile payment is
a challenging field with much room to grow and much opportunity for innovation. There was much
discussion around the mobile payment Chicken-Egg Paradox: will non-payment usage encourage m-
payment implementation? Or the reverse?
Mobile ecosystems cannot be built alone. A shift from competition to collaboration is needed Naveed Sultan,
Citi
NFC is the best solution for face to face payments - but not the only option. It will take a central role - but not the only role
Ali Salci, Turkcell
The non-financial actors will soon be as regulated as “we are" (the banks)
Eric Tak, ING
I think NFC is just a technology in search of a problem to fix that does not exist because it is really easy to pay in the store
David Marcus, PayPal
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It’s not all about traditional players in the mobile payment space:
Samsung heats up its battle with Apple by deepening its relationship with Visa
MasterCard is forging ahead with innovative partnerships like Oberthur
Gemalto goes global, joining with China’s UnionPay to develop a new ecosystem
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
The latest mobile payment leaders’ announcements give us a glimpse of the different strategies
put in place:
Co-operation between mobile manufacturers and payment companies to accelerate
consumer adoption (e.g. Samsung-Visa partnership and Google Wallet agreement with
VISA and MasterCard)
Seeking alternative solutions to the uncertain future of NFC payment (e.g. PayPal)
Adding new products and services to existing portfolio (e.g. MasterCard with
MasterPass has strengthened its portfolio against an ubiquitous Visa)
Developing a full range of m-payment solutions and technologies (NFC, QR code,
mobile wallet) to stay up-to-date (e.g. CaixaBank)
The majority of payment experts and observers agreed on a point: mobile payment is the next
big thing and it will be a growing source of revenue in the future. However, no clear date has
been set.
Speaking of NFC payment, it was not a surprise that the major discussion was around the
“secure element”. GSMA - the event’s organizers – defended the SIM card-centric approach
while tech companies are pushing their own models. The current status quo is still in place but
the coming battle will be interesting to watch.
The Barcelona’s event Banks, wireless carriers, and retailers are the big companies hoping to
push mobile payments. The reason is simple: money. They all believe it.
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5 Cloud technology is here to stay
Cloud computing occupied a central place at MWC 13. New developments for cloud storage
announced included data storage, device management, and enterprise cloud solutions - new cloud
computing technologies were everywhere.
The worldwide public cloud services market is still growing very rapidly, in particular the
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) area, which includes cloud computer, storage, and print services.
This trend was underlined by the large number of new B2C services announced at MWC:
Huawei announced AirSharing, a cloud-based software solution enabling users of Huawei
smartphones and tablets to share content with TVs and other Internet-connected devices.
ASUS presented its Open Cloud Initiative, ASUS Open Cloud Computing (AOCC), which is
compatible with popular operating systems and offers users an alternative means by which to
share media (photos, videos, documents…) between devices.
Samsung announced the HomeSync Android TV box, a cloud-based solution for mobile-to-
TV content sharing.
Dropbox announced a partnership with Samsung: new Samsung smartphones will come
pre-installed with a Dropbox client for instant cloud-based backup of photos and other files
HP announced that the company’s ePrint application will be pre-installed on the new Slate7
Android tablet, enabling users to print directly from their devices anywhere where they have
an Internet connection.
The cloud business mobility services segment, including cloud application services (software-as- a-
service), cloud system infrastructure services (IaaS), cloud management and security services, was
also omnipresent at MWC 13. Samsung announced KNOX, an end-to-end secure platform designed
to make Android devices secure enough for the enterprise by offering a container solution that
separates business and personal use of the mobile device. Ericsson and SAP AG announced an
agreement to offer cloud-based machine-to-machine solutions and services to enterprises. Building
on Ericsson’s device connection platform and the SAP HANA platform, this new platform (as-a-
service-model) will provide M2M services to the enterprise via mobile operators. HP presented its
cloud-based service for small and medium businesses to print documents by sending them to an HP
printer’s email address.
Another clear trend is clearly developing around mobile cloud as a whole: cloud storage and other
technologies are now fully integrated into devices and mobile apps; the mobile cloud is not stand-
alone technology anymore. This is illustrated by Dropbox’s stated aim to partner with mobile
operators to integrate the storage service into their own services to act as a hub.
You talk about a billion files, this is your wedding photos and your tax returns and your work stuff, […] Doing that at scale, doing it reliably, doing it securely is really challenging. Drew Houston,
Dropbox
LTE and cloud is the most powerful technological combination we have ever seen
Randall Stephenson,
AT&T
The combination of the connected world and cloud storage offers tremendous new business opportunities […] the main blocking factor for widespread use of such cloud storage services is the lack of data security in the cloud
Pim Tuyls, Intrinsic-ID
Worldwide public cloud services market to hit $131b
Gartner
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Cloud, cloud, everywhere:
Dropbox is aspiring to be the hub for millions of users to store their files in the cloud
Samsung is integrating the cloud with TVs and home theatres
Huawei is looking to be the centre of Internet-driven home entertainment
Sony is using NFC to supplant Bluetooth for device-to-device communications
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
The cloud sector is transforming the mobile industry in ways that will profoundly affect the mobile
ecosystem. The public cloud sector is growing very rapidly. All the major technology
organisations are now offering their own cloud based services. Dropbox, one of the most widely
used alternatives for online storage already has more than 100 million users. The next step for
the sector is clear: attract enterprise customers. Samsung’s move into enterprise cloud services
is an important indicator.
