Mobile World Congress 2009 Predictions!

With the Mobile World Congress almost upon us, we at Omio thought it would be a good time to put our prediction hat on and guess what will be the big trends at the event. Some are obvious, others slightly less so.

1.    Apps, apps, everywhere….

To say that Apple’s App Store is a massive success is an understatement. Prepare to drown under the bevy of manufacturers falling over each other to shill their wares as digital downloads to your phone. From BlackBerry to Samsung, even the industry leader Nokia has clambered aboard the bandwagon offering armfuls of content to customize and compliment your handset.

Be it an ‘Application Mall’, a ‘Program Marketplace’, or even a ‘Mobile Shoppe’, rest assured every phone will now be packed with a service to get you to spend all of your money, 59 pence at a time.

2.    Rise Of The Machines…

…in particular, Google’s Android. Everyone’s favourite open source mobile phone operating system was welcomed by most of the industry with open arms, expect to see the fruits of that at this year’s MWC.  All of the manufacturers normally paying mountains of cash to use Windows Mobile or develop their own operating system was rubbing their hands with glee to see such a cheap alternative.

Without the barrier to entry that an operating system entails, expect a lot of indie handset makers to have done some quirky things with it too!

With almost nine months to add their own sheen on Android, expect a slew of decent first generation phones from manufacturers big and small, powered by Google’s exciting new software. Don’t be surprise if a sequel to T-Mobile’s landmark G1 is hanging out in Barcelona too!

3.    Put the champagne away. Innovation, too.

The current economic climate has hit the mobile phone industry as hard as anyone, with companies posting massive losses and layoffs across the board. This is obviously not a good time for companies to be taking massive risks with their product lines nor can they afford pouring money into research and development, and as such we will see less genuine innovation as a result.

Expansions on existing lines and sexed-up revamps of popular handsets will be out in force, but expect to see all of the big changes to be dictated by software (as seen in the profusion of App Stores) or infrastructure, rather than hologram phones or ones that fit in your ear.

4.    Where are you?

Location-based services are on the brink of becoming a huge deal for both manufacturers and phone networks, and built in GPS will allow more phones to become a direct portal based upon exactly where you are in the world.

Apps which send you vouchers or information on special offers when you walk past a particular shop, programs like UrbanSpoon and NrU (‘near you’) showing where to go to get a good meal, software like Google’s Latitude which allows you to see where your friends are in relation to you, expect everything to shift towards ‘local’ services, becoming more connected to people and places around you. Big Brother has never been so close to being a reality!

5. The Big Switcheroo.

BlackBerry. 2008 was certainly a year of transition for them, as the touch-driven Storm and blanket coverage of their latest TV ads can attest. HTC managed to enter the public conscious with the Touch Diamond and later the Touch HD, and Palm are set to make pulses race with the Pre.

The thing in common? All were seen as purely manufacturers of stuffy business PDAs, dull grey slabs that only meant that you could never truly leave the office, as your mailbox followed you home. Not any more!

The huge strides into the consumer market taken by the both RIM and HTC throughout 2008 have been hugely successful, and the buzz around Palm’s new Web OS was enough to even get Apple hot under the collar about possible copyright infringement. That means it must be good.

Expect to see even greater steps in these respective directions, with the term ‘smartphone’ losing its disparaging connotations as fun and funky handset announcements come from RIM and HTC at MWC and throughout 2009, and Microsoft’s latest iteration of Windows Mobile is revealed a lot prettier, more intuitive and easy to use.

iWho?

Well, we’re off in a bit to hit you up with megatons of pics, video, interviews and all sorts from the Mobile World Congress very soon! We will also see if our Omio Mobile World Congress predictions are dead on the mark or horribly off…stay tuned!

Tags: 2009, BlackBerry, htc, palm, pre, predictions, RIM, Touch Diamond, Touch HD, world mobile congress