Bottom Line: Zuckerberg takes centre stage in Barcelona
FROM THE MWC BARCELONA
ONCE a year, everyone who’s anyone in mobile undertakes a pilgrimage of sorts to Barcelona, for Mobile World Congress (MWC). Think Davos or the Sundance Film Festival but rather than politicians or movie directors, the congress draws more than 75,000 attendees from the mobile industry; executives, developers and analysts.
This week deals will be done, speeches given, and devices announced and demonstrated from all the major mobile manufacturers.
But it’s about more than just gadgets – trends are being set and themes are emerging.
Tonight Facebook’s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will deliver the MWC keynote address, in a move that indicates just how crucial Facebook knows mobile is to its future – and just days after its $19bn (£11.4bn) takeover of popular messaging app WhatsApp.
While Zuckerberg is expected to spend most of his time on stage discussing Internet.org – his partnership with six mobile firms that aims to bring affordable internet access to everyone – just his presence in Barcelona at MWC shows how important mobile is to his online empire.
The figures don’t lie. Mobile advertising is now responsible for over half of Facebook’s total revenue (53 per cent) and mobile users account for over 75 per cent of the social network’s total user base.
We’re truly living in a mobile world, and for the next five days an airport-sized conference centre in Barcelona is at the heart of it.