Mobile World Congress is an annual event that occurs every February, featuring the combination of the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference spotlighting prominent executives from top mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners across the world.

This year’s MWC will start on Monday, February 27 and will run until Thursday, March 1.  The event will be held at the Fira Montjuïc, in Barcelona, Spain.  Contrary to previous events, the Opening Keynotes will be on Monday, the 27th, instead of Tuesday.

Keynote Speakers

At the time of writing, there are 30 confirmed Keynote speakers coming from different sectors of the mobile industry such as ARM CEO Warren East, Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers, HTC CEO Peter Chou, Juniper Networks CEO Kevin Johnson and more.

Mobile World Live Keynotes will feature Facebook CTO Bret Taylor on the 27th – 13:15 CET, Ford Executive Chaiman William CLay Ford Jr. on the 27th – 18:00 CET, Google Executive Chairman Eri Schmidt on the 28th – 18:00 CET, and Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg on the 29th – 18:00 CET.

Recap: 2011 Highlights

Before moving on to this year’s MWC, let’s take a look at some of the highlights at last year’s event.

The were more attendees, exhibitors, CEOs delivering keynotes such as Google’s Eric Schmidt, Nokia’s Stephen Elop, Twitter’s Dick Costolo, and AT&T’s Randall Stephenson, CEOs in attendance, Conference Attendees, and App Developer Conferences than ever before.

Nearly 1,400 companies showcased their organisations through exhibition stand and hospitality space.

App Planet hosted more than 10,000 app developers and packed it in with an app-focused exhibition, an App Lounge for networking, a Forum Series covering LTE and Cloud discussions, and App Developer Conferences hosted by BlackBerry, Developer program.com, HP, IMGA, Macworld Mobile, Microsoft, Mobile {Dev}Sync, Nokia, Samsung, WAC, and WIP.

Click here to view a video of last year’s highlights.

What’s New in 2012

Aside from moving the Opening Keynotes from Tuesday to Monday, there will be Keynote addresses each of the four mornings of the event.  This year, MWC is launching mPowered Brands – a new program dedicated to accelerating marketers’ knowledge and utilization of mobile as a marketing medium.  And because of the success of last year’s event, they have increased the seating capacity in their conference programme as they are expecting more attendees this year.

Products To Watch Out For
LG

• Optimus 4X HD featuring a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display as well as a 2,150mAh battery and Ice Cream Sandwich.
• Optimus 3D Max measuring at 9.6mm thick with a 4.3-inch WVGA display featuring a faster 1.2GHz dual-core processor and NFC support, Gingerbread but upgradable ICS after launch.
• Optimus Vu featuring a 4.3-inch XGA display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2,080mAh battery, very thin 8.5mm frame, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) out of the box but LG stated that it is already working on the ICS update.
• Optimus L3, L5 and L7: Both the L5 and L7 will run Android 4.0, the budget-friendly L3 will run Gingerbread. L5 features a 4.0-inch display, the L7 will come loaded with a 4.3-inch screen and the L3 will have a tiny 3.2-inch panel.
• Optimus LTE Tag features the LG Tag+ ability which uses the smartphone’s NFC to communicate with special stickers that can be programmed.  It features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch WVGA IPS panel and a 5-megapixel camera, runs on Gingerbread and like the Opitmus Vu, LG is working on the ICS upgrade.

HTC

Though HTC hasn’t unveiled their lineup, they have a very peculiar teaser on their Facebook Page.  The teaser has a rectangular outline of a device with a big number five in the middle of it.  People are now thinking that HTC will be parading 5 devices at the event and two of those devices could be tablets.

Samsung

The South Korean company is said to be launching the Learning Hub, their take on digital education and Apple’s iBooks, and the quad-core Exynos 4 for tablets and high-end smartphones.

Nokia

The Finnish phone maker teased fans with the video Get Ready To Capture A Pure View.  Critics are now guessing that Nokia is bringing a 12 megapixel camera on their devices.

Apps

NFC

NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced that seven NFC service providers and application providers will showcase their NFC services which utilize NXP’s mobile NFC technology, NFC tags, and contactless readers at the NFC Cafe, a concept cafe within NXP’s Mobile World Congress booth.

• Touchanote works together with Evernote to allow you to access your notes faster than ever before.
• Narian Technologies is an NFC application enabling retailers to offer high-value NFC services that improve customer service and generates an immediate ROI.
• With NFC support in the Foursquare Android application, users can immediately check in after tapping an NFC-enabled Foursquare badge.
• The OpenWays doorlock utilizes the NXP contactless readers and the OpenWays application utilizes NXP’s NFC radio controllers and NFC operating stack integration for Symbian and Android versions of the application.
• DeviceFidelity is the developer of the In2Pay microSD and In2Pay iCaisse solutions that transform popular mobile phones into secure, interactive contactless transaction devices.
• PayByPhone was founded over ten years ago and is a leading provider of mobile payments in the parking industry.By tapping an NFC tag on the meter, the exact meter number is registered allowing fast and accurate payment.

Mozilla App Store

Mozilla will be launching the Mozilla Marketplace to app developers at the event in preparation for a commercial launch later this year.  The Mozilla Marketplace will be part of the Mozilla Web Apps platform, which will also include the undisclosed APIs. Mozilla said that those standards would be submitted to the W3C for standardization. Mozilla also plans a “new identity system for the Web that puts users in control of their content, tying apps to the user and not the device or platform”.

Augmented Reality

MWC is a huge event and with all the attendees, exhibitors, media covering the event, it will be quite a feat exploring the event.  Don’t fret, MWC has apps that attendees can use to explore the event.

The first app is the 360 Explore, which will allow users to choose which area of the event to discover.  The experience begins at MWC on The Avenue and by moving your mobile device around, you will see five different icons to explore to learn more about MWC.

The 3D Print Ad: for this you’ll need to download an app and when you point your device’s camera on a printed ad, the ad will come alive in 3D and will display 5 different icons for you to explore MWC.

QR Codes and download links for the apps are available here.

Mobile World Live

If you can’t be physically at the MWC, you can still enjoy the event by visiting the Mobile World Live – a vibrant information resource and online portal from the GSMA.  You can also enjoy watching live feeds of the MWC through the Mobile World Live TV which will broadcast from the 27th February to 1st March 2012 via a dedicated channel across Catalonia, reaching over 100 delegate hotels and 12,000 bedrooms. Mobile World Live TV will also be available to over 60,000 event attendees throughout the 4-day Congress on large screens located on the avenue and in the exhibition halls and the channel will be streamed live in selected apps and to the Mobile World Live website.