MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS FEBRUARY 2017 BARCELONA

WELCOME TO MWC

With more than 2,200 exhibitors, Mobile WANs), on the other hand, are now widely World Congress (MWC) is a truly enor- available, allowing a true Internet of things mous event. Spread over eight halls of (IoT) — swarms of low-cost, long-lived de- the Fira de Barcelona, this year the event vices connected directly to the Internet to attracted over 100,000 attendees. Even for provide ever-richer data and the opportu- the veteran, a week at MWC can be ex- nity for control. Along with all of that data, hausting and overwhelming. platforms to make effective use of it were also on show, from helping consumers to Once the dominant feature of MWC, new replace individual batteries before they run handsets are just one of many strands to- out to optimising agriculture and cities at day. For all the high-end announcements, huge scale. Mid-tier Android phones represent the vast majority of the market in the developed Health applications, both professional and world, and in this fiercely competitive area consumer, were strongly in force. At the most handsets are as powerful and fea- consumer level, the emphasis had moved ture-rich as the high end of 12–18 months from providing information to providing ago. HMD Global stole the show in a fit of advice and guidance, using machine learn- nostalgia by relaunching one of Nokia’s ing informed by rich data sets. At the pro- most famous feature phones, the 3310. fessional end, many companies are vying Handsets were not the only mobile hard- to be the network “glue” for the increasing- ware, with larger-format devices such as ly connected health industry. Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs showing maturity, Media, marketing and apps at MWC had and more voice-powered assistants (think less of the “Wild West” of previous years, Amazon Echo) from Sony and SK Telecom reflecting growing maturity. Adtech ven- among others. dors are increasingly struggling to differen- There was plenty on show about the com- tiate, and “App Planet” was more about the ing benefits of 5G networks, although it building blocks of modern mobile experi- still felt premature for many with wide- ences, with the buzz about consumer apps spread deployment unlikely before 2020. shifting to MWC’s sister event Four Years Low-power wireless area networks (LP- From Now (4YFN).

HANDSETS

At the high end, this year’s new handsets Well-funded startup HMD Global stole the marked attempts by the large-volume show, however, with its Nokia-branded manufacturers to differentiate themselves. handsets — not for the competently- LG’s G6 featured a taller, narrow screen executed Android smartphones, but for to improve handling. Sony showcased its reincarnating of one of the Nokia’s most camera technology with a camera capable famous feature phones, the 3310. of super slow motion, shooting bursts of Mid-tier Android smartphones represent video at 960 frames per second. Lenovo the vast majority of the market in the showed a range of “Moto Mod” add-ons developed world — and, by extension, for its Moto Z — reminiscent of last year’s the way that most consumers experience modular LG G5, but more practically based mobile content. The mid tier is now fiercely on a modular case back, rather than stick- competitive, with most handsets as ing out of the bottom of the phone. powerful and feature-rich as the premium Two little-known companies played the devices from 12–18 months ago. nostalgia card with famous brands of yore. Smaller, upstart manfacturers also brought Chinese manufacturer TCL, having already their share of novelty, from Light Phone taken over the originally French Alcatel jumping on the nostalgia bandwagon with brand for mid-tier phones, announced a a pretty, stripped-down phone just for return of the Blackberry brand to devices voice calls, to Oppo’s novel optics that with the KEYone, a premium Android fold up a 5× optical zoom lens inside a slim phone featuring the physical QWERTY phone body. keyboard beloved of Blackberry fans. NOKIA 3310 BY HMD GLOBAL Nokia’s original 3310 is an It’s hard not to draw a handset market, giving a icon of the mobile phone contrast between a €49 new spin to a classic model world. For many it was feature phone and the was a canny marketing their first phone, and a flagship smartphones that move. Even if the new series of memes celebrating typically dominate the device only sells in small its robustness has kept show. Whether this says volumes, the publicity it it front of mind and on- more about the lacklustre generates will have, and trend. The reborn handset, state of smartphone already has had, a positive essentially a standard 2G hardware or the power of impact. And there remains feature phone in the familiar deep-rooted nostalgia is a good chance it will sell shell, stole all the buzz open to debate. in substantial numbers, and hardware headlines at with margins that will make As HMD Global brings the MWC. other handset makers green Nokia brand back to the with envy. XPERIA PREMIUM XZ BY SONY

Sony’s Xperia Premium XZ felt like a phone from the future. It is one of the first smartphones to be capable of Gigabit-class LTE speeds thanks to the Snapdragon 835 at its heart, though it’s not available in shops until June. Also notable was the camera, powered by Sony’s Sony has less than 1% mar- own 19-megapixel IMX300 its own smartphones. This ket share and shipped half sensor. Sony showcased suggests its phones are, at as many devices in 2016 as it with an impressive and least in part, a way to show in 2015. Remarkably, it now crowd-pleasing demo of off the capabilities of its makes more money from slow-motion video capture camera sensors and related selling phone cameras to (960 frames per second at technologies. competitors than selling 720p resolution).

