by Mark Ollig
Along the Mediterranean Sea is the beautiful city of
Barcelona, Spain.
Last week, it played host to the world’s largest mobile
industry gathering.
In addition to attracting 100,000 professionals from
around the world, the 2016 MWC (Mobile World Conference) showcased over 2,000
industry exhibits.
The MWC is such a popular annual event, the local
Barcelona TV station: www.btv.cat, broadcast it live.
Mobile communications is big, and so is the potential
of “mobile money,” which was one topic discussed during the MWC.
The GSMA Mobile Money program (think PayPal) is being
used in 85 percent of the countries lacking access to formal financial
institutions.
According to GSMA (Global System for Mobile
Communications), which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide,
there are 271 Mobile Money services available in 93 countries.
Over 1 billion individual Mobile Money digital
transactions were processed during December 2015.
Are you using the short-range, wireless Near Field
Communication (NFC) chip inside your mobile smartphone for “tap-to-pay”?
You can quickly pay for a purchase by simply “tapping”
your smartphone against a store’s NFC compatible payment terminal to wirelessly
transmit your payment information, and quickly complete a transaction.
Samsung Electronics Co., held demonstrations showing
their newest Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone’s compatibility with the Gear VR
(Virtual Reality) gaming headset.
When worn, the VR headset looks like futuristic aviator
eye goggles.
There are many virtual events you can “teleport” to,
using the “AltspaceVR” application.
This app brings people together in a “social virtual
reality environment.”
One experiences VR from a 360 degree, immersive world
perspective, and can participate in virtual reality scenarios with other people
using the AltspaceVR app.
VR venues include: deserts, outer space stations,
hiking trials, scuba diving, and most any other setting you can imagine.
You can virtually share experiences and interact with
others while watching movies, playing games, or even while enjoying the comedian
performing inside a virtual comedy club.
Learn more about sharing virtual reality with anyone,
anywhere at: www.altvr.com.
During MWC, many electronic wearables were exhibited,
including a new fitness tracker in your choice of colorized, artsy-looking,
plastic-sculpted wristbands.
It’s called the Garmin Vivofit 3.
This wearable uses a backlit display, and tracks
activities using its Move IQ auto feature.
Move IQ monitors one’s walking, running, biking,
elliptical training, and swimming (it’s water resistant to 164 feet).
It keeps track of the number of calories burned, and
evaluates how you sleep.
An alert-tone can be activated if you’re physically
inactive for too long (I might disable this feature).
The Garmin Vivofit 3 battery lasts for one year.
Accenture Digital presented: “The Era of Living
Services.”
Living Services associates itself with the
interconnected IoT (Internet of Things) devices inside the cloud; commonly
known as the Internet.
The reason it’s called Living Services, is because the
IoT wearable devices we use travel and “live” with us in real-time.
They continuously gather information about our varied surroundings;
this accumulated data allows a personalized profile to be created.
Accenture Digital’s analytical software studies this
information, and provides suggestions on how we can better ourselves within our
surroundings.
Computer processing chip maker Intel Corp., along with
Ericsson (a communications company), presented several 5G mobile wireless
technology demonstrations.
Demonstrations showed how 5G technologies will improve
the operation of robotics, building security systems; cars connected the
Internet via 5G, and the energy management systems within “smart” homes and
businesses.
They also showed real-world applications of using 5G
technology benefits used within rural agriculture applications.
Two included remotely controlling farm machinery, and
information-gathering haptic helicopters (aerial drones).
Facebook’s Chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, after
appearing last year, was once again in Barcelona.
“We believe that everyone should have access to the
Internet,” he addressed the conference attendees. “It’s kind of crazy . . .
we’re sitting here in 2016, and still, 4 billion in the world don’t have access
to the Internet.”
Zuckerberg went on to say; “This year we’re going to
launch our first satellite over Africa in order to be able to work with
operators to extend connectivity [of the Internet].”
The Graphene Pavilion area at the MWC showcased its
research and latest achievements, along with prototype devices made with
graphene materials.
Use of graphene will allow for extreme flexibility and
bendability for much thinner wearables, smartphones, IoT devices, display
screens, and batteries.
“The impact of graphene applications in the mobile
industry will be profound,” said Prof. Frank Koppens, of The Institute of
Photonic Sciences located in Barcelona.
The website for Graphene Flagship the European Union’s
largest research initiative, is: www.graphene-flagship.eu.
While watching the live Barcelona MWC TV broadcast, I
noticed many of the walls inside the conference center had these three large,
prominently written words: MOBILE IS EVERYTHING.
I agree. Advances in mobile technology are essential;
being it serves as the transport medium for today’s and tomorrow’s IoT.
By keeping ourselves educated, we better understand of
how mobile’s technical fabric is being interwoven into our lives.
Search the latest tweets/messages on Twitter from this
year’s Mobile World Conference using hashtag #mwc16.
The website for the MWC is: www.mobileworldlive.com.
