Mobile World Congress Looms

With the Mobile World Congress looming next week, and a busy travel schedule you've noticed the blogging has been lighter than usual.

Well, I've been boning up on what's happening at MWC next week. In my view the best coverage will come from three areas:

1) The analysts who blog

2) The bloggers

3) The core media who regularly cover the wireless world

The sheer volume of events, announcements and of course parties is overwhelming. I've tracked over 1000 press invites received, more than 500 meeting requests, and dozens of "can you meet me at this party..." type of invitation. Popularity aside, the wine and beer will be flowing in Barcelona.

While I'll be there for Nokia and Vringo, both agency clients, I'll be keeping an eye peeled on Mobile VoIP and FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence). The recent CounterPath acquisition of recent client Bridgeport Networks shows that FMC is more than just a vision, someone clearly has an idea on how to make it work.

Along that same line of thinking, yesterday Cicero Networks and Boingo hooked up for a wireless calling play in Boingo's hotspots. They'll show off the potential next week.

My view is that FMC and VoIP over WiFi are going to become part of mobile carriers offerings as they seek to head off in to the 4G world.