NOKIA 3, 5 AND 6 BY HMD GLOBAL

The “other” Nokia phones announced at MWC were three mid-tier Android devices which gained much greater visibility thanks to their nostalgia-infused cousin. For consumers, there’s a small price premium to pay for the considered design and the device “DNA” has been car- comfort of a familiar brand. Android devices. Initially, it ried over to the new entity. will be exploiting the Nokia The line between Nokia and Nonetheless, HMD faces brand to stand out in a sea HMD Global is thin (the two a considerable challenge of smartphone sameness. companies shared a stand as it looks to establish a Over the longer term it will at the show) and it does ap- meaningful presence in the need to generate more con- pear that much of the Nokia smartphone market with its crete differentiation. G6 BY LG The G6 is an example of the LG’s new flagship repre- contrasting with the 16:9 quintessential MWC flagship sents a return to basics screens of other smart- handset announcement after last year’s modular phones. Taller and narrow- from years gone by — high- phones. It’s most notable er than its competitors, it end specifications married feature is the “18:9” (2:1) should be easier to handle. to splashy announcements. aspect ratio of its screen,

P10 PLUS BY HUAWEI BLACKBERRY KEYONE BY TCL Looking to build on A combination of The BlackBerry KeyONE instant app speed-dial, its arrival as the num- an evolved unibody is the third device that and there’s a fingerprint ber three smartphone form-factor, partnerships resulted from a licensing sensor on the space bar. manufacturer and grow with Leica and Pantone, agreement between TCL It’s also great for enter- sales outside of its home and cutting-edge com- and BlackBerry, after the ing text. market of China, Huawei ponents from silicon to latter exited the hard- TCL is aiming to expand used MWC to launch the screen, creates both the ware market last year. its market reach beyond latest generation of its perception and reality The key differentiator the low-margin consum- P-series flagship smart- of a sophisticated and is a physical QWERTY er segment occupied phones. elegant phone. keyboard. It can be used by its Alcatel brand into to scroll without touch- niches where specialist ing the screen, each key devices can flourish, if acts as a shortcut for an they’re good enough. ALCATEL A5 BY TCL The Alcatel A5 is a standard mid- on the phone features an array of tier Android phone — one of many multi-coloured LEDs that light up in announced at MWC. However, it response to activity on the phone: stood out from the crowd with smart incoming calls, messages, or music product design. The rear casing playing, for example.

MOTO MODS FOR MOTO Z BY LENOVO Lenovo is making the Moto Z stand showing off a Hasselblad camera mod out from the crowd by providing Moto (10× optical zoom), an Insta-Share Mods: clip-on accessories that add mod (a projector that can throw an extra hardware capabilities to the image as large as 178cm), and a JBL base smartphone, similar to last year’s SoundBoost speaker mod. modular LG G5. At MWC Lenovo was

LIGHT PHONE BY LIGHT The Light Phone is a discreet, credit­ be used as your second phone and card sized, mobile phone designed can share the same number as your to be used as little as needed. A “go primary phone thanks to clever use of light” philosophy means only making call forwarding. But, at $200, it seems and receiving calls. It is designed to a little expensive.

CARBON BY CARBONWORKS Carbon is an Android smartphone than the typical smartphone. It with a casing made of high-tech felt uncannily light, proving it’s still composite materials, including carbon possible to surprise with smartphone fibre and kevlar. This makes it lighter material design. (107g), thinner (4.6mm), and stronger

5X OPTICAL ZOOM BY OPPO Oppo, the number one smartphone mechanism enables a telephoto lens maker by volume in China last year, to be mounted horizontally inside the showed off a concept phone with a phone, with light reflected into the optical zoom built into its camera, assembly via a prism. Combined with a rarity in the space-constrained a wide angle lens, the setup is able to smartphone world. A periscope-like achieve up to 5× lossless zoom.

HARDWARE

Every passing year sees the scope of what There was evidence of the hot consumer counts as “mobile” hardware at MWC grow. electronics trends for voice-powered as- sistants like Amazon’s Echo and the Goog- Designs for large-format mobile showed in- le Home. Sony showed its Xperia Agent creased maturity, with Samsung (which de- concept — notable for an in-built screen cided not to launch its latest smartphone to display complementary information — at MWC) showing refined tablet/notebook and Korean operator SK Telecom demon- devices with detachable physical key- strated its Nugu AI platform with a smart boards, great battery life and a choice of speaker. Android or Windows. Start-up Sentio revis- ited the convertible phone concept with its And as with handsets, nostalgia had its Superbook, a device that allows you to use place. Start-up Planet Computing reim- your Android phone with a notebook-like agined the Psion Series 5 PDA from the experience — a clamshell of screen and 1990s by hiring its original designer: the physical keyboard; overlapping windowed satisfying hinge, the same small but high- apps (run in Android’s tablet mode) — at a ly tactile keyboard, but with modern An- very reasonable starting price of $119. droid-powered smartphone internals.

SONY XPERIA TOUCH BY SONY The Xperia Touch is an For input it detects users’ and offers an interesting Android-powered, short- gestures and taps using perspective on a way to throw projector that turns a combination of infrared take physical screens out of any flat surface — be it sensors and a 60fps homes and offices. a wall or a table — into a camera. It will go on sale in touch-screen. the early summer for €1,499

WATCH 2 BY HUAWEI GALAXY BOOK/TAB S3 BY SAMSUNG Huawei announced the operate independently In the absence of a Samsung emphasised second iteration of its of a smartphone. Also flagship smartphone, both stylus input (via the smartwatch product line notable is the integration Samsung introduced S-Pen) and transformer/ powered by Android of FirstBeat analytics for two new high-end laptop-like credentials Wear. It’s one of only a advanced training metrics tablets at MWC: the (via attached keyboard), handful of smartwatches (Recovery Time, VO2Max), Windows-powered subtly eschewing the to include LTE connec- giving the Watch 2 strong Galaxy Book and the typical finger-touch- tivity, which means it can fitness credentials. Android-powered Galaxy first approach of most Tab 3. tablets. STAEDTLER S-PEN BY SAMSUNG Samsung partnered with famed pencil and black “number two” Noris pencils. maker Staedtler to create an S-Pen It boasts 4,096 levels of pressure designed specifically to work with sensitivity and can be used to write Samsung’s latest Galaxy Book and and store memos even when the Galaxy Tab S3 tablets. It looks and tablet screen is off. feels just like one of Staedtler’s yellow

