The Mobile World Congress, also now known solely as MWC, is an annual event and exhibition show held in Barcelona and is primarily about connectivity. It is the largest event in the world dedicated to the mobile industry and connectivity in general.
I was lucky enough to be able to attend this event in 2024 and while I have nothing to do with the mobile industry except being a mobile user, it was a truly exciting experience for me. Just to see the sheer volume of people, exhibitors, movement and the speed at which things move at this event, wow, this was an event experience I will likely never forget.
Some MWC basics
- 4-day annual event that takes place in Barcelona
- Attended by around 100,000 every year
- Over 2000 exhibitors
- GSMA that organises MWC makes about $50 million in profit from this event alone
- The event brings to Barcelona a spending of $5 billion
- Attended by the most influential figures of the mobile and connectivity industry
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Well, my experience from this event was somewhat mixed. I was going to go only for one day, however, thinking about the size of this trade fair, I went for 3 days in a row. I simply wanted to have the full experience and had also met with people there. It was a great meeting point. It also gave me a huge headache after a while, because I’m not a big fan of some high frequency places with thousands of people and so much concentrated at one place, however, I must say that it was totally worth it.
I saw a car designed by the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, which had a very good design. I saw a Motorola phone, one that I used to have as a kid, the one that flipped, that can now bend around a wrist. I saw a helicopter that can turn into a plane, transparent display, robot dogs, I talked to a humanoid, Ameca, that blew my mind.
She was programmed partially with ChatGPT, and it’s quite impressive the way she answered questions. I also told her to send Miroslav a message that he is a great artist. She told me that she doesn’t know whether he is a great artist, but she will tell him that I said so. A wicked answer from her. It doesn’t just do whatever you ask it to, it answers in quite a smart way. It surprises you. It’s also very funny.
Anyway, I thought a mobile event will not excite me that much, but now I can say that it was worth going and I got to also meet some interesting people. I’m still buzzing from seeing just how this event progresses and also is made and organised, it’s impressive.