However, concerns about cloud security remain, particularly in the enterprise environment. The
majority of companies offering cloud services agree that concerns about security in the cloud are
legitimate, but counter that these risks can be mitigated with the right security strategy. For
example early versions of Google Wallet, available only in the USA, used the phone’s secure
local storage to protect card data; now everything is stored in the cloud, enabling users allowing
Google to sync their preferred payment method across multiple devices and keep track of both
online and in-store purchases through Google's web Wallet.
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6 Mobile apps: the new industrial revolution
Mobile apps were one of the hottest trends of the 2013 Mobile World Congress, and one of the
biggest announcements was Mozilla’s Firefox OS, which has attracted a lot of attention and interest
from the mobile community.
The mobile OS community continues to grow apace, with a total of four new players declaring their
hand at MWC:
Mozilla signed more than 17 operators up to support its Firefox OS open web initiative.
Tizen will be implemented by NTT Docomo, Orange and Samsung by the end of the year
Ubuntu Phone OS is designed for the development of native applications in HTML5
Sailfish, developed by Finnish mobile start-up Jolla
These initiatives are clear attempts to challenge the stranglehold of iOS and Android in the operating
system market. With the arrival of these new players, there is a need for greater convergence
between mobile platforms to enable better interoperability between devices. It appears fragmentation
of the mobile OS market means that multi-platform mobile development is likely to become the norm
in the coming years.
Another clear trend was developing around HTML5: the Firefox OS is built completely using HTML5
standards, and Ubuntu will run both HTML5-based web apps and native apps. Oracle released its
latest version of NetBeans, an integrated development environment for creating web apps in Java.
Oracle has also updated the IDE (integrated developer environment). So Java developers will be
able to include common JavaScript frameworks like Backbone and jQuery into their apps.
Brightcove launched a new monetisation solution for HTML5 video.
The enterprise mobile market is continuing to evolve rapidly. This year, a large number of mobile app
management (MAM) vendors were present, but the big news was the sizeable number of companies
offering mobile enterprise apps and app store solutions. We are beginning to see a real market for
mobile enterprise apps and also the need to switch from mobile device management (MDM) to
mobile app management (MAM). MAM vendor Apperian, which recently received investment from
Intel, is now focusing on providing access to apps in the enterprise environment. The coming
challenge could be the opening of the mobile enterprise apps market to the consumer app store
(iOS, Android…) developers’ ecosystem. In the same way, developers creating apps for the general
public could also develop apps for enterprises, managed by a third-party provider.
At WMC, the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2013 recognised and celebrated all the contributions
made to the ever-evolving and developing mobile industry. Here's a recap of the winners of the
important app awards:
Best Mobile App for Consumers: Facebook
Best Mobile App for Enterprise: Evernote
Best Overall Mobile App: Waze
Most Innovative Mobile App: Chok! Chok! Chok!
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Compatibility and concurrent development look like becoming big challenges in the coming years:
Multiple new mobile operating systems
Different platforms, different partners, same audiences
Opera and Firefox reaching out way beyond the browser space
Social apps hold worldwide appeal
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
The 2013 MWC was overrun by mobile operating systems, showing that there is still room for
innovation in the elite world of m-OS. The future of these new entrants is uncertain, but one thing
is for sure: the value is shifting from a web economy to an app economy.
We see a lot of new opportunities in the mobile app sector: as an example, the official mobile app
developed of the event was very useful - not only during the conferences to access the latest
information but also ahead of time to schedule meetings. It could have been even more
interesting to add some innovative features directly into the app such as indoor GPS, taxi
reservations, and bumping technology to share contact information. MWC represents the perfect
opportunity to showcase how mobile technologies will change our lives. The best is yet to come!
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7 Shopping and commerce at our fingertips
NFC has been available for some years. The reason it is still not widely used can be attributed to
conflicts of interest between the different players involved. As was mentioned in section 4, the
number of players, their relationships and the potential for non-NFC solutions is growing
continuously. While most device manufacturers are betting on an NFC future, key players like Apple
have not yet jumped on this particular train. eBay is also betting on a non-hardware shopping model,
claiming usability and accessibility to mobile commerce must supersede technology.
MWC13 was an interesting opportunity to put the NFC experience to the test, and companies like
SONY contributed to promote the use of the NFC payment mechanism both in the MWC facilities
and out in the city. Mobile devices, with or without NFC, add many new possibilities to our shopping
experience, a topic which came up repeatedly in meetings and conference sessions.
Danielle Lee of AT&T presented a project born out of AT&T’s AdWorks. In this program, AT&T
customers can opt-in to receive special deals and promotions via SMS. Once a user confirms via
SMS that they do indeed want to receive the messages, the AT&T network keeps track of where they
are using the cell towers their devices are talking to. When a customer enters a pre-defined area, the
customer receives a text message with a special offer available in that immediate area.