SUPERBOOK BY SENTIO SuperBook is a universal laptop shell Android hotkeys. The connection for Android devices. It transforms an between the smartphone and laptop Android smartphone into a laptop, shell is made via USB On-The-Go. The with a large HD screen, multi-touch SuperBook is available for pre-order trackpad, and full keyboard with now from $119.

GEAR VR AND CONTROLLER BY SAMSUNG Samsung showed off its latest Gear headset, compatible with all Samsung VR headset at MWC. Most notable high-end smartphones, now boasts a is the new hand-held Controller 101-degree field of view and distortion accessory, which allows for greater correction technology intended to freedom of control inside VR when minimise motion sickness. compared to the previous headset- mounted controls. The tweaked

GEMINI BY PLANET COMPUTING Gemini is a thin clamshell mobile designed by Martin Riddiford. The device with a fully integrated Gemini, currently on Kickstarter, QWERTY keyboard. In a year will run both Linux and Android dominated by nostalgia, this is the and is fully equipped with 4G, WiFi Psion Series 5 PDA reimagined. The and Bluetooth, enabling both data link here is that both devices were communications and phone calls.

XPERIA AGENT BY SONY Sony used MWC to show off the latest a permanent presence in people’s iteration of its AI-powered personal homes, its primary input mode assistant and home hub concept is voice, although there is also an device. A tilting head and blinking embedded screen for the display of “eyes” encourage its users to form ancillary information. an emotional bond. Intended to be

NUGU AI PLATFORM BY SK TELECOM Operator SK Telecom showed off sold more than 60,000 units in its smart speaker, a competitor to Korea. An English-language version, the Amazon Echo. It’s powered by slated for export markets in Asia, is its Nugu voice assistant and, since currently under development and was its launch in mid-2015, has now demonstrated at MWC.

NETWORKS

This year 5G was everywhere, but was liability) and improved network operations overhyped, an inevitable consequence of (network slicing and the creation of mul- a long roll-out cycle. The full promise of, tiple networks on a single physical infra- and the business case for, 5G is not always structure). readily apparent in the complex technolo- The other major topic was low-power gy demos that dominate MWC. However, wireless area networks (LPWANs). These with widespread availability expected in networks massively increase the number 2020, there seems little doubt it will radi- of IoT devices it’s practical and economical cally reshape the telecoms industry. to connect, because they’re more power The last telecoms revolution was the arrival efficient and provide cheaper connectivity. of the smartphone and 4G, which was all 5G will incorporate LPWAN technology. In about connecting people. The 5G revolu- the meantime the need to connect devices tion is about connecting everything else. today has led to the emergence of a num- Much of this will be invisible to people on a ber of competing standards. Previously, day-to-day basis, but ubiquitous connec- unlicensed LPWAN technologies like LoRa tivity will have a profound impact on indus- and Sigfox have dominated MWC, but this try, agriculture, transport, logistics, health year saw the announcement of the first and more. In short, it will enable all sorts of commercial LTE-M and NB-IoT networks, advances in the way we live next. following the completion of the standardi- 5G is most commonly associated with sation process by 3GPP last year. greater bandwidth and higher speeds, but There’s no clear winner yet in the LPWAN this is only one of four broad aims: the abil- space — indeed it’s most likely that solu- ity to handle billions of Internet of things tions will coexist — but all provide signif- (IoT) devices (higher density of devices icant momentum to improving the scale, with fewer resources); improvements in reliability, and cost of IoT connectivity, the quality of the network; reduced radio something which will only hasten the adop- interface (lower latency and improved re- tion of IoT solutions. 5G-READY BY NOKIA, VERIZON, SAMSUNG, AND CISCO While the standards behind with an end-to-end 5G Verizon has chosen Nokia 5G are not expected to be product stack, based on the as one of its partners to finalised until 2020 (3GPP current preliminary stand- bring a 5G pre-commercial Release 16), multiple ven- ards. It incorporates the pilot to 11 US cities in 2017. dors showed off 5G-ready company’s AirScale (cloud Others include Samsung, hardware as a way of posi- radio access network) and who showcased the home tioning themselves as bene- AirFrame (cloud infrastruc- router that customers ficiaries of the huge invest- ture) technologies, and is will use in the trial, and ment that will be required intended to allow operators Cisco, which is providing to bring the promise of 5G to design and implement the mobile backhaul to life. 5G networks in multi-ven- infrastructure that will dor, multi-technology envi- enable gigabit speeds. Nokia announced 5G FIRST, ronments. which provides operators GIGABIT LTE BY QUALCOMM AND ZTE

Gigabit LTE is an upgrade on existing 4G networks, providing download speeds of up to 1 Gbps (125 MB/s), making it possible to down- load a full HD film in less than 60 seconds. A number of vendors demonstrated the technology at MWC. ZTE chipset makers followed immediate impact for both showed what it described suit, with Intel showing off consumer and business as the “world’s first its XMM 7560 Modem at users. It’s already live on the Gigabit LTE smartphone”. MWC for the first time. Telstra network in Australia In fact, it’s Qualcomm’s 5G may have dominated and a further 15 operators Snapdragon 835 X16 LTE network buzz at MWC, but in 11 countries, including Modem that provides the there’s no doubt Gigabit the UK’s EE, are slated to required tech for the first LTE will have a more launch Gigabit LTE in 2017. wave of devices. Other

