Mobile Asia Expo a Success Amid Growth of Mobile Industry in the Region

By | 29 June, 2012

The first run of the annual GSMA Mobile Asia Expo has ended with a bang. According to the GSM Association, 15,500 unique visitors from 81 countries attended the Shanghai expo during its three day run. The organizers brought in executives from the industry’s leading and influential mobile networks, software vendors, device manufacturers, equipment makers, internet companies, government officials, and also included first time participation from consumers.

Meanwhile, the conference was reported to have gained the attention of 1,800 high quality visitors. More than 60% of them are C-level executives. GSMA CEO John Hoffman highlighted the impact and importance of mobile technology in China and throughout Asia as determinant factors driving the strong attendance to the event.

The expo launched June 20 and was opened with a ceremony featuring Chinese VIPs and industry leaders such as National Development and Reform Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Xiaoqiang, Ministry of Science and Technology Vice Minister Wang Zhixue, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Vice Minister Liu Lihua, Shanghai City Vice Mayor Ai Baojun, China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua and China Unicom President Lu Yimin.

In the two-day conference, insightful speeches on trends and issues in the mobile industry now and in the future was delivered by CEOs and senior executives from companies including Alcatel-Lucent, China Mobile, China Unicom, HTC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Smart Communications and ZTE.

Aside from the seminars and meetings, several focus sessions were hosted on specific topics such as apps, devices, embedded mobile, mobile advertising, mobile broadband, mobile health, mobile internet, mobile money, mobile operator strategies, network evolution, NFC, and social media, among others.

Numerous top brands were part of the 200 exhibitors: BMW, China Mobile, China Unicom, Cisco, Huawei, IBM, MasterCard, Mozilla, NEC, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, PayPal, SanDisk, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Tencent, Visa, Yahoo! and ZTE.

In response to emerging trends of IT consumerisation, there were a few zones setup: Angry Birds Zone, Augmented Life Zone, Mobile Gaming Zone and Mobile Fashion Zone. In addition to that, Innovation Lab provided for around 25 companies delivering presentations during the event.

China Mobile, Nokia and RIM each held developer conferences in AppPlanet.  Smarter App Challenge winners were also slotted to deliver their presentations in the program.

The Public Policy Forum was held for the first time. Delegations from 15 countries and international organizations discussed key drivers for mobile broadband growth and development. The event was quite limited in time, though, with the one-day event including keynote speeches and panel discussions, where stakeholders debated on key enablers to stimulate investment in mobile broadband in the Asia Pacific, and how industry and governments can work together to achieve this.

Those who were not able to make it to Shanghai in person can view the comprehensive news coverage, video highlights and keynote replays at Mobile World Live.

Next year’s expo will be held in Shanghai the week of June 24.



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