Consumers can also log into their AT&T accounts and choose which brands/products they most care
about. For those who have opted in, the program has been very well received; users report they
enjoy getting relevant deals delivered to them.
Another location-based approach to mobile marketing was presented by David Katz of Groupon. He
shared that a full one third of Groupon’s transactions are now coming from mobile. Beyond the
classic flash sale experience that the company is famous for, it is evolving into a “Commerce
Discovery Experience”. The company’s mobile app plots Groupon deals on a map, populated in
significant part by “evergreen” deals that are not time-limited like their classic flash sales.
Response to this model has been very high: mobile drove more than 40% of Groupon’s sales on
Black Friday.
Ambarish Mitra, CEO of Blippar, discussed the potential of Augmented Reality in the shopping
experience. As an example, he cited a very successful campaign for Heinz designed around
consumers scanning bottles of ketchup in the store. The Augmented Reality experience generated
by the Blippar app presented consumers with recipes and videos. The campaign captured over
219,000 unique consumers who scanned bottles in stores and recorded more than 475,000
interactions with the AR experience.
One forecast that was particularly intriguing came from Sandra Alzetta of Visa. She predicted that, by
2020, 50% of Visa’s transaction volume would come from mobile.
To drive adoption in mobile experience, consumers want protection and the knowledge of knowing how things work [and] this is still an on-going process with NFC technology
Danielle Lee, AT&T
We have done over 40 million downloads worldwide and we are finding that customers spend over 50 per cent more once they start buying on mobile
David Katz, Groupon
Augmented reality as a technology is starting to mature, and people are taking fuller and better advantage of it
Julian Harris, Qualcomm
Implementing near-field communication [NFC] is the last step in the mobile commerce journey for retailers Ercan Kilic, GS-1
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It seems the world will never tire of new shopping experiences:
Sony partnered with Telefónica and LaCaixa to create a dedicated NFC experience for
congress visitors inside and outside the event venue
AT&T is combining TV and mobile data to generate tightly-targeted ads (and a billion dollars
in revenue)
Mobile is perhaps Groupon’s last opportunity to become a profitable business
Augmented Reality is coming to a supermarket near you.
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GFT’s Market Research Analysis
For businesses, the commerce possibilities are obviously the most interesting aspect of the latest
mobile devices. The interest shown by carriers, mobile device manufacturers, card issuers, and
financial institutions in forging ahead is evident in partnerships like Citi-Google, Caixa-Telefonica-
Visa and Banco Santander-Orange-Blackberry. However, the lack of inter-player relationship
standards, the time required to get effective collaborations in place, and the continuous high-
speed evolution of the technology provide the scenario we see today: multiple players with
multiple interests, growing in number in a growing field with a dynamic environment, and no clear
winner - yet.
Particularly notable is the apparent distance between mobile operators and OTT (over the top)
software development companies like Viber and Skype with regard to the latter’s business
models; according to Ericsson’s President & CEO Hans Vetsberg, “We invest, you get the
revenues”.
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8 IT Trends Radar
The GFT IT Trends Radar is a simple visualization of the different technologies and trends at
MWC13 that are most likely to impact the global IT market. Please note that the graphic below does
not include all trends and technologies, but rather provides a snapshot of coming shifts and
changes– driven by new technologies, trends or emerging products and services.
This IT Trends Radar focuses on four main area of interest:
The widespread embrace of mobile devices, apps, technologies and services
The challenges of enterprise mobility in today's interconnected world
The next generation of analytics to solve business problems and generate strategies for
effective customer engagement
The futuristic technologies that could very well be a part of our future
This radar is just one perspective on how the future could be, based on our extensive experience of
the IT sector and our market research expertise. The intention of the IT Trends Radar is to make
trends transparent and understandable within their context and give the readers direction for their
business; readers are, however, cautioned to remember that nothing is certain in this world except
death and taxes – certainly not technology!
Legend: Technologies that may have a low impact on the market are in the inner circle, technologies that may have a medium
impact on the market in the next circle, and technologies with the most promising future in the two outer circles.
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9 Additional resources
This section contains additional useful information related to the Mobile World Congress 2013:
Mobile World Live has produced a video showcasing the main
highlights from the Mobile World Congress 2013
GSMA has released the findings of its second annual Global
Mobile Money Adoption Survey. The report analyses the state of
the mobile money industry in 2012 and illustrates key findings from
the programme’s Mobile Money Deployment Tracker
Nielsen has launched a new report called: “The Mobile Consumer:
A Global Snapshot which looks at mobile usage around the world
GSMA released a new report, The Mobile Economy 2013, which
provides a comprehensive overview of the mobile industry and
outlines the key opportunities and challenges for the mobile
industry over the next five years
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Contact:
Thibaut Loilier | Business Marketing | GFT Group
T +34 93 565 9100 | [email protected]
Copyright © 2013 GFT Technologies AG. All rights reserved.
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