NB-IOT BY VODAFONE AND DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard that uses existing cellular bands. It can be set up in the LTE spectrum, in refarmed GSM spectrum, or stand-alone. This flexibility makes de- ployment easier, though ad- European coverage for ditional investment may be with expected battery their respective NB-IoT required when compared to lives of 10+ years and networks, with commercial LTE-M. overall costs of just a launches slated for the few dollars. Long-term At MWC, Vodafone and late spring. Huawei, uBlox installation, maintenance Deutsche Telekom both and ARM all showcased and deployment are now a announced extended NB-IoT hardware solutions realistic proposition. SIMULATED FACTORY BY NTT DOCOMO One of the most eye- immersive VR experience latency. The network itself catching 5G demos was generated in real time by was able to support speeds NTT DoCoMo’s simulated four depth-sensing 3D of up to 15Gbps, sufficient factory floor. Robots on cameras. The necessary to support multiple users on the factory floor could be data, around 700 Mbps a single connection. controlled remotely, with in all, was sent over a 5G tele-operation aided by an network with very low

8K VIRTUAL REALITY ON 5G BY INTEL LTE BACKPACK BY NOKIA Intel demonsrated Trial Platform. The Nokia’s Ultra Compact can be powered by an several uses for 5G company also showed 4G network can provide external DC battery for performance at MWC. how autonomous voice, video, and data complete portability. Its cars will need a low- within minutes to events, main use is in disaster Most impressive was latency 5G network remote locations, and recovery, to provide live 8K (7,680×4,320) to communicate with teams in emergency all-important local 360-degree video other vehicles and situations. The hardware, communications when content streamed over infrastructure so they the smallest variant of existing infrastructure is an Ericsson 5G network, can interact safely. which can be loaded in a destroyed or needs to be using Intel’s 5G Mobile backpack, weighs around augmented. 5kg. Its network typically covers 5km2, and it LTE-M NETWORKS BY AT&T, ORANGE, TELEFÓNICA, AND VERIZON LTE-M emerged as the LTE network infrastructure, AT&T, Orange, Telefónica, new LPWAN network of with a software on its base Verizon and a number of choice for many operators stations. This makes de- other operators confirmed at MWC. This is because it ployment much cheaper for they would be offering can work inside an existing operators, and explains why LTE-M services.

LIGHTPOLE SITE SLIM BY PHILIPS SIGFOX NETWORK BY SIGFOX Philips Lighting has easier for operators to Sigfox provides a propri- This year, Sigfox worked with Ericsson increase network density etary LPWAN network, announced plans to to integrate a small cell in cities. with connectivity pricing expand its coverage, LTE base station into an starting at just $3 a year and partnerships with The light poles can also LED street-lighting pole. per device. The company Telefónica, among accommodate other Mobile data volumes are faces tough challeng- others, that will help equipment for a wide expected to increase es from NB-IoT and grow its subscriber base range of Internet of nine-fold by 2020, and LTE-M networks, but has substantially in 2017. It is things (IoT) applications. this idea is makes it first-mover advantage also notable for having a with 13 million objects stand made already present on its entirely network and an end-to- out of end service. cardboard!

INTERNET OF THINGS

Internet of things (IoT) is the most obvious Some scepticism of the hype around IoT is example of the ever-widening definition of warranted, but it’s hard to deny the trans- mobile at MWC. From smart cities to smart formative potential of IoT on business pro- cows, there is an incredible diversity of cesses and customer services. solutions on show. Automotive and health The amusement factor of unanticipated are now well-established parts of the show; connected objects remains a fun feature of this year saw a renewed emphasis on MWC, which we’ve reflected in this report, smart cities and public services. but there are many more companies just The arrival of licensed NB-IoT and LTE-M getting on with connecting everyday de- connectivity, as discussed in the networks vices. section, gives new momentum to large- The prediction of billions of connected scale IoT deployments, thanks to their in- devices by the end of the decade suddenly herent cost efficiencies, quality of service, seems a lot closer to reality. and the backing of big operators. JASPER CONTROL CENTER BY CISCO Cisco’s Jasper Control Cola (vending machines), platforms to support NB- Center product is a cloud- GE Aviation (power by-the- IoT networks. Its strong based software platform for hour engines), Heineken growth — from 17 million enterprises to launch, man- (keg monitoring), and to 40 million connected age and monetise an IoT Starbucks (connected devices over the last year — deployment. commerce). reflects the increasing maturity of the IoT industry. Users of Jasper’s services At MWC, Jasper became include Tesla, DHL, Coca- one of the first IoT

URBAN SANITATION BY VEOLIA SAFETY CLOTHING BY KTEL AND KOLON Veolia’s connected urban for waste collection, and Korea Telecom, in part- is transmitted to rescue waste management sys- reducing the linked CO2 nership with clothing authorities via a small tem adds intelligence to emissions. The sensors manufacturer Kolon, has NB-IoT module embed- the refuse collection pro- in the bins can also send created a connected ded in the jacket’s lining. cess. NB-IoT connected alerts for temperature jacket, which includes There is also a marine bins are able to indicate variation (fires) enabling sensors that detect the life-jacket versio, their fill level to a central a reduction in damage movement of a wearer with water immersion management system. liability and response in distress. This data, detection and heart rate time. A 600-bin pilot together with location, This information is used monitoring. being run in Barcelona to optimise collection has already resulted in routes, cutting the num- 25% fewer trucks on the ber of vehicles needed road. PAYG COOKING GAS BY KOPAGAS KopaGas’ connected gas cylinder be charcoal, which is more expensive and metering technology allows in the long run and poses a health risk. customers in Tanzania to pre-pay for By implementing a pay-as-you- small amounts of liquefied petroleum go system, the overall cost of the gas (LPG) for cooking using mobile equipment can be spread over time, payments. The alternative fuel would addressing up-front affordability issues.

