\u201c5G\u201d, \u201cecosystem\u201d, \u201cedge compute\u201d, \u201cNOW!\u201d As I walked the halls of Mobile World Congress 2018, these were among the most common words vendors used to attract attention to their booths. (There were also some more surprising themes, like \u201cthe Internet of Cows\u201d which I\u2019ll explain\u2026) But they all represent deeper messages and the top trends in today\u2019s mobile world.<\/p>\n
Without further ado, here\u2019s the top 7 trends I saw at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona:<\/p>\n
#1 5G Everywhere! And it\u2019s \u201cPerfect!\u201d <\/strong><\/h2>\n5G continues to dominate the conversations as the promise of 5G<\/a> is going to have a far-reaching impact on data. However, what\u2019s changed from previous Mobile World Congress events<\/a> is that companies no longer tout that they\u2019re \u201c5G Ready\u201d; instead it\u2019s all about having perfected 5G or even being \u201cBeyond 5G\u201d!<\/p>\nWhat does it mean to have perfected 5G? Demonstrating their 5G prototype products for real world use cases is quite an effective way to help visitors see the potential benefits 5G can bring. One mobile provider, used 5G and AR to demonstrate how emergency crew and nearby medical staff can provide real-time accurate diagnosis for precision care. Beyond healthcare, some showed off their 5G concept cars for commercial applications with a personal touch.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Mobile](\"https:\/\/blog.westerndigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MWC_ER.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n#2 AI, ML, AR, VR still hot, but more than you think\u2026enabling the Internet of Cows???<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs industry analyst Bob O\u2019Donnell shared in his recent blog<\/a>, artificial intelligence (AI) adds new levels of \u201csmarts\u201d to devices, bringing data to life. This too was evident at Mobile World Congress 2018 with AI, machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) demos at every turn showing new applications. Evidently, a new take on AI versus that of the past was demonstrated in scenarios that use AI to help improve productivity, longevity, efficiency and response times that impact the food chain.<\/p>\nAn amusing term overheard at the show was \u201cthe Internet of Cows\u201d which is all about the decreasing population of farmers in Japan<\/a> and how technologies like AI can assist in meeting the daily nutritional needs of its population. While there are less farmers (and fertile land!), the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, mariculture and raising livestock can turn to AI to collect data<\/a> and monitor the health of the soil, water, air, temperature of these environments. Sensors are used to collect data, which is then analyzed to help optimize the production, longevity and health of the living creatures (cows, fish, plants, etc.) we rely on for our nutrition. AI and ML can help maintain the balance of these ecosystems using sensors that farmers, fishers, etc. can access using their smartphones.<\/p>\nSpeaking of ecosystems, as I made my way to the tapas bar for lunch, I couldn\u2019t help but notice how many vendor booths featured partners in their respective type of \u201cecosystem\u201d!<\/p>\n
#3 You\u2019re not legit without an ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\nIt used to be that vendors would solely showcase their own products, but this year at Mobile World Congress 2018, many exhibitors were proudly promoting their ecosystems in their booths. For example, a smartphone provider\u2019s booth included 3rd<\/sup> party headsets, AR and VR glasses, wearable devices, accessories, cases, software, etc. to show how a complete ecosystem would be required to get the most out of a smartphone. Talking about taking a whole village to raise a child! For example, the previously mentioned emergency care app demo included such pieces as the 5G router provider and the AR\/VR technologies that enable remote mobile care.<\/p>\nWe shared our Western Digital booth with ecosystem partners both at Mobile World Congress<\/a> and at Embedded World<\/a> the same week. In addition to 12 smartphones, tablet and compute devices from leading global manufacturers, home automation devices were on display for the first time at #MWC18. At #eW18, we prominently featured 14 design platforms built by manufacturers and installers who showed the applications they built leveraging embedded storage early in their product development cycle. Applications ranged from point-of-sale to digital clusters in an autonomous vehicle to surveillance cameras and more!<\/p>\n#4 \u2026or a brand association<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs we\u2019ve seen at many recent shows, like CES<\/a> or Automotive World Japan<\/a>, the automotive industry with today\u2019s connected cars on the road to autonomy, gets a lot of attention.\u00a0 There were displays of autonomous vehicles at #MWC18 and even more prominent was the number of exhibitors who described themselves with brand associations that related to cars. Whether it was speed, performance, quality, high-end, or the fluency of design, or even the actual automotive brand name, brand associations that related to the top names in automotive ranked as high as including ecosystems in vendor booths!