BEEPL BY NATURE FRACTAL BEEPL is a connected beehive from are embedded in the hive. This allows Korean startup Nature Fractal. In beekeepers to be alerted to changes addition to an easy honey harvesting in bee activity and environmental system, a variety of temperature, conditions, without having to disturb humidity, motion, and weight sensors the colony.

SMART SUITCASE BY SAMSONITE Samsonite and Vodafone showed base of users to pass within range of off an improvement to Samsonite’s a bag flagged as lost by its owner. Track&Go luggage-tracking solution. The new version is based on NB-IoT, which means it can be tracked any The current version is based on time and anywhere, without any other Bluetooth and relies on an installed dependencies.

IOT BATTERY BY LIGHTORS Lightors showed off its smart level, capacity, and charge cycles; or rechargeable batteries, available in to switch the battery off altogether. AA, C, D, and PP3 sizes, which can Alerts can be set to warn when be connected to a smartphone via recharging is needed, ensuring Bluetooth Low Energy in order to batteries in critical devices do not go retrieve information about charge flat.

INTERNET OF SEALS BY VODAFONE The University of St Andrews is using network from Vodafone. The project smart IoT tags to track harbour seals seeks to understand the reasons in Orkney, Scotland. behind a 90% decline in seal popu- lation since 2000, with information The devices are placed on the back on location, dive depth, and levels of of the seals’ necks, with connectiv- activity giving insight into feeding and ity provided by a dedicated NB-IoT behavioural changes over time.

MOOCALL BY MOOCALL Moocall, a calving sensor, aims to a increase in up-and-down tail move- reduce the 110,000 deaths of calves ment, as opposed to left/right, means due to birth complications that occur the cow is calving. The system alerts every year. The sensor detects the di- the farmer, allowing timely assistance rection in which the cow’s tail moves: to be given if necessary.

DATA

Falling prices and the promise of wide- DoCoMo boosted revenue for Tokyo taxi spread low power networks (see the drivers by using network data to predict Networks section) have made deploying demand and overlay the predictions large networks of sensors a practical prop- on a map for drivers. eParkomat used osition. Whether in cities — like CityIQ’s Deutsche Telekom’s network data in a occupancy, air quality and audio sensors trial in Prague to predict the availability deployed on street lights — or in remote lo- of a parking space — much cheaper and cations like the swarms of drones in Nokia’s more ubiquitous than similar services that “Saving Lives” initiative, merely gathering use dedicated sensors. Telefónica’s LUCA data is only the first step. Consolidat- platform uses similar data combined with ing it, cleaning it and making it useful for traffic accident reports to inform transport decision-making is the job of platforms policy. Mofato uses publicly available like NEC’s Cloud City Operation Center satellite data to predict which areas of (CCOC). farms will need more or less fertiliser, saving the money and environmental Growing computing power is fueling impact associated with the usual blanket the growing use of machine intelligence coverage. to create value from existing data. NTT CLOUD CITY OPERATION CENTER (CCOC) BY NEC NEC’s Cloud City Operation The system is currently can access a city dashboard Center (CCOC) combines being tested in Wellington, to get an at-a-glance look information from a multi- New Zealand, with data at their city. City workers tude of sensors and data from CCTV systems, envi- are able to access the right sources, then enriches it ronmental sensors, public data, in the right format, at with metadata and analytics transport nodes, traffic the right time, in order to for use by citizens and city management systems and make informed decisions. workers. utility networks. Citizens

AI TAXI SERVICE BY NTT DOCOMO CITY SMART PARKING BY EPARKOMAT Japanese operator An app for taxi drivers eParkomat uses an- In a trial in Prague last DoCoMo showed off overlays this data on onymised cellular net- year, drivers were able its artificial intelli- a map of the city to work activity data from to find a parking spot in gence-powered predic- help predict passenger Deutsche Telekom to an average of three and tive taxi service, which demand for the next 30 predict the availability of a half minutes, a third is currently in trials in minutes. This makes it on-street parking. This less than normal. Drivers Tokyo. easy for drivers to go to avoids having to install used an app which can areas likely to see higher sensors in each parking also be used to pay for The system combines demand. During trials bay. The system is able parking, giving an addi- data on movements of there was an average to predict with 93% ac- tional data source that DoCoMo subscribers 49% uplift in revenue for curacy whether a space further improved the around the city with taxi drivers using the service. is available on a given accuracy of the system location data to predict 250m stretch of road. to 96%. demand for taxis. MOFATO BY GREEN SPIN Mofato is a modern farmer’s data with pests. Mofato can then be used platform. A combination of data to create maps for variable distribu- from historical and near-live satellite tion of fertiliser, pesticides or other photos, augmented by soil sensors, chemicals, saving money. is analysed to identify sub-optimal conditions or any emerging problems

CITYIQ SENSORS BY CURRENT, GE, AND AT&T GE announced plans to install Cur- air quality, weather emergencies, and, rent’s CityIQ sensor nodes on 3,200 thanks to audio recognition, even gun street lights across San Diego, with violence on city streets. Large-scale AT&T handling data connectivity. deployment of these kinds of sensors The sensors will be used to monitor is essential to collect the data that things like traffic patterns, parking, powers a smart city.

NOKIA SAVING LIVES DRONE INITIATIVE BY NOKIA As part its “Saving Lives” initiative, Drones stream video and other sensor Nokia demonstrated how groups of data in real time from the disaster site drones flying in formation can effi- to a control centre, providing inputs ciently search for people in a disas- such as exact locations where people ter area, with connectivity provided are stranded and the difficulty of by Nokia’s Ultra Compact Network. reaching the locations.

AURA BY TELEFÓNICA Telefónica announced it was work- and remotely manage customer de- ing on a digital assistant app, AURA, vices. It will also allow users to decide based on Microsoft’s AI technology. whether to share insights generated The assistant will be able answer by their data with third parties such as questions about Telefónica services Facebook or Google.

BIG DATA FOR SOCIAL GOOD BY GSMA The GSMA’s Big Data for Social Good and focus recovery efforts. The pro- initiative proposes using activity data gramme is being launched with 16 of from operator networks to support the world’s leading mobile operators, disaster relief. By monitoring the flow which collectively account for over of people to and from impacted areas, 2 billion connections across more than relief organisations will be able to aid 100 countries. evacuation, target emergency relief,

SMART STEPS BY LUCA LUCA, Telefónica’s big data service as pollution and traffic accidents, to division, showed how network activ- uncover patterns and insights for pol- ity data can be used to understand icy planning, such as which roads are mobility patterns, such as traffic flow most dangerous or polluted relative to and commute length. This can be their actual usage level. combined with other data sets, such

HEALTH

Once again larger than ever, the health to help women improve their intimate presence at MWC spanned professional health. Kolibree’s Ara toothbrush gives and consumer markets. Nokia’s acquisition advice on how to improve brushing by of French device company Withings gave it evaluating how the brush is used. a foot in the door, showing the company’s At the professional end, Mint Labs’ cloud existing range of sensing devices branded neuroimaging produces extraordinarily as Nokia Health. This is only the start of clear views of brain structure and activity a journey for Nokia: we expect them this by combining different layers of scan data year to follow the widespread trend of and synthesising 3D views. Chip-maker adding an “AI” component — machine Qualcomm showed its data infrastructure learning supported by some rich data for health — one of many providers look- sets — in order to provide advice and ing to be the “glue” for connected health. guidance to consumers, rather than just Companies working with graphene (a information. Nod, by Johnson & Johnson two-dimensional hexagonal-lattice form or in partnership with Rest Devices, uses carbon) showed some amazing prosthet- extensive data about infant sleep from ics, including implants for retinas which both companies to help parents improve promise to do for sight what cochlear im- the babies’ sleeping patterns and their plants have done for hearing. own. Bwom provides personalised content GRAPHENE PROSTHETICS BY ICN2 Graphene is the future of The potential for graphene The use of graphene prosthetics — or so it would retinal implants to be also allows sensors to seem if the number of aca- used as sensors, which be printed directly onto demic institutions exhibiting convert light into signals limb prosthetics, allowing their graphene solutions is the brain can read, for improved comfort, anything to go by. promises to be the visual wearability and wireless equivalent of modern control from muscles One of the most exciting hearing-aid implants. further up the arm or leg. was retinal prosthetics.

LIFE/2NET BY QUALCOMM NOD BY J&J AND REST DEVICES Chip-maker Qualcomm Unlike software-only Johnson & Johnson and app that combines data is one of many providers startups, Qualcomm Rest Devices — makers from Rest’s devices, vying to provide the exploits its hardware of the Mimo Baby with data that parents infrastructure for background with Monitor and various enter themselves to give connected health — “medical grade” baby wearables — both parents insights into their linking data from connectivity through a had large datasets from baby’s sleeping patterns patients and providers hardware hub combined studying hundreds and suggests tactics that to allow for more with its software, of thousands of baby they can use to improve precise and timely care emphasising security sleep patterns. This their baby’s sleep — and decisions. and privacy with multiple formed the basis of a their own. layers of encryption and collaborative effort to authentication. create Nod, a coaching CARACAL BY CARACAL Caracal is a monitoring system for points they are able to exchange for high blood pressure (hypertension) health and wellness appointments designed to be used in conjunction such as consultations with nutrition- with a variety of smartphone-con- ists, yoga classes or even massages. nected devices. Caracal also allows data to be shared Regular blood pressure monitoring with healthcare providers and phar- is gameified by rewarding users with macists.

CLOUD NEUROIMAGING BY MINT LABS Mint Labs software quickly combines The ability to switch CT, MRI and con- multiple neuroimaging datasets, nectome layers on and off, plus rotate allowing clinicians or academics to a 3D generated image with a Leap explore an individual patient’s brain Motion controller, means surgeons imaging in many layers of detail simul- are able to plan operations better and taneously. view trauma in higher fidelity.

BWOM BY BWOM Bwom is a personal tool to track a stage of their lives — from teenage woman’s intimate health via a mobile to postpartum and menopause. This app. is an example a service that bene- fits from a lack of human interaction Personalised content allows the ser- given the sensitivity of the subject vice to support women through every matter.

NOKIA HEALTH BY NOKIA Last year Nokia acquired Withings, At MWC, the existing Withings device best known for its connected health portfolio was shown rebranded to devices, as part of a general push into Nokia, but the broader healthcare digital health services. Its aim is to service proposition will take longer to “bridge consumer device experience develop. into healthcare patient solutions”.

ARA BY KOLIBREE Ara is a toothbrush with artificial and sends alerts to tell you which intelligence, which transmits real-time areas you’ve missed. data to your phone via Bluetooth. It The kids’ app allows children to use uses 3D motion sensors to measure the brush as a joystick for in-app how well you’re brushing your teeth games, training them how to brush.

DOOBIT BY GREDOO The Doobit is a remarkable wear- monitor and adjust your sanitization able — it atomises tiny metered routine, trigger a vibration reminder, amounts of sanitiser from a wrist and monitor battery life. band, with one stick lasting for 48 It’s ideal for those on the go, or where activations or a typical three days of running water is no readily available. clean hands. The paired app is used to

MEDIA AND MARKETING

Hall 8 at MWC, also known as App Planet, timising app experience. This reflects the is the home of app, marketing, and media fact that the ecosystem has moved out of vendors. There was a consensus from this its awkward teenage years, with the glitzy year’s attendees that it lacked the energy app demos of previous years replaced by of previous years. Instead, the consumer the building blocks that are the beating app buzz has moved to 4YFN, the start- heart of the app economy. up-focused satellite event held at the The adtech vendors remain a force to be nearby Fira Montjuïc, where new, quirky, reckoned with, but with the advertising engaging, and innovative companies show technology stack and distribution chain be- off their wares. coming increasingly commoditised, there is App Planet is now about the tools and something of a sea of sameness, with indi- services that go into improving app per- vidual networks, DSP and DMPs struggling formance, capturing data and analytics, to differentiate themselves. powering engagement strategies, and op- URBAN AIRSHIP As one of the first movers in The vending machine at use Apple Wallet to pay and the push-notification space, its booth took Apple Pay update their loyalty cards in Urban Airship showed off as payment, and could a single interaction. Urban its user engagement and enrol new customers into Airship is working to bring personalisation platform a loyalty programme, the same solution to the with a demo of Apple pre-filling the registration Android platform, adding Wallet’s value added form with customer data. weight to the exciting service (VAS) protocol. Returning customers could mobile loyalty space.

HELPSHIFT TWILIO Helpshift has an in-app messaging for Twilio, the cloud voice like Twilio that grew as impressive proposition customer service and telephony, SMS, video shortcuts for start-ups for in-app customer support. and authentication and small development service, strengthened platform provider, didn’t teams, are now ready to We liked the integration by demos of its work announce new stand- power and accelerate between live chat and for Microsoft Outlook out features at MWC, larger enterprise FAQs: support agents and Flipboard. Similar but rather reflected our solutions, as they have can link to FAQs and to solution providers overall impression of done for ING Bank and canned answers from such as LivePerson the maturity of the app Dixons Carphone. the chat interface, while and Vivocha, Helpshift ecosystem. Platforms customer chat messages provides FAQ ingestion can trigger FAQ sugges- and off-line search with tions, further reducing live and asynchronous the load on agents. IDSCAN BY IDSCAN BIOMETRICS IDscan provides a solution for cus- pled with server-side checks, which tomer on-boarding based on visual are focused on document and identity recognition and biometrics. Its solu- verification, it makes on-boarding less tion can be integrated into an app in susceptible to fraud and identity theft order to achieve easy processing of and can be completed by consumers identity documents and forms. Cou- in less than 10 seconds.

MICROBLINK BY MICROBLINK Microblink provides an SDK that and generic text input. For identity allows apps to add real-time text documents it is also able to compare recognition. It focuses on four core the user’s face, captured via the use cases: payment slips, identity camera, with photos from a scanned documents, financial documents, document.

VOLUUM AdTech and media platforms continue example, was primarily focusing on its to be a very significant presence at DSP offering, stressing transparency, MWC, evidence of the sector’s com- performance and a high degree of petitive nature and the scale of the granularity, while promoting partner- market opportunity. ships with Crosswise, for cross-device consumer mapping, and Factual, for This year we noticed further spe- contextual location data. cialisation in the sector. Voluum, for

SPONSORED DATA BY AQUTO Aquto, a mobile data sponsorship and the concerns about how much specialist, showed examples of ad data mobile ads eat up this felt on units that offer consumers free mobile point, but making the value exchange data for interacting with advertisers. clear to users, within the constraints Given the rise of mobile ad blocking of an ad unit, will be a challenging.