<\/p>\n#5 Smartphones \u2013 it\u2019s all about the photos<\/strong><\/h2>\nNot surprisingly, the most talked about mobile device today is the smartphone, and at #MWC18 the emphasis was definitely on photography and beyond. It was no longer about the highest resolution, but about how some smartphone takes extreme photos that other smartphones cannot. The top smartphone photography apps on display were: 1) taking awesome pictures in low-light conditions \u2013 how you can take photos at night or in dark places without using the flash but still result in better photos; 2) Super slow-motion \u2013 capturing pictures at say 960 frame per second as opposed to 240 frames per second, which requires larger capacities for data, a trend Jackie Bao talked about in her recent blog on trends in Mobile<\/a>. 3) 3D \u2013 smartphone camera capabilities have bypassed the daily norm and users are increasingly able to take 3D photos and share them on social media.<\/p>\n\n![\"Mobile](\"https:\/\/blog.westerndigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MWC_SloMo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n#6 Edge compute \u2013 no longer about the cloud<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What does it mean to have perfected 5G? Demonstrating their 5G prototype products for real world use cases is quite an effective way to help visitors see the potential benefits 5G can bring. One mobile provider, used 5G and AR to demonstrate how emergency crew and nearby medical staff can provide real-time accurate diagnosis for precision care. Beyond healthcare, some showed off their 5G concept cars for commercial applications with a personal touch.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n#2 AI, ML, AR, VR still hot, but more than you think\u2026enabling the Internet of Cows???<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs industry analyst Bob O\u2019Donnell shared in his recent blog<\/a>, artificial intelligence (AI) adds new levels of \u201csmarts\u201d to devices, bringing data to life. This too was evident at Mobile World Congress 2018 with AI, machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) demos at every turn showing new applications. Evidently, a new take on AI versus that of the past was demonstrated in scenarios that use AI to help improve productivity, longevity, efficiency and response times that impact the food chain.<\/p>\nAn amusing term overheard at the show was \u201cthe Internet of Cows\u201d which is all about the decreasing population of farmers in Japan<\/a> and how technologies like AI can assist in meeting the daily nutritional needs of its population. While there are less farmers (and fertile land!), the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, mariculture and raising livestock can turn to AI to collect data<\/a> and monitor the health of the soil, water, air, temperature of these environments. Sensors are used to collect data, which is then analyzed to help optimize the production, longevity and health of the living creatures (cows, fish, plants, etc.) we rely on for our nutrition. AI and ML can help maintain the balance of these ecosystems using sensors that farmers, fishers, etc. can access using their smartphones.<\/p>\nSpeaking of ecosystems, as I made my way to the tapas bar for lunch, I couldn\u2019t help but notice how many vendor booths featured partners in their respective type of \u201cecosystem\u201d!<\/p>\n
#3 You\u2019re not legit without an ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\nIt used to be that vendors would solely showcase their own products, but this year at Mobile World Congress 2018, many exhibitors were proudly promoting their ecosystems in their booths. For example, a smartphone provider\u2019s booth included 3rd<\/sup> party headsets, AR and VR glasses, wearable devices, accessories, cases, software, etc. to show how a complete ecosystem would be required to get the most out of a smartphone. Talking about taking a whole village to raise a child! For example, the previously mentioned emergency care app demo included such pieces as the 5G router provider and the AR\/VR technologies that enable remote mobile care.<\/p>\nWe shared our Western Digital booth with ecosystem partners both at Mobile World Congress<\/a> and at Embedded World<\/a> the same week. In addition to 12 smartphones, tablet and compute devices from leading global manufacturers, home automation devices were on display for the first time at #MWC18. At #eW18, we prominently featured 14 design platforms built by manufacturers and installers who showed the applications they built leveraging embedded storage early in their product development cycle. Applications ranged from point-of-sale to digital clusters in an autonomous vehicle to surveillance cameras and more!<\/p>\n#4 \u2026or a brand association<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs we\u2019ve seen at many recent shows, like CES<\/a> or Automotive World Japan<\/a>, the automotive industry with today\u2019s connected cars on the road to autonomy, gets a lot of attention.\u00a0 There were displays of autonomous vehicles at #MWC18 and even more prominent was the number of exhibitors who described themselves with brand associations that related to cars. Whether it was speed, performance, quality, high-end, or the fluency of design, or even the actual automotive brand name, brand associations that related to the top names in automotive ranked as high as including ecosystems in vendor booths!<\/p>\n#5 Smartphones \u2013 it\u2019s all about the photos<\/strong><\/h2>\nNot surprisingly, the most talked about mobile device today is the smartphone, and at #MWC18 the emphasis was definitely on photography and beyond. It was no longer about the highest resolution, but about how some smartphone takes extreme photos that other smartphones cannot. The top smartphone photography apps on display were: 1) taking awesome pictures in low-light conditions \u2013 how you can take photos at night or in dark places without using the flash but still result in better photos; 2) Super slow-motion \u2013 capturing pictures at say 960 frame per second as opposed to 240 frames per second, which requires larger capacities for data, a trend Jackie Bao talked about in her recent blog on trends in Mobile<\/a>. 3) 3D \u2013 smartphone camera capabilities have bypassed the daily norm and users are increasingly able to take 3D photos and share them on social media.<\/p>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n#6 Edge compute \u2013 no longer about the cloud<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An amusing term overheard at the show was \u201cthe Internet of Cows\u201d which is all about the decreasing population of farmers in Japan<\/a> and how technologies like AI can assist in meeting the daily nutritional needs of its population. While there are less farmers (and fertile land!), the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, mariculture and raising livestock can turn to AI to collect data<\/a> and monitor the health of the soil, water, air, temperature of these environments. Sensors are used to collect data, which is then analyzed to help optimize the production, longevity and health of the living creatures (cows, fish, plants, etc.) we rely on for our nutrition. AI and ML can help maintain the balance of these ecosystems using sensors that farmers, fishers, etc. can access using their smartphones.<\/p>\n Speaking of ecosystems, as I made my way to the tapas bar for lunch, I couldn\u2019t help but notice how many vendor booths featured partners in their respective type of \u201cecosystem\u201d!<\/p>\n It used to be that vendors would solely showcase their own products, but this year at Mobile World Congress 2018, many exhibitors were proudly promoting their ecosystems in their booths. For example, a smartphone provider\u2019s booth included 3rd<\/sup> party headsets, AR and VR glasses, wearable devices, accessories, cases, software, etc. to show how a complete ecosystem would be required to get the most out of a smartphone. Talking about taking a whole village to raise a child! For example, the previously mentioned emergency care app demo included such pieces as the 5G router provider and the AR\/VR technologies that enable remote mobile care.<\/p>\n We shared our Western Digital booth with ecosystem partners both at Mobile World Congress<\/a> and at Embedded World<\/a> the same week. In addition to 12 smartphones, tablet and compute devices from leading global manufacturers, home automation devices were on display for the first time at #MWC18. At #eW18, we prominently featured 14 design platforms built by manufacturers and installers who showed the applications they built leveraging embedded storage early in their product development cycle. Applications ranged from point-of-sale to digital clusters in an autonomous vehicle to surveillance cameras and more!<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve seen at many recent shows, like CES<\/a> or Automotive World Japan<\/a>, the automotive industry with today\u2019s connected cars on the road to autonomy, gets a lot of attention.\u00a0 There were displays of autonomous vehicles at #MWC18 and even more prominent was the number of exhibitors who described themselves with brand associations that related to cars. Whether it was speed, performance, quality, high-end, or the fluency of design, or even the actual automotive brand name, brand associations that related to the top names in automotive ranked as high as including ecosystems in vendor booths!<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, the most talked about mobile device today is the smartphone, and at #MWC18 the emphasis was definitely on photography and beyond. It was no longer about the highest resolution, but about how some smartphone takes extreme photos that other smartphones cannot. The top smartphone photography apps on display were: 1) taking awesome pictures in low-light conditions \u2013 how you can take photos at night or in dark places without using the flash but still result in better photos; 2) Super slow-motion \u2013 capturing pictures at say 960 frame per second as opposed to 240 frames per second, which requires larger capacities for data, a trend Jackie Bao talked about in her recent blog on trends in Mobile<\/a>. 3) 3D \u2013 smartphone camera capabilities have bypassed the daily norm and users are increasingly able to take 3D photos and share them on social media.<\/p>\n#3 You\u2019re not legit without an ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\n
#4 \u2026or a brand association<\/strong><\/h2>\n
#5 Smartphones \u2013 it\u2019s all about the photos<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n#6 Edge compute \u2013 no longer about the cloud<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Mobile](\"https:\/\/blog.westerndigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MWC_now.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"Mobile](\"https:\/\/blog.westerndigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MWC_today.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"