PIXONEYE SDK BY PIXONEYE Pixoneye provides an SDK that seg- as marital status, whether they are pet ments customers by analysing the owners, and where they have been photos stored on their devices. It uses on holiday. Users can then receive deep learning image processing tech- more relevant advertising by e-mail or nology to build a profile that has over through a push notification. 100 characteristics about users, such

PERFORMANCE INDEX 2016 BY APPSFLYER The AppsFlyer Performance Index Adwords second. While it has been was back for its fourth year of ranking useful, with programmatic campaigns the top media sources in mobile ad- delivering the majority of placements, vertising, enabling advertisers to un- we have to wonder how long the derstand the relative effectiveness of Index will live on before the decisions the sources. Facebook unsurprisingly are fully automated. came in at number one with Google

AND FINALLY…

The scale of MWC means any summary by vibrations on their feet. IBM’s “cogni- just scratches the surface. This last section tive dress” gave it a run for its money, with rounds up some of our favourite examples etherial illumination patterns reflecting the that we couldn’t fit in elsewhere. sentiment of tweets. There was plenty of 360º video in evi- CarDroid’s in-car telemetry device is an- dence, with new ways to experience it and other example of the trend for stand-alone create it.We liked Giroptic’s iO camera add- IoT devices — it has a built-in 3G radio to on for its comparatively low price and ease allow it to work independently of the driv- of use. Kaicast provided a very low cost er’s smartphone. ThinFilm’s latest near-field way to set up immersive environments with communication (NFC) labels for smart multiple projectors. packaging are interesting because of their low price: improved printing techniques With the explosion of video content come have brought it down near five cents per new ways of consuming it. Husband- unit. and-wife team Emma and Matthew Ryan demonstrated an early beta of Wattl, a Hospitality seemed quite a rich area for novel video app aimed at younger audi- new solutions. A recent trend for high- ences that shows thousands of videos all er-end hotels is providing their guests with playing simultaneously on a zoomable grid. a free-to-use smartphone in the room. It’s fun and works against the “filter bub- Manet is one of the operators: it provides ble” by showing so many videos together. a range of local services for travellers and Our favourite novel display was the Mach makes money on bookings. insole, which communicates with its wearer IO CAMERA BY GIROPTIC The €249 Giroptic iO camera, which What stands out is the ease of use attaches to an iPhone or iPad via and the relatively low cost. Now the Lightning port, makes it easy to almost anyone can shoot their own capture and live stream 360-degree surroundies or stream immersive con- content to Facebook and YouTube tent to the world. with a single click.

MACH INSOLE BY LECHAL Lechal smart insoles allows you to the paired HERE WeGo app. A built-in navigate hands-free and without accelerometer sensor enables stand- needing to look at your phone. Turn- ard fitness tracking metrics, including by-turn instructions are indicated steps, calories, and distance travelled by vibrations from the insoles, with to be recorded. navigation information coming from

HOTEL SMARTPHONE BY MANET Manet provides Samsung smart- agree to pay a charge if they lose or phones to hotels for use by their damage the phone. guests. The service includes unlimited The smartphone, which can replace a national and international calls, 4G regulator-mandated landline phone, internet connectivity, and access to also offers integration with hotel ser- curated local content such as city vices and an engagement platform for guides and local deals. There is no upselling hotel and partner products. cost for guests, although they have to

CARDROID CarDroid is an Android-powered magnetometer, accelerometer, and automotive aftermarket accessory GPS sensors. It has a built in SIM card that analyses vehicle data and driver and 3G radio, which means it can be behaviour. It plugs into the ODB-II used independently of a smartphone port to collect vehicle data, which it and can provide a WiFi hotspot in the augments with data from integrated car.

NFC SPEEDTAP BY THINFILM ThinFilm produces printed NFC making smart labels economically tags that are used to create smart feasible on products starting from labels for consumer engagement around $10. and product authentication. Thanks The tags work with most recent to improvements in roll-to-roll Android phones. Apple has yet to printing production, the volume open up the iPhone’s NFC hardware pricing of ThinFilm’s NFC tags is for this use. now approaching five cents per unit, RELÚMĬNO BY SAMSUNG C-LAB Relúmĭno is a visual aid app for the view. It can also reposition objects Samsung Gear VR that improves the to avoid blind spots and correct for viewability of images and textual con- distortions, such as those caused by tent for those with visual impairments. metamorphopsia, using an Amlser It works by applying contrast and grid chart. edge enhancements to a live camera

COGNITIVE DRESS BY MARCHESA AND IBM IBM showed off a “cognitive dress” garment’s fabric. Watson also helped that lights up in different colours co-design the dress, with material in response to tweets. Tweets are and colour choices, based on analysis passed through a Watson tone of 200 existing dresses which were analyzer to gauge sentiment. This ranked based on the number of times informs the configuration of an array they had been photographed. of LED lights spread throughout the

KAICAST BY KAI KaiCast enables anyone to create can be used for automatic room their own immersive world by using calibration. The key factors here are a couple of low-spec stick PCs with cost and ease of use: it has never projectors. Set-up of the environment been easier or cheaper to set up and control of media playback is via a and configure multi-display, multi- Web-based management console. A projector environments. 360 degree camera (eg, Ricoh Theta)

AR SMART HELMET BY DAQRI The DAQRI Smart Helmet, powered quickly identify thermal anomalies. by an Ubuntu AR application, The helmet is pitched as a way provides an augmented reality of empowering the workforce by experience that is intended to be decentralising control rooms and used in industrial settings to show reducing maintenance response time. relevant data from IoT sensors and

WATTL Wattl is a novel way to explore a large a circular motion of the finger that number of videos. It displays them produces a flurry of stars — Wattl on a zoomable grid that can hold addresses the “filter bubble” effect thousands of clips and cleverly shows for any audience by putting many them all playing simultaneously while different videos very close to the keeping bandwidth requirements current one even on small screens. It modest. is currently in beta and in talks with broadcasters. Although aimed at younger audiences — you “like” videos with For more information contact:

Rafe Blandford Lorenzo Wood [email protected] [email protected] +44 7882 836334 +44 7831 665110 @rafeblandford @